Boy's Room Redo

Lil' Guy's room has not exactly been my favorite place lately.

The occupant is a real treasure,

but the contents have been getting out of hand.

We did a family project

to help make his room easier for him to manage

(and keep his Momma sane at the same time).

The place really needed a little TLC.

We wanted to tidy up and rearrange,

using what we already have.

As we are planning on moving this year,

it didn't make sense to purchase a lot of stuff.

What we had was enough,

it just needed to be reorganized.

I really have a hard time with books on the floor.
It seems so disrespectful.
Especially when there are perfectly good bins
to contain it all.
We had a little talk about that...

The majority of his Lego sets are kept in this large

cabinet.  He'd gotten pretty lax about keeping

the sets together.

We're hoping that we have come up with a more manageable solution.

This is a box where he places his 
electronic components.
It was the first thing you saw when entering the room.
Not the best impression.

This cabinet held his rather large 

diecast car collection.

These were things he played with at a younger age,

so he felt able to part with many of them.

The remainders were placed into a sealed plastic bag

and placed in his closet bin.
The cabinet was given away
to allow for more floor space.

 

Some of the clothes were never worn,

so out they went.

Making room is one of the first considerations

when reclaiming a space.

The placement of furniture wasn't quite right.

Clothes, toys and other items

were donated to our local

Meals on Wheels thrift store.

The income from the shop helps to support

this very worthwhile program for seniors 

right in our community.

I'm so proud of him for his willingness

to part with things that someone

else may be able to use and enjoy.

 

Everything was moved away from the walls

so the entire area could be vacuumed.

It's easiest to start with a clean slate.

The closet shelves were emptied.

 

We posted about this easy construction project here.
Some bins and a repurposed door make it
one of the most functional spaces in his room.

His Lego books are now kept with his Lego magazines
inside the closet.

His electronics are now kept in the corner.  

The bag on top is for those 

he enjoys taking with him on road trips.

The room seems to flow better now.
Everything is contained and has a place.
We hope it will suit him,
but are open to changing things again if need be.
Sometimes you have to keep tweaking

until you find just the right set-up.

It's so nice to see everything off of the carpet.

He has plenty of floor space should he need it.

His Lego sets were sorted and labeled so 
that he knows where all the pieces are
when he wants to use them.

We purged only a handful of books.

Those are one of the hardest things 

for him to let go of.

We all love reading in this family.

We can fit whole collections of books in these spacious bins.

They slide out for browsing.

I've worked on his closet before.

It does my heart good to see 

some empty spots on the shelves.

He uses the drawers for most of his clothes,

so the rods aren't much used.

We're not that into clothes around here.

We're trying something new with the t-shirts 

by rolling them instead of stacking.

We'll see how it goes.

It feels good to have tackled this assignment.

I really believe that creativity can't flow

if it's blocked with too much stuff

or disorganization.

Let's see what Lil' Guy comes up with now!