August Monthly Challenge: Kid's Room

[Turquesa]

One of your kids will go back to school with a clean, decluttered room!  (Maybe it will be more than one kid if they share). 

Good luck, and post your "before" photos soon!

[ZakareyasMama]

Hmm DS's room and ours is one and the same  I'm all in, though!

[Jenn6903]

I NEED to join you guys on this challenge!!! We are in the process of moving kids' rooms around, etc. I will post before pics soon!! :)

[ZakareyasMama]

Okay... our room was more messy than usual because I'd pulled a bunch of storage out... so here it is... 

BEFORE:

Closets... DH's and mine on the right and DS's on the left. The bags are filled with clothes that don't fit him yet and the white lid storage is clothes that he grew out of. In our closet there are a bunch of comforters for when family comes. I can't get rid of them but they have to get out of that closet. The closets need major work. And I want to get a full length mirror bc we don't have one in the house.

Lol this is a shame! SO DH has since moved the chest of drawers in the room to the left of the window. The curtain... it's a mess because we needed to hang some sort of blackout drapes but used a sheet instead. That's one of my projects to fix that into a nice-looking and functional curtain. Also all that junk is storage from my classroom. I've got to go through and see what I may REALLY use again and what's trash.

The bed is up next to the crib. The wall art I made from cheap canvasses and pillow and curtain fabric. The bedside table needs some major decluttering.

Here's a shot of the crib and DS's changing table and drawers. The table is just an old IKEA table that's been covered with a shower curtain and the drawers are just the cheap plastic ones from Target. That basket on top is a catch-all for random diapers and junk so that needs to be tidied. The wall hangings over the crib are made from scrapbook paper and IKEA frames.

Happy organizing! 

[sunnysandiegan]

My DD is ten years old and I shall enter us in this challenge for her room. What a disaster zone!!!!!!!   She'll have to do some of the work on her own and I'll help her with some of the work. She is in the midst of a major growth spurt, so clothing is going to take some time to go through. We do this three times a year anyway and August is one of the usual times. Her clothes are not the only items needing to be weeded out, though......

[clutterwarrior]

My kids are already at school, as it is winter here (although it doesn't feel like it right now, it's a gorgeous 72 degrees here today!) .....but I would still like to do some work on my son's room this month.

His room is quite challenging because it joins onto the bathroom that we all use, so part of the room is used for towel storage, and I share his cupboards (closets) with him for storage of my clothes. and art supplies.

His room is a little bit messy today, but I'll take a photo or two.

Edited by clutterwarrior - 8/1/11 at 8:58pm

[zoebird]

well, i don't really need to do much, as DS doesn't have his own room, but this can motivate me to do some simple work in the lounge where we have a day bed. Right now, it's just wrapped in a white sheet with a couple of blankets (lap blankets) on it. I want to get a valance (or bedskirt), sheets, blankets, pillows, and of course, something that looks nice as a "cover" so that the actual bedding isn't the "sofa."

it is a nice place in the house to sit and look out the window and read and have tea, but rather uncomfortable with no back support (no pillows!), and so on. So, i'll try to save up in my budget to see if I can fancy this bed up and give that corner a finished look.

my plan for the "cover" is to use some kind of skins -- either sheep, goat, reindeer, or some such, as that is popular here and pretty easy to get ahold of. IN the alternative, i might see if i can find a cool old funky killim styled rug to toss on it. 

i'm going for some vintage linens, too, in particular wool blankets. :D

[clutterwarrior]

I just took some photos of DS's room...and while far from perfect, his room is much less cluttered than it used to be before I started decluttering a year ago!  I'll see if I can make it even better this month.

As I said above, his room is also an entryway to a bathroom, which is why we have a rack of towels in the photo.

Photos taken today:

[ZakareyasMama]

This might give everyone some inspiration...

http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/home-tours

[clutterwarrior]

OK I have made progress! 

Here is an after shot of the messiest bit of the room.....my son said thank you to me for tidying it up, I wish I had done it earlier.

[sunnysandiegan]

Good for you! Looks great and that's so sweet he thanked you! :)

[ZakareyasMama]

LOVE the built-in storage! 

As much as I love organizing and redecorating my house, it's hard as a renter. I see so many great ideas that I just cant do... oh well it's a challenge for me! Maybe someday I'll have my own place 

I've started going through my box of classroom stuff. I'm separating into piles: recycle/ trash/ keep for future homeschooling/ and send to my friend who's a Spanish teacher. I decided that the items I want to keep for teaching my son I'll organize and keep in a box that will be covered somehow and placed under a floor lamp that needs to be elevated so that it's higher than the chest of drawers. Hopefully I'll finish that today!!

[OkiMom]

Umm I flopped last month.. Maybe this month I can do better. Id be happy if I could just get their room clean! Ideally Id like to:

Figure out something to do with the luggage taking up residence in their room- thought about this and its the only place to keep it for now. The place we are living in has almost no storage outside of closets and mine is taken up by the dog's crate and litter box. So for now the luggage stays

Figure out some art for the wall. My girls are angling for me to paint them pictures, no idea why I don't draw well but its from MOMMY so its perfect I guess. I love my girls

Maybe if I can swing it make/hang curtains. It would go a long ways to them sleeping in their room!

Put the light fixture back on the light..

Figure out storage for the outgrown clothing

Do the mending thats piled up

I should take pictures but no one cringe ok? Its been a rough couple of months over here so my housekeeping has been suffering.

Edited by OkiMom - 8/5/11 at 2:05pm

[zoebird]

a nice way to create a built-in-storage look is to paint the furnishings the same color as the walls or trim. or, to have a lot of furnishings the same colors. 

a friend of mine did this in her last apartment in two ways: first, she painted the walls a soft silver-blue-grey, and left the white trim. then, she did a wall of different (kitchen hutches, all painted the same color as the white trim, with wall paper backings (that had the same silver grey. It was very cool looking -- it looked like built in book cases/shelving with closed storage underneath.  This was in her living room, behind the sofa, so it sort of blended into the background quite nicely.

the second way she did it was in her "office" which was really a closet! She painted the walls a punchy color, then put in black billy cases on the sides, then two narrow black shelves and a table top across them. She found a funky stool, and the whole thing fitted behind the closet doors. IT looked completely built in -- people often thought she had built them in. 

you can get the look -- it just takes a fair few shelves. :D

[clutterwarrior]

Originally Posted by sunnysandiegan 

Good for you! Looks great and that's so sweet he thanked you! :)

Thanks.

[OkiMom]

Here are the before pictures

Closet with random clothing on the floor

The beds and window. Excuse the mess on the floor, I told you my house keeping is suffering.

[OkiMom]

Today I: Cleaned up everything off the floor and vaccuumed. One of my in-laws gave me a couple large storage containers that I used to pack up the outgrown baby clothing. I tried to think of something to do with the luggage and I can't so its going to have to stay there.

I also re-purposed the top sheet from my daughter's sheet set into curtains for their room. It doesn't technically match my younger daughter's bedding but it works and the girls love it.

[sunnysandiegan]

Looking good, Heather!

[zoebird]

can't go wrong with sheets-as-curtains. :) i'm planning on doing the same, actually. But, that's just going to be the decorative part. The functional part are going to be shorter curtains that just  cover the window so that the bed can be used (the bed is against the window-wall. 

i can't explain it. btu i have a plan. :D

[Sandrine]

I just saw this. I just cleaned out my youngest dd's room today. She had stuffed penguins and clean clothes on the ground.  But no more!

I cleaned the top of her dresser. Put the clothes away. Found a box and put all her stuff penguins in there and put the box in a corner. Clean the polley pockets stuff and put it under the table, cleaned the ceiling  and ceiling fan of dust bunnies. Vaccum her carpet. Cleaned her window.

Washed her sheets and comforter. Put it outside to dry. Made her bed.

Almost all done. I just need to take the curtain off and wash them.

Now I need to do the same to the older girls' room.