Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The Toys Belong

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A couple days ago I mentioned how I needed to reorganize my living room area to incorporate MyGirls' toys, but I probably wouldn't get to it until February because it's not on my January list of goals. Well, I couldn't stop thinking about the project and I dove into it yesterday...

There was a sale at Target for cubed containers and so I bought 2 blue and 2 green. The blue and green match the color scheme of my living room AND it gives me storage room for MyGirls' toys. In addition, the brightness of the colors add an air of playfulness!

There was also a clearance sale on a set of wooden puzzles that I purchased. It's a set of 5 wooden puzzles on a bright green rack. I thought it made a great toy to keep MyGirls' occupied, but it also adds to the decor of the living room by also giving it an air of playfulness!

Lastly, I purchased, at full price, a square laundry hamper to store MyGirls' larger toys.

After determining what to do with all these new items, I reorganized my living room. I moved all the toys in the laundry room back into the living room. It felt so good to know that there was a home for these toys. I then moved my trunk, which also stored MyGirls' toys to the middle of the room and leaned DearDaughter1's couch in front of the trunk. This created a divider so that there is a distinct play area in the living room and a distinct adult area.

Although these changes are really so small they really make the toys seem like they belong. The storage boxes gives the toys a home and add playfulness too and so the toys don't seem out of place. Even the magnetic alphabet set on the fridge and bibs hanging on the chair look like they belong.

I am happy with my newly organized living room area. Now my previous post about the house being a mess but stuff getting done will make even more sense in my home. Even though my house is a mess, it is obvious there's a home for the mess to go back into. Therefore, I won't feel so anxious when I see the mess during the day because I know it has a home and I can concentrate on getting the important stuff done. In addition, now that there is an obvious home for the toys, DearDaughter1 can help out by putting her toys away when she's done. That's something that she's still not used to doing and I let it go because she's still only 2, but it's not too early to start training. (As a side note...My house was not necessarily a disorganized home before this change...In fact, one of my projects last year was to incorporate DearDaughter1's toys into the living room...However, as our family grew and as we got more stuff from Christmas, our storage and organizational needs changed. It was that change that hadn't been addressed yet and that's what was addressed yesterday. Probably in a few months I'll need to change things around again as DearDaughter2 becomes more mobile. In the meanwhile, I am happy with this new set-up!)

Applied lessons:
1. There's a place for everything and everything's in its place.
2. This is my children's home too.
(Thanks Bren for putting this concept for me into words...)

1 comment:

~Bren~ said...

Wow..it looks great! You are right...there is a way to make things look like they belong...basically because they DO! I have the same letters on my frig for when TJ comes over. I also have a highchair in the corner of my dining area for my grandson, because I want him to feel like he has a place here. It takes up a free area of the room, but it looks like it belongs there...because it does! Great job...that has to feel good.
Also, my grandson who is 2 and my little kids (even my big kids) learned to pick up to the song "Clean Up" Do you know it??
It goes "Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere, clean up, clean up, everybody do your share!" Just sing that over and over while you are picking up toys and they will jump right in. Gosh, I have been singing that song for 25 years!!

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