I'm bein' real transparent with y'all today. I'm actually letting you peek inside my 8-year old's bedroom.
YIKES! OH THE HORROR!
Actually, it's not that bad. He does a pretty decent job of putting everything in its proper place...when I remind him.
This post was actually born out of requests from a couple of my friends who wanted to know how I keep toys/clothes, etc. organized in Payton's room. See,
a million years ago, before I had kids, I had my own professional organizing company. People actually
paid me money to come organize their closets, bedrooms, garages...you name it!
So, you'd think our house would be full of awesome California Closet built-in's and perfectly matching Container Store products. Well, you'd be wrong.
VERY wrong. Because while all of those beautifully designed products work great, they're also very expensive. And while I do enjoy an organized space, I have to be creative with with the budget we have. Living on one income means making sacrifices on some things, and one of those things is matching furniture.
So you'll see that I am pretty serious about implementing the rule that "If everything has a place, it will be easy to put away"... however, it's not going to look like a Pottery Barn Kids catalog.
Okay, disclaimers out of the way, let's get started on this post!
First rule of organizing a kid's room: MAKE IT SIMPLE.
The more plain and simple you make a kid's room, the easier it will be for them to keep it tidy.
Payton has very few items in his room, and I think it allows him to know exactly where everything belongs. For example, he loves Lego's. He's built about a million different models. But when they're not in use, they belong on his display shelves above his dresser.
On top of his dresser are 3 models that don't fit on the shelves. That's it. Nothing else. Three Lego models...well, and his Dad's childhood Bears lamp.
This way, if I walk into his room and see his dresser covered in "stuff" I can say, "Payton, please clean off your dresser" and he knows everything except those 3 models must be put away.
Aside from Lego's, Payton is also an avid reader. He has collected many books over the years, and has a large bookshelf at the end of his bed that houses them...and his beloved Rainbow Loom.
He keeps his Rainbow Loom in one of my "Lock N Lock" tupperware containers. It's easy for him to open, it locks close, there's a handle on top which makes it easy to transport around to friend's houses, and there's plenty of room for the bands, the loom and extra bracelets.
Now I'm sure there is a $30 Rainbow Loom carrier that would also work just as well, but as I said, we make do with what we have when we can. He purchased the Rainbow Loom with his own money and then had to be creative about how to store it.
As for his bed, it used to be an adorable Pottery Barn train-themed bedding with his name on it. But he decided he was too big for trains, and wanted a down comforter, so he now sleeps on top of the train comforter (which has been flipped over to the all-blue side) with the down comforter on top of him. Why you ask? Because it only takes about 1 minute for him to make the bed this way. Clever kid.
His nightstand holds only this month's edition of the 3 magazines he gets (Highlights, Lego & Boy's Life) along with whatever book he's currently reading. Too many things on the bedside table aggravate me.
As for toys, we house them inside his closet. And in a fairly organized manner.
Loose Lego pieces go in these color-coded drawers. Then the green bases and instruction manuals go in the top drawer of the unit below. You'll see another clear storage container next to it with a green lid. These are all of his Lego Ninjago characters and vehicles.
Under the Lego drawers are two drawers with miscellaneous toys. You know, the ones that come home from God-knows-where and have a ton of pieces to them (e.g. miniature bowling set, Mighty Beanz, anything that shoots things, Pokemon characters, etc.). We go through these drawers a couple times a year and toss anything that they don't play with anymore. But I swear, Parker will open those drawers and play with that
crap stuff for an hour. He loves all the little pieces and parts.
And next to that plastic shelving unit is a white wooden unit that houses all of his games. These are not our "family" games - most of those are in the hall closet. These are the games he likes to play with his friends in his bedroom.
Above all of those toys are his hanging clothes. The only things I hang up are his collared shirts, nicer things like his Nike football jersey's, Boy Scout uniform, and clothes that he doesn't fit into just yet.
And above that, I store his rarely-used Winter clothes. We have so little of it, that it all fits inside this little basket (except for his coats - those are in the hall closet as well).
The rest of Payton's clothes are stored in his dresser. It's the nicest piece of furniture in his room. My in-laws bought it for him when he was born (my parents got him his crib) and we used it for a changing table and now for his dresser. It holds SO many clothes. This is how I break down his dresser:
Top long drawer: t-shirts
Middle long drawer: shorts
Bottom long drawer: PJ's & swim clothes
Top small drawer: misc stuff like his eczema lotions, chap stick, watches, bracelets, etc.
Middle small drawer: socks & underwear
Bottom small drawer: shoes that don't fit yet, athletic gear, etc.
And next to his dresser is his beloved desk. This is a recent hand-me-down from my parents. He has not had a desk in his room until he recieved this, and now he feels very grown up because he can do his homework in his room, or play on his computer sometimes (and always with the door open) on his own desk. Very grown-up indeed!
Oh! And that blue bin that is on the floor next to his desk is where I put all of his clothes when he outgrows them. It makes it so much easier just to stick them in there when I realize the shorts he just put on are suddenly an inch too short. When the bin is full, I sort through it and decide what to store in the attic for Parker, and what to donate/consign. It's a good system if you have room for a bin like this somewhere in your child's room.
There's one last place I didn't photograph, and that's under the bed. I can honestly tell you that the only things under his bed are his old motorized trains and his Beyblade stadium & Beys. I don't like to store things in his bed for multiple reasons, but most recently because Mocha gets under there sometimes and I need to be able to easily & quickly reach her. :)
Okay, I think I've shown you every inch of Payton's room. I hope this gave you some organizing ideas. Just remember to keep it simple. The less clutter, the better. And make sure your child knows where everything goes - labels are a mom's best friend!
Happy organizing everyone!
