Did you all just fall off your chair!? I organized something! Oh how I’ve missed organizing. Ever since the new house stuff kicked into overdrive I haven’t had much time for my beloved passion. Sure I’ve kept up my already organized spaces, but I haven’t been able to take on any new projects. Until last weekend that is! Kenny and the girls went camping so Kole and I went a bit crazy. We seriously cleaned our house from top to bottom. (I say “we” in the loosest sense of the word.) :) It felt so good! And a certain bookshelf was the first thing I tackled.
This is a picture I took years ago of our guest room bookshelves. Not a great picture, but it shows the purpose of the shelves which was well.. to store our books. This room is a small one and the bed takes up most of the space but we didn’t have any other place for our books to go, so this is where they ended up. It was working fine… until El moved into this room. Ellie started sleeping in this room a little over a year ago when we realized the girls just could not get to sleep at a decent time sharing a bedroom. They stayed up way too late chatting and then we all paid for it the next day! So we moved El into the guest bedroom.
And before long they looked like this.
And this. Half way taken over by toys. Unorganized piles everywhere. It drove me crazy every time I walked into her room. Without any real storage for her things these shelves became a catch all for any and everything.
So Kole and I sorted through all of the books, got rid of books we don’t need anymore, and boxed up the rest! Kole was a huge help with the boxing. And yes. He is still wearing Christmas pj’s. Just in time for Easter. :)
Among other things I came across some of my old teacher plan books. Too fun to reminisce! :)
After a few hours of cleaning and boxing (and lots of Thomas the train and snack breaks in between) El’s shelves looked like this…
Removing the books gave me room to store toys that were taking over other areas of the house. This is not how I would have organized this space if we were staying put for a while. I didn’t label bins or spend a lot of time thinking about how these shelves would function. This is just a better solution for the next few months until it’s time to box up the toys and move!
We kept a few books on the shelves. El’s favorites that have been read over and over. Junie B. Jones, Ivy and Bean, Little House on the Prairie,
and my favorite – the Beverly Cleary collection. Speaking of books El loves, she is currently obsessed with the Thea Stilton series. Very fun for 6-12 age girls! Ad is loving The Boxcar Children. Nothing like great children’s literature.
So that’s it! Not a major makeover, but it feels SO good to have all of our books boxed up and ready to move. It also feels amazing to walk into El’s room and not cringe! Organization just calms the mind, doesn’t it!? I can’t wait to start tackling spaces in the new house. I keep trying to convince Kenny that when the new house is finished we should keep living in our current house and I’ll just pop up to the new house to clean and organize and decorate it for a few hours each day. Once in a while he and the kids can come and visit. But only if they take their shoes off and don’t touch a thing.
I don’t think he’s buying it.
;)
xoxo, Erin
You make me laugh Erin! I told Marty to buy me my own house. It would be organized and clean. I could visit it, sit back, and enjoy the perfection. Ya! He didn’t go for it either. He thought I was crazy. It sounds perfectly sane in my little world. :)
Wonderful inspiration!! Great photos too. Has she tried the “Flat Stanley” or “A to Z Mysteries” series yet? Also the “Imagination Station” series from Focus on the Family is great – very much like the Treehouse books. Just a few suggestions that my kids loved.
Loving the progress on your new home as well – just beautiful. You are very blessed :)
You are inspiring me to make the time to organize. The ‘two of you’ did great work :)!
great job on the bookshelves!! I can NOT wait until you move and organize everything!!! its always nice to have a cute cleaning “helper”
I will absolutely be following your organization ideas in the new house! Our’s is still on paper at this point but I’m already placing things in my head. How much more space will you be getting?
Thanks everyone!
Cathy – Ha ha… sounds like we are on the same page! :)
Alison – no! We haven’t tried those yet but I am going to order some! Thank you so much for the great suggestions!
Mommaren – about triple the space! Our current house is a lot smaller. Are you building too? So exciting!
I love that you have two copies of the 7th Harry Potter…my family had 4 because none of us could wait for the other to finish!
I love when I have the house to myself to organize!! Looks great Erin.
Your too funny w/ the Christmas PJs lol.
I didn’t know you taught school? What grade did you teach?
The house is really coming along, did they give you an estimate of what month you’ll be moving in? So exciting!
It’s so good to have organised bookshelves… Makes sense that you would pack the books up though, so Ellie has some space of her own, and because the books will need to be moved anyway. The change looks good though!
Yay for organizing! And Beverly Cleary was my favorite too! My mom and I used to read those every night and laughed our heads off :) ~gina