Summer Time Spruce Up

It is amazing how much a room can transform simply by moving around the furniture and trying something new. It’s an interior design on the dime project that is great for this time of the year! Now, as a designer, I look back at my childhood and laugh since I literally did this in my room every other month. I may have driven my mom nuts….But it was just me discovering my passion.

Now as a mother I continue the tradition in my girls rooms (my girls are 2 and 6). This Memorial Day weekend was a little different though, I looked in their rooms to clean them and felt COMPLETELY overwhelmed by the amount of toy vomit mixed with clothes, unpaired socks, bathroom towels, and decided it was time for a change(enter summer time spruce up).

I started in the nursery since it is now evolving to a toddler’s room (I say evolving because…I’m not so ready to convert the crib or axe the changing table) I organized the closet (this is something I have been dreading doing…I hate to part with baby clothes that have sweet memories but will no longer even fit over her head…sigh) and I rearranged the room to encourage more playing, reading and “DIY baby encouragement” (i.e- let’s try to put away our own toys and books.) By the time I was done… My toddler was playing in her room instead of her sisters. I felt accomplished! I use this same thought process…when planning for client’s nurseries and children’s rooms BUT to do it in my own home is a task! Then…I realized…I had to now go do it again in my older daughters room. I mean REALLY the girls will soon be sharing a room so this is easier…sharing AND helping (more).

In my older daughters room I noticed that she is more focused on what she wants to play with. She has narrowed down her toy vomit to Barbie dolls, Calico Critters, American Girl Dolls and various forms of tents. Believe me when I say this is a CONDENSED list! So I rearranged the furniture to give the room a more open flow. Most of her “tents” are too small so I created an open tent area out of an old Ikea canopy that used to hang over her crib (yes I still had it). Her American Girl dolls have space for their many clothes and accessories, her Barbie house is open for play AND all those teeny, tiny Calico Critter parts now have a home (other then in my two year olds mouth). After about an hour of wrestling her closet and her SHOES…I emerged triumphant and…both girls ran back and forth between the rooms playing and only came out for snacks.

My husband and I actually watched a movie uninterrupted (It was Disney’s Tarzan but whatever lol) and that night my girls slept in….well…basically my room BUT they started in their own…well…the baby started in her sisters room…hey I’m honest!

The girls are playing in their rooms, they are keeping them clean (so far) and the unpaired socks have …for the most part found their partner AND last night when I went to read my oldest a bed time story, I noticed the sweetest little note written on her chalk wall, it read “yay my Dad is the best!” LOL the life of a mom!

With the summer months here, trying this project can give a room a totally different feeling and create space that your child never knew was in their room!

Still looking for one Minnie Mouse sock,
-J