Did you all just fall off your chair!? I organized something! Oh how I’ve missed organizing. Ever since the new house stuff kicked into overdrive I haven’t had much time for my beloved passion. Sure I’ve kept up my already organized spaces, but I haven’t been able to take on any new projects. Until last weekend that is! Kenny and the girls went camping so Kole and I went a bit crazy. We seriously cleaned our house from top to bottom. (I say “we” in the loosest sense of the word.) :) It felt so good! And a certain bookshelf was the first thing I tackled.
This is a picture I took years ago of our guest room bookshelves. Not a great picture, but it shows the purpose of the shelves which was well.. to store our books. This room is a small one and the bed takes up most of the space but we didn’t have any other place for our books to go, so this is where they ended up. It was working fine… until El moved into this room. Ellie started sleeping in this room a little over a year ago when we realized the girls just could not get to sleep at a decent time sharing a bedroom. They stayed up way too late chatting and then we all paid for it the next day! So we moved El into the guest bedroom.
And before long they looked like this.
And this. Half way taken over by toys. Unorganized piles everywhere. It drove me crazy every time I walked into her room. Without any real storage for her things these shelves became a catch all for any and everything.
So Kole and I sorted through all of the books, got rid of books we don’t need anymore, and boxed up the rest! Kole was a huge help with the boxing. And yes. He is still wearing Christmas pj’s. Just in time for Easter. :)
Among other things I came across some of my old teacher plan books. Too fun to reminisce! :)
After a few hours of cleaning and boxing (and lots of Thomas the train and snack breaks in between) El’s shelves looked like this…
Removing the books gave me room to store toys that were taking over other areas of the house. This is not how I would have organized this space if we were staying put for a while. I didn’t label bins or spend a lot of time thinking about how these shelves would function. This is just a better solution for the next few months until it’s time to box up the toys and move!
We kept a few books on the shelves. El’s favorites that have been read over and over. Junie B. Jones, Ivy and Bean, Little House on the Prairie,
and my favorite – the Beverly Cleary collection. Speaking of books El loves, she is currently obsessed with the Thea Stilton series. Very fun for 6-12 age girls! Ad is loving The Boxcar Children. Nothing like great children’s literature.
So that’s it! Not a major makeover, but it feels SO good to have all of our books boxed up and ready to move. It also feels amazing to walk into El’s room and not cringe! Organization just calms the mind, doesn’t it!? I can’t wait to start tackling spaces in the new house. I keep trying to convince Kenny that when the new house is finished we should keep living in our current house and I’ll just pop up to the new house to clean and organize and decorate it for a few hours each day. Once in a while he and the kids can come and visit. But only if they take their shoes off and don’t touch a thing.
I don’t think he’s buying it.
;)
xoxo, Erin
