This week, I took one look at the bedroom of my son and daughter and decided it was time for a radical change! This as already happened once this year already, and resulted in a room reshuffle, but children don’t stop growing – and they seem to perpetually be building a stockpile of toys and paper.
I was one a mission to sort the room out once and for all (again), but this time my process was a lot more structured.
1. What is the aim?
This time I decided that the bedroom should be a haven for the children – comfortable to play and relax in, but structured in a way that they can do their work with ease.
When you’re thinking about (re)organising any room, it’s a good idea to have a goal in mind. Decide what you want the room’s purpose to be, and bear that decision in mind when you start making changes.
2. Be realistic
If you’re working with a box room, don’t plan it like it’s got all the space in the world. If you set realistic goals from the outset, knowing what the room’s limitations are, you’re more likely to succeed. So, for tiny rooms that still need to contain a lot of things, think about how your can best maximise the space.
Some smartly hidden away storage can make the room look a lot neater and less cluttered. We love the Coco Storage Bunk from Aspace (www.aspace.co.uk). While the price is high at £795, it does get the job done where storage is concerned: a bed, shelves, storage drawers and a sofa area.
3. Get brutal
There’s nothing I love more about watching TV programmes about hoarders than seeing the experts throw out all the rubbish and bring the room or home to life.
But not everyone is able to disconnect emotionally from belongings, when it comes to decluttering and organising. You can try to create three piles for your belonging to see whether you are really decluttering or wimping out:
- Trash pile – things that you can get rid of should go. Whether they go in the bin or to the charity shop depends on you, but get rid of what you really don’t need.
- Move pile – some items just need to be moved to another location, so do that to create space in another room.
- Stay pile – this pile will hold the things that need to stay put but just need a tidy.
We love the Wooden ‘Things’ Box (£12) from The Contemporary Home (www.tch.net); it’s great for storing those nuisance bits and bobs that you can’t throw away, but create a real mess when left around the house.
Sometimes, when you go through this process, you’ll feel as though you need to buy someone items to help you maximise the space in the room. This can be a good idea, but don’t create another problem by buying in newer versions of the old items you just got rid of!
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