In honor of Spring Cleaning …
No, let’s be real.
In honor of Mom-was-so-in-the-mood-to-dejunkify … We recently had a big clearing-out party in the play room. It was so necessary. I have no idea where half of this stuff even came from.
…..
Step 1: Dump everything on the floor. We were pretty much half-way there already. Couldn’t even walk in that room without some small injury for the few days leading up to this. It’s not usually that messy.
…..
Step 2: Sort, sort, sort. A place for trash and a place for donations. As for everything we kept, I grouped all the game pieces (to put back with their respective games), puzzle pieces (same thing), and other small things that needed to be put with their likenesses.
…..
Step 3: A place for everything and everything in its place.
This incredibly functional piece of furniture is from Razmataz (years ago). Lots of drawers and cupboards so that all the toys are easily accessible … without being visible all the time. Green boxes from IKEA.
Got these little wooden friends at World Market a few years ago. Fun play room accessories.
Our bookshelf is another Razmatz favorite from years ago. I so want to paint this but I’m not sure of a color. Nor can I seem to make the time for such a project. The big clock is from WalMart. Big frames from Costco Home. Porter’s 5-year-old handwritten alphabet is framed next to the lamp. Little leather chairs + ottomans from Creative Leather.
The handprint tradition continues. (See this post and this post for the info if you missed that before).
The kids’ bags & backpacks hang from these hooks (possibly Razmataz as well?) in the play room.
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The paint color in this room, by the way, is Caribe (UL220-1) by Behr at Home Depot. The grey is Castle Path (730C-3) from Dunn-Edwards. Castle Path is the light grey neutral that is throughout our other main rooms and halls.
We did not buy anything for this project. It was not a re-decorating or re-design at all. It was a cleaning project. It feels awesome to clear out so much and refresh our organization. The kids loved becoming reacquainted with toys they forgot about and loved donating toys they were ready to part with.
Tags: spring cleaning, toys
Yay! I love cleaning/organizing projects. I think it is awesome that you involved your kids.
I LOVE organizing! Glad to see that your house gets messy too!! Please, please post more fun things like this one! We all love your home and want to see more!!
I’m ready to do a few of these projects myself! Kids rooms need HELP! But first I HAVE to get the weeds out of my yard!
I love how organized it looks. Great job. Those Razamataz pieces are wonderful storage places. Great idea with the hand prints. My kids are all grown but grandkids could be fun to do . . .
thank you for sharing this project with us.
I love it! So fresh & fun! I love the furniture!
I sometimes wonder if I let spaces get this bad so that a massive cleaning results in such a dramatic difference!
The results look great. I love the way you use personal items instead of mass produced ones – like using Porter’s handwritten alphabet as a framed piece of artwork.
I love that you share where you picked up all your fabulous playroom finds! You have such a great eye for decor!
I recently did this, although it was not as successful as I would have hoped. But good news is that I was able to get some clutter out and get some things reorganized.
Now, if I could just be so motivated to declutter my “playroom” (den/office/craft space)
I’m inspired! I’ve been putting off the same job for two weeks now, but seeing your end result has upped my motivation to get it done. Thanks for the openess. I also love how you share the resources for your room.
Wow! Your playroom looks AWESOME!!! Great job!
A question for you though…how do you get the kids on board with getting rid of things? We’ve tried this several times and no matter what kind of spin we put on it there are tears and tantrums, and we end up waiting until the boys stay the night at their grandparents to purge. I don’t like doing it this way…I really want them to learn that they can’t hang on to everything FOREVER…but I don’t know how to do that!
Any suggestions would be MUCH appreciated!
Thanks!
I am CRACKING UP!!! We’re getting rid of our playroom/girls sharing bedroom arrangement in favor of each girl having their own room….Their bedroom was so bad last nite I finally cleaned up while one of them slept and the other one watched the ball game with daddy….I KNOW I have to dump everything out, sort, categorize and re-pack so we can paint/move etc…
Thanks for the visual inspiration!! Wish we had a store like Razzmatazz…love those pieces…nothing like that in Boston!
You have inspired me once again…yesterday I purchased some furniture fabric from JoAnn Fabrics recovered my kitchen chairs (8 chairs cost less than $45), bought a small sample of paint from Home Depot ($2.49) for some pillar plant holders and antiqued them with some paint I found in the basement. Your bright colors in your rooms had me go out on a limb. Mine aren’t as bright, but they aren’t matchy matchy and are out of my comfort zone. Thanks again for your inspiring blogs. Can you help me with the garage? How does everyone organize shoes and such by the back door?
Beth Brunette
YOU are an inspiration to get me off the couch! Thank YOU so much…your decorating/organizational ideas are just what I need! And I’d also like to say a huge ‘thanks’ for turning me on to Whippy Cakes … I LOVE her stuff and her site. Such talent in that girl! I love how she cut your hair and I sent the video clip to my hairstylist to take a peak…now to build the nerve to cut off about 10 inches to achieve that look
Thanks for the inspiration! I actually have been doing some cleaning out & re-organizing myself…maybe I’ll do a blog post about it! Love that big piece of furniture from Razmatz!
Could you come and organize my house? I don’t even have kids at home anymore to make messes. Its just ME!!
We just got done with our playroom. It feels sooo nice to have everything in order. Love your pictures and organization ideas.
I love dejunkifying, too! I just did this with my daughter’s bedroom. It took us two full days, but it felt soooo good to be cleaned out! Unfortunately, it only took about two days to look like the “before” picture again! Hope yours stays cleaner longer!
Love the furniture and decor in this room and your entire house. Love your style! Thanks for sharing!
Wow….wish I could say our play room looked like that….it is however about to get a little much needed TLC. I have a question for you and wasn’t sure where to reach you so I will try here and maybe facebook too! We have a bonus room that is our family/play/craft room. It is the largest room in our house and we are getting ready to order a countertop for a corner of the room similar to what you have in your office. It will be U shaped with the desk part coming out from the wall. We have had a sketch done already and I have taped out the measurements on the floor with painters tape, but I am just wondering about your dimensions. If you wouldn’t mind sharing could you please tell me how wide your desk area that comes out is. I want it to be wide enough for a chair on both sides pushed in. Also how wide is the rest of the countertop that goes along the wall. Thanks so much!!
You should consider painting the bookself the same green color as the boxes! That would look super cute and fresh, fresh, fresh, for spring!
You always inspire me to reorganize my things!!
Love this….my hubby doesn’t understand why I make a bigger mess before it gets clean.
OMG! I sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo LOVE looking at your house. It is gorgeous, creative….WOW! I love how personal it is, colorful and just plain AWESOME. It just inspires me so much! Keep sharing…hint hint! I get more ideas from YOU than ANY home decor magazine!!
Thanks for sharing. Cleaning out the toys is on my to-do list. Reading this post makes me want to do it now.
Great work! Trying to declutter to toys here too! Two kids with birthdays coming up and I keep telling myself it will be more enjoyable for me to watch them open their gifts/toys for their birthdays/Christmas if there aren’t so many toys already!
amy s
Love how you bring inspiration on not just documenting life, but LIVING life! Since so many of us seem to want help not just capturing photos and memories, but also living well (loving our families, managing our homes, having cute hair, etc.) what if you had a few bonus little cards in the 2012 Project Life to encourage us to take some of your inspiration steps together as a Project Life community. Maybe, “One Great Hair Day” or “Fresh Start”, “A Great Idea”… then we could all share our projects/photos of several of us throughout the year taking your inspiration as a springboard. That way, we could join you in some of these amazing steps and capture them in our PL projects.
Thanks so much Becky! I’ve got to go clean now…
I love to see that your house isn’t perfect all the time! Yay – you made me feel so much better. I am so inspired by the colors in your house and the beautiful cabinetry. Any chance you’d ever do a home tour?
I’ve been doing the same thing at my house! I do the STEP ONE! It’s a great system!
I’m now doing my office/craft room! It’s taking a lot longer then I thought!
I need more help than my kids do! LOL
Thanks for sharing! I love Razmataz also! I love your HOME, the colors and design layout are beautiful! I love you too! Your new haircut is adorable!
Have a great weekend!
So glad to see that you are a real person with actual messes in your home, too. You are such an idol and inspiration to me and so many others, that it was comforting that sometimes your house looks like mine does. Thanks for sharing all of your great ideas and beautiful photos!
fab-u-lous. LOVE. thanks for sharing.
I recently did this as well. It’s amazing how much more my kids actually PLAY with the toys instead of just dumping out all the buckets.
very inspiring, I also love organizing !(you wouldn’t think so if you see the house sometimes..;)
and was just cleaning the house actually…reading your blog was my time-out,hmm…maybe better get back to work..LOL!
Nice work! I love the first “before” picture where the kids blend in with the stuffed animals and other chaos. Great furniture, wall color and decorative scheme in there, too. I love the combination of function and aesthetics.
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