We have a loft area upstairs that was the dumping ground for anything that didn’t have a home when we first moved into the house.
One side of it looked like this:
It was my “office” and it stayed that way for about 5 years.
I never had the time to clean it up, and the kids didn’t really help.
Every six months or so I would start trying to get it cleaned up. I’d get it kind of organized, but it would never last very long.
Here I am after one of those clean ups.
It’s a really great space when it’s not completely full of crap.
At one point I added a makeshift table (made from an old hollow core door) for the kids to work at.
And the front of the room went from this:
To this:
Cute, right?
This way I could work on the computer and all the kids could occupy themselves in there with me.
But eventually it would just get all messed up again.
Then a few years ago a professional organizer who was just starting her business contacted me to see if I might want to work together. She’d help me organize the house in exchange for some promotion and exposure.
Her name is Sue Duval and her business is The Organized Hive, and whenever we are all allowed to leave our damn houses again, if you need some help in the organizing department and you should totally hire her.
Anyway, she didn’t even have to finish her introduction before I was like, YES PLEASE.
We started up in the “office.”
It had gotten a little out of hand. Again.
I was getting ready to relocate my office to a little unused space downstairs, but that wasn’t going to happen for about 6 months, so we made most of the room a play area for the kids and then organized my office corner so it was more efficient.
It had gone back to this:
And this:
We got all the stuff cleared out again, and then she totally organized the cabinets.
The room has lot of awesome storage.
Once the room was cleared out, I was able to decorate it the way I really wanted to.
When Sue was done, it looked like this:
And this:
And this:
Then I got to do the fun stuff.
I didn’t buy anything new. I found stuff I already had in the house.
I relocated a rug from downstairs.
I used the kids’ artwork to decorate.
And it looked like this:
And this:
I even made a little hideout.
It was so awesome up there, and it was perfect for the kids.
It stayed pretty organized for a couple years.
I moved my office downstairs about two years ago so I removed all my things.
But then we reorganized bedrooms and some stuff got thrown in there.
Again.
Number 5 moved in with Number 4, and Number 4 did NOT want Number 5’s American Girl doll stuff in their bedroom.
So now the playroom has been completely overtaken by American Girl dolls.
There is no room to move.
Like literally.
Now that we are doing distance learning, this has become Number 6’s work area, and it’s really not conducive to learning.
It especially doesn’t help a kid who is easily distractable and VERY easily frustrated
Number 7’s little cozy hideout is even gone and has been taken over by AG dolls.
It’s out of control.
And there’s a bunch of stuff in there that they don’t play with at all anymore.
As much as I don’t want to get rid of the costumes because that’s just another stage of childhood that is gone forever, they don’t use them anymore.
The days of barbies and Lalaloopsy dolls and doll houses are behind us.
Number 5 doesn’t really even play with her AG stuff all that much anymore. We won’t get rid of it, but it doesn’t warrant so much square footage.
Number 6 deserves (and needs) a much calmer work space, and I want the kids to be able to still play in there without stepping on something and breaking it.
Or hurting themselves..
Plus, I have some ideas…
So that’s our project this week.
Operation De-American Girl Doll begins today.
Stay tuned…. I’ll show you the finished product in a few days!
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