Decorative Domingo: The Kid Area
First things first--that biopsy I alluded to in my previous post that
was causing all sort of mental angst was BENIGN. It was my mom's, and
frankly, we're all shocked. Pleasantly shocked, but yeah. Super
surprised and thrilled and now Mums can GET ON with her life. Because it
really looked pretty iffy.
Chris pointed out that I owed my four readers out there CLOSURE on that topic.
Now, onto Decorative Domingo!
Heh. I still crack up every time I say "Decorative Domingo!" in my head.
As I've mentioned in other blog posts, I'm a big huge fat enormous oversized ginormous fan of the Marie Kondo organization/decluttering/tidying book. Make that books, plural, because OF COURSE I ordered her brand new second book, Spark Joy, the day it released.
No, I don't talk to my socks, but there is so! much! practical wisdom in her little homemaking books, which is actually how I view them. I might be a women's studies major, but I heart homemaking.
Anyhoo, one of the things the childless Kondo suggests is not letting kiddos keep their toys everywhere. Yeah, right, I thought. And I moved on in her book.
Then I took a look around my house and thought . . . . WHY do the girls need to have several bins of toys in the family room? They each have their own rooms. And they have their own playroom! Granted, it's not a a 3000-square-foot finished basement like half the people in the neighborhood (not judging, just saying), but it's a whole freaking room devoted to their toys.
So, I moved the toys upstairs to the playroom.
Charlotte was not amused. "Why don't we get any toys downstairs?!"
"Because," I said. "You girls have THREE rooms to hold them all upstairs."
"But what if we want to PLAY with a toy downstairs?" she asked in a whining voice.
"Then play with it downstairs. And when you're done, take it back to where it belongs."
I will freely admit that the second part of this suggestion has been entirely ignored by my children, but at least everyone KNOWS where all the toys belong.
And this has made tidying up the downstairs much faster. Granted, I'm the only one who does it, but at least it's faster.
One problem we were facing, though, in keeping the kid crap upstairs was Charlotte's computer. She was using it on top of the girls' train table, which was uncomfortable, and she didn't like being stuck upstairs to use it. Like Emma, she prefers to be around her people. Also? When she hit a tech problem, Chris or I would have to go All The Way Upstairs to help her, which . . . wasn't super convenient.
I took a look at our downstairs area. Due to the bump-out we did in our kitchen and our decision not to fill the space with a more cabinets and a desk area (expensive and I figured we'd have plenty of storage in the regular part of the kitchen---plus, those things are clutter whores), we have a TON of space between our kitchen and family room. Yes, there's a kitchen table on one side, but that only takes up so much room. Yes, we have bar-height seating at the kitchen island, but again. Lots of room to work with. It's GREAT for floor puzzles. Other than that? It's space that's not really used.
So I asked Chris, "What if we put a desk area there, one that could double as a craft table or something. Kid-sized. We could move Charlotte's computer downstairs. When she gets to the homework phase of school, she can comfortably work and we'll be right there to help."
Chris was fine with the idea.
So, I ordered something cheap from Target that I intended to spruce up. Then, after dinner the next night, the whole dang family found itself at an artsy local place that refurbishes furniture. The girls and I fell in love with this craft table and chairs, which are vintage (ahem, salvaged) old school chairs, or so I was told. (It also came with two extra green chairs, which I put at the coloring table upstairs in the playroom.)Yeah, it was pricier than the Target one, but so freaking adorable! I returned the other one, not even taking it out of the box.
It has worked as hoped, even if I couldn't convince either of my children to pose for a blog pic. It also came in super handy when I had four 5-year-old girls over for some craft and paint time (oh, I put down some protection). It's just their size and perfectly placed.
Chris pointed out that I owed my four readers out there CLOSURE on that topic.
Now, onto Decorative Domingo!
Heh. I still crack up every time I say "Decorative Domingo!" in my head.
As I've mentioned in other blog posts, I'm a big huge fat enormous oversized ginormous fan of the Marie Kondo organization/decluttering/tidying book. Make that books, plural, because OF COURSE I ordered her brand new second book, Spark Joy, the day it released.
No, I don't talk to my socks, but there is so! much! practical wisdom in her little homemaking books, which is actually how I view them. I might be a women's studies major, but I heart homemaking.
Anyhoo, one of the things the childless Kondo suggests is not letting kiddos keep their toys everywhere. Yeah, right, I thought. And I moved on in her book.
Then I took a look around my house and thought . . . . WHY do the girls need to have several bins of toys in the family room? They each have their own rooms. And they have their own playroom! Granted, it's not a a 3000-square-foot finished basement like half the people in the neighborhood (not judging, just saying), but it's a whole freaking room devoted to their toys.
So, I moved the toys upstairs to the playroom.
Charlotte was not amused. "Why don't we get any toys downstairs?!"
"Because," I said. "You girls have THREE rooms to hold them all upstairs."
"But what if we want to PLAY with a toy downstairs?" she asked in a whining voice.
"Then play with it downstairs. And when you're done, take it back to where it belongs."
I will freely admit that the second part of this suggestion has been entirely ignored by my children, but at least everyone KNOWS where all the toys belong.
And this has made tidying up the downstairs much faster. Granted, I'm the only one who does it, but at least it's faster.
One problem we were facing, though, in keeping the kid crap upstairs was Charlotte's computer. She was using it on top of the girls' train table, which was uncomfortable, and she didn't like being stuck upstairs to use it. Like Emma, she prefers to be around her people. Also? When she hit a tech problem, Chris or I would have to go All The Way Upstairs to help her, which . . . wasn't super convenient.
I took a look at our downstairs area. Due to the bump-out we did in our kitchen and our decision not to fill the space with a more cabinets and a desk area (expensive and I figured we'd have plenty of storage in the regular part of the kitchen---plus, those things are clutter whores), we have a TON of space between our kitchen and family room. Yes, there's a kitchen table on one side, but that only takes up so much room. Yes, we have bar-height seating at the kitchen island, but again. Lots of room to work with. It's GREAT for floor puzzles. Other than that? It's space that's not really used.
So I asked Chris, "What if we put a desk area there, one that could double as a craft table or something. Kid-sized. We could move Charlotte's computer downstairs. When she gets to the homework phase of school, she can comfortably work and we'll be right there to help."
Chris was fine with the idea.
So, I ordered something cheap from Target that I intended to spruce up. Then, after dinner the next night, the whole dang family found itself at an artsy local place that refurbishes furniture. The girls and I fell in love with this craft table and chairs, which are vintage (ahem, salvaged) old school chairs, or so I was told. (It also came with two extra green chairs, which I put at the coloring table upstairs in the playroom.)Yeah, it was pricier than the Target one, but so freaking adorable! I returned the other one, not even taking it out of the box.
It has worked as hoped, even if I couldn't convince either of my children to pose for a blog pic. It also came in super handy when I had four 5-year-old girls over for some craft and paint time (oh, I put down some protection). It's just their size and perfectly placed.
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