Butter Bean's Room

It seems like every day is a mission to keep the house clean and organized. As you would imagine, with a 2 year old and a 4 year old around, I clean up the same messes over and over and dare I say it…over… again.  Mr. Practical and I try very hard to keep Sweet Pea and Butter Bean active and helping with chores around the house.  In asking them to do these things we have to make clean up simple and practical.

The other day I was staring at the mess in Butter Bean’s room and it occurred to me, “it might be easy to make this mess but it is probably rather difficult for a 2 year old to clean it up.” The bookshelf we were using was rather high and shallow.  There was one large plastic bin for all of the toys, and every toy she has was in it.  Every time she would play she was buried in how many toys there were.  It is very hard for a toddler to focus when there is an overwhelming amount to play with. The general disorganization in the space left little room to play, a large mess, and a daunting task for her to clean up, so she just wouldn’t. Guess who cleans up when she doesn’t?

Before- a big mess

After much consideration I decided a few things needed to be done:

*Find a better way to store the toys.  Something that would be easy for her to get toys from and easy for her to put them away.

*Make her books more accessible.  The bookcase is great for adults but kids do not read bindings. Therefore, they pull out every book until they find the one they want.

*Reduce the number of toys she has access to.  Rotating toys is a great idea.  When kids have too much, they do not play with the toys, they toss each one in a pile as they try to play with EVERYTHING. 

Mr. Practical and I decided to take a trip to our local IKEA in search of some storage solutions.  After spending an afternoon weighing our options, we decided on the 4 cube expedit and (as seen on pinterest) a long white photo ledge, meant for pictures but great for kid’s books.

Mr. Practical hard at work

Today we set up the room and I couldn’t be happier! The cubes allow for tons storage that is compartmentalized (easy to take toys out and easy to put them away) and a great bookshelf that allows the books to face outward.  After deciding which toys to keep, which to donate, and which to store and be rotated, the room looks so much better! Now she has tons of room to play and a place for everything! 

Loving the bookshelf!

After- Ahhhhh so much better!

Sweet Pea and Butter Bean love it too!