As summer came to a close it was time to prepare our house for Back To School as well.
We live in a really small basement apartment. I would honestly be surprised if it is 1000 square feet.
So, organization is essential.
During the summer things go a little awry. Even though we still stay a little more structured it is hard not to just relax a bit on everything.
With two girls going to school this year I knew I wanted to streamline the getting ready in the morning process. (Maddy ended up having afternoon kindergarten, but it is still nice so I'm glad we did this.)
First, in the girls room we added some lights to the Lego area in the closet to make it fun.
This is looking in from the door.
We have all of the girls clothes in the other closet but I saw an idea on Pinterest that I have now incorporated. The link of the picture didn't work so I don't know who came up with this idea but I loved it so I did it.
They used these hanging organizers to plan outfits for the whole week on Sunday.
I found these hanging organizers at Ikea for only $5 each.
Then I used some cute name labels in the teaching section of the dollar store to write the days of each week and then connected them to the side of each section with colorful paper clips.
Now, on Sunday we pick out the outfits for the whole week including underwear and socks and stick them in that spot. It worked especially well last week when they had SOAR week at school and had to wear different colors each day. We didn't have to worry about getting to Friday and having already used the shirt for that day, for example.
It also ensures that I don't have to fight the girls on what they come out wearing in the morning.
I love it.
We also took their desk out of their room to make more room for play and hung up a bunch of their art work.
I re-did all of the books and movies in the family room and we got a new shelf put up to help with space for books. I am constantly running out of room for books. Something I will not complain about.
This is looking down the hallway from the family room area to the new homework area right by our bedroom. I am standing next to the girls door to their bedroom. The bathroom is about halfway down the hall on the left.
The dining area got the red tablecloth put out in honor of starting school!
This is the other "hallway" going from the family room to the kitchen.
Our new addition:
I turned the command center into a homework center. This took a lot of moving stuff around but I am happy with the result.
We hung a bulletin board for each girl to display their things on.
They have different kinds of paper in the container under the table. The white containers on the table have things like crayons, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, tape, glue, scissors, etc.
Then they each have a container of their personal markers and erasers on their side of the table.
The hooks on the floor have since been hung up under the chore boards as a place to hang their backpacks each day.
Because of this I had to move the command center shoe and game organizer into our room. I quite like it there. (Don't mind all the junk on the floor in the background. It is before a DI trip)
It does take a lot to get used to living in a small space but I think we have found ways to make it work for us and it is quite a nice and cozy spot.
3 comments:
I am so bad at getting organized and then staying that way. I keep thinking I just need more space so that everything has a place, so I am truly impressed with how you use your space so effectively. I admit that the title of the post led me to believe that you were house shopping. I love house shopping!
It looks really nice! There is something refreshing about living in a smaller space. I'm a big believer in picking out outfits for the kids for the week. It makes things so much easier. And I too am always running out of space for books. It's a never-ending but welcome challenge!
Julie- Yeah I would LOVE to have more space but we will do the best with what we have for now. We just haven't decided where we want to settle yet and so until we do we will stay where we are and enjoy the close quarters. :)
Donna- Yes. It is a very welcome challenge. Pretty soon it may look like Shakespeare and Company bookstore around here with piles on the floor but I won't complain. You can never have too many books. :)
It is nice. The only think I would really change is having the girls share a room. They are at such different ages that I think it would be really nice for Abi to have her own space. But, it will come in time.
I have lots of amazing dream homes on my pinterest board but when it comes down to it I would be perfectly happy forever in a home that had a bedroom for each kid, a jacuzzi tub, a dishwasher that wasn't half sized, and a big library with a Beauty and the Beast stained glass window. Not asking too much... except for maybe that last part. Haha.
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