Yesterday I featured the first part of my two part home organization transformation. I wanted to share all of these before and afters back to back because all of the spaces we organized flow into each other in this open concept space. Our organizing sessions with this particular client were really fun for me because were able to see such big results in a small amount of time. My clients were SO ready to make a change which made the decision making piece of the purging process go very quickly.
Today we are going to take a look at the before and afters from the dining room. It serves as the main craft and homework area for my clients’ two daughters. It was full of finished (and unfinished) school assignments and artwork. As we sorted, I put anything paper related into a pile for my client to look through. There were lots of little treasures in boxes, bins, and bags surrounding the table. Once we had everything sorted into like categories we created a plan for the space.
I knew there needed to be some type of structure to house all of the craft and school supplies. After we were able to clear out the tall cabinet from the entry way, the light bulb turned on in my little head. The tall cabinet would create the perfect storage space for all of the goodies. But it wouldn’t look to obnoxious in the dining room just in case they had friends over. I decided to place it on an angle in the corner to keep the flow of the room open. We took a general inventory of the items that needed to be stored along with measurements and we hit up the local Target for bins.
Matt and I went to Target and had two choices for colors, green or turquoise. Based on the wall color and the rest of the home’s decor, I thought green would be the best fit. We returned and worked with my client to pare down some of the supplies and then placed them in bins with labels. I wanted to put the items that required permission like paint and miscellaneous crafts on the top shelf to limit access to little hands. I wanted items like paper and crayons within her children’s reach.
Aren’t the little cups that we found for pencils, markers and scissors cute? I saw them and I thought the girls would love them. It is important for the girls to feel like the space is custom for them because they will create a respect for the space and a motivation to keep it maintained. My clients are going to have to make cleaning up a game for the girls and after a while it will turn into a habit.
Here is a final side by side look at the transformation. I’m so glad that we were able to dig out the table (it is beautiful!) and create a system that will hopefully work for my clients and their kids. Sometimes a fresh start is all we need to find the motivation to adopt new habits!
Cheers to an organized weekend! I hope today’s transformation will help you find the motivation to tackle a project of your own!
Nalini Raj says
Beautiful use of space. Love the plastic containers with their labels.