Rearranging

I've been needing to get the boys' playroom and their bedroom cleaned out and rearranged for some time now. I started on the playroom back in April, then put it all on hold until October. It was looking better in some areas, but still cluttered in others. Their room was horrible! They have too much stuff and everything doesn't have a place. They're also notorious for "losing" things under the bed and for just throwing things into the closet instead of putting them where they belong. (Well, those things that actually have a place.)

Saturday morning, as the boys were hauling their many Hot Wheels cases into the playroom for a day of racing, Billy decided we needed to tackle it. We had no plans for the day, so we got busy.

We moved Jacob's old toddler bed, which had been serving as an unused "couch" and general hiding place for stashing tubs of Legos and K'Nex, completely out. (And by "out", I mean it's standing on end in the garage while we figure out what to do with it. There's some sentimental value since Billy made it himself.) Then we moved the toy box full of Little People in front of the window where the couch had been. (The boys don't play with them anymore, but we decided it'd be good to have on hand when our friends with small children come over.)

Next we unloaded the countless Play-Doh sets and containers, puzzles, and games from the plastic shelves we got at Home Depot a while back and moved that to the boys' room.

Billy took down the train table/race car track and moved all of that from the boys' room to the playroom. Then we pulled out the tubs of various cars and Hot Wheel tracks and sorted through them, getting rid of some broken and unused things and consolidating others. Those we stored under the train table in its new location, along with the numerous Hot Wheels cases.

We took all the games out of the top of the closet and off the top of the dresser and stacked them on the shelves that we moved to the boys' room. Then we were able to put the Lite-Brite and Play-Doh things on the closet shelf. The dresser top still has a little clutter that I need to take care of, but not much.

Whew! I'm tired. And I'm not through yet, though that's all we tackled over the weekend.

I'd like to get another set of shelves for the boys' room so we can put their puzzles, Legos, K'Nex, etc. on instead of just shoving them under the bed or stacking them in the corner. Then again, that might make it look cluttered again...

Maybe when I finish cleaning out from under the bed, I'll find some of the tubs will fit under there. My goal is to be finished with it all by Christmas so I won't have all that stacked on top of what else needs to be done.

And speaking of Christmas, I think we're going to just add to what they have (Hot Wheels and miscellaneous car things, Legos, K'Nex, books, games, etc.) and not add something new that we'll have to find another place for. (Hint, hint.) :o)