Creativity Through Reorganization

Today I decided that O and I needed to rearrange his room. In the past few months he moved from sleeping on his old crib mattress on the floor under his loft bed to sleeping up top in the loft and has outgrown more than a few toys (for one, he's done with his baby puzzles and is way into little jigsaw puzzles now). I don't have any before pictures to provide at the moment but I do want to show off his room a little. It has been a labor of love since we bought this house almost 2 years ago. I started with blank white walls and painted on the drumming monkeys from "Hand Hand Fingers Thumb" which is a favorite book around here. Originally we had his crib in the room but he outgrew that within about 6 months of moving in. As his interests have changed (toys, abilities, etc), I've periodically made changes to the layout of his room but this is by far the biggest overhaul.

First change was that the magnetic chalkboard (which is covered in green felt on the flip side to be used as a play table or train table) used to be hanging on the other side of the room but I moved it over to behind the door so he could write on it. He has been growing more and more interested in doing art and practicing his letters so I want him to have every opportunity.

*Train table design and built by my dad and me this time last year.

I also moved his red beanbag chair out from the hideout under his bed to next to his bed and moved a drawer unit into its place. This freed up a TON of floor space. We hesitated to do that before because he used to sleep on the crib mattress on the floor and I just knew he'd play with any toys he could easily access. Now that he sleeps up top, I felt safe creating a playspace and reading area under the bed.

Yes, those are rope lights strung up under there. It makes an awesome ambiance. Now for a fort closed picture.

And finally, here's the last corner of the room. I might hang up some pictures over here or something, I haven't decided yet. Maybe a few wire clothesline type hangers for his artwork.

So that's where his room stands right now. I took out a handful of toys but mostly just reorganized what he has. We try to keep 95% of his indoor toys here in his room so they don't clutter up the rest of the house. Everything is in those drawers that easily slide out so he can pick an activity and carry it into the living room to play but at the end of the day, everything migrates back down to his room and is put away nicely. The system works really well for us.