Re-organizing the Playroom

I love my playroom.  I get away with calling it "the playroom" because I have two kids, but really it has been an extra room for me while the kids still wanted to share a bedroom.  They were 4 & 5 when we moved in 4 years ago and wanted to continue sharing a room.

Do you ever feel like you need a space in your own home to escape from everyone once in a while?  This is that room.



The playroom houses my bike set up on the trainer facing a television- a place for me to tune-out and watch DVR'd shows while fitting in a workout...sometimes not even starting until close to 10pm.  A workout bench, weights, medicine balls and a VersaClimber take up the rest of the wall if I feel like switching up a workout.

Even with the cushioned storage bench, the kids still don't hang out in this room, but there is plenty of space for me to unroll my yoga mat and blast a space heater for morning hot yoga.

The closet/office holds all of my craft supplies and a lot of the kids' junk.  Things get stashed in there in a hurry, but it's not like I can close the door to the mess...we removed the closet door.  Last Friday  night while the kids were watching a movie, I knew I had to go tackle the mess.

This was the state of the plastic rolling drawers tucked beneath the desk on both far corners.  I've really disliked the red one since remodling the closet into an office, but we seemed to need the extra drawers for broken crayons, snapped-in-half rulers and a mish-mash of pencils,erasers and paper scraps.

I printed a selection of green labels for the drawers- trying to think of every category that needed categorized:  pens, pencils, markers, erasers, paper, notebooks, tape, glue, fasteners, glue gun, tools, paint, paint brushes, watercolors, scrapbook paper, stickers, scissors, rulers, yarn, ribbon, etc.

You should have seen the room once I dumped out all of the drawers.  It was a huge pile of crap and I filled an entire garbage bag.  Why is organization such a gratifying experience?  I don't like clutter, but at times my home feels like it gets out of control.

 The labeled drawers:

I had 3 darling little birch tree bins that I had never found a use for and tucked away in some closet- reminding myself not to buy something just because it is cute in the dollar section.  The bins are now holding pencils, crayons, & paint brushes.  Good thing I bought something cute from the dollar section, huh?

 The opposite side of the closet with paper/notebooks, tape & glue and tools:

Under the shelf curtain:  the glue gun has its very own bin.  

Now when I ask, "Can you go into the playroom and get me the glue gun?" the kids can't return saying, "I don't know where it is."

As I finished the closet/office and turned towards the room, I felt it was time.  Time to let it go.  I called my daughter into the room and asked if she is ready for this to be her room.  She jumped up and down in excitement.  The smile didn't leave her face all weekend as we rearranged and packed things to move from upstairs to downstairs and sorted clothes and switched dressers and ordered new bedding.

Somehow her excitement and my son's excitement for having his own space eased the pain of losing my space.  We have only a few tweaks to make over the weekend and we'll be back Monday to show off the new bedroom.  I think I like it even better as her bedroom.  We made a deal...the closet can still be mine.