Operation Logan's Room

So I finally did it.  Finally!  Logan's room is completely cleaned out and organized.  It took at least two hours...maybe more...it was that crazy in there!  See we moved Logan out of the nursery and into the larger spare bedroom over a year ago, and since then there has been birthday, Christmas, and Easter presents.  Not to mention all the toys he has collected in the past year from Happy Meals, Treasure Box (daycare thing), and random "Sure you can have that today" gifts.  This means that for over a year now I have been putting things wherever I could find space.  And that meant that nothing was together which in turn meant that lately it was getting harder and harder to find certain toys. 

Here...take a look at the mess...I'm brave enough to show it...but only because I've already cleaned it...

This is Logan's room...it doesn't look to bad from a distance...does it???

But then you get closer...for instance here is his headboard full of books, stuffed animals, an airplane, and a micromachine, and even some old birthday cards...and none of it in any kind of order as you can see. 

And here's his table...I think it speaks for itself...

And this is inside his toy box...it's best not to try to find a specific toy in here because, well, you can't.  Hard to believe...ok maybe not...

And this is the closet...inside here is complete chaos...so bad it makes his actual room look organized.

See we bought this really cool shelf with cubby holes and boxes that fit in the cubbies a couple of years ago.  It works really well for storing toys...at least it does when the poor boxes aren't stuffed so full of toys they no longer fit into the cubby holes...

And there are lots of cool art supplies in these blue tubs, but they are up to high for Logan to reach and even if he could reach them they are so messy inside he couldn't find a crayon unless he dumped the whole box out!  Oh, and that stack of clothes...those are winter clothes I pulled out of the dresser and shoved in the closet haphazardly one day instead of taking the time to pack them away for the summer.  Plus there is a stack of books there that didn't fit on the book shelf because, well, you saw the book shelf so you know they're not going to fit!

Basically I had my work cut out for me.  I started in the closet by packing away all of the winter clothes and cleaning out the art boxes.  And from there I was able to move onto the bookshelf.  After that I conquered the toy box, and finally I was able to clean out the cubby shelf.  In the end I had one plastic Walmart sack full of trash, another full of toys for the day care Treasure Box (we recycle), and a stack of books and a few toys to move to Gavin's room.  And here's the final result!

I had to adjust the shelves on the book case a little to fit all of the books, and I had to move a few of Logan's "babies" (a.k.a. stuffed animals) to the closet or Gavin's room, but I made it all fit.  Of course to keep the shelf looking this nice will require routine maintenance since Logan likes to pull books and animals off the shelf and play during "nap" time.

And look...I got the little table completely cleared off!  I also moved the train table around.  The new arrangement doesn't make the most sense as far a use of space, but it allows Logan more access to his train table with out Justin and I having to go in there and move it out of the corner to he can play on it.

And this is inside the toy box.  It may not look a lot neater, but trust me it is!  I know exactly where to find all of the Toy Story toys, the remote control cars, and all the pieces to "Gator Golf."  Again this will take maintenance, but at least all of this stuff has a "home" now!

Here's the closet...my pride and joy!  All of the art supplies is now neatly contained in the box.  It's still to high for Logan to reach, but I decided that maybe that wasn't such a bad thing...we're talking about paint, play dough, markers, and scissors here!  Oh, and those boxes of Legos...those are Justin's...he's a grown man but he still likes his Legos!  And look how clear the floor is - we can acutally walk into the walk-in closet now!

And now for the cubbies...don't they look nice???  Cars and airplanes are separated into storage containers on top while each cubby below houses a specific type of toy.  One bin for stuffed animals, one for blocks, one for costumes, one for Little People, one for bigger cars, one for miscellaneous toys, etc. 

When Logan got home from day care today I took him on a "tour" of his room.  He was so excited about it all - he was so happy that I "found" some of his toys.  Later on this evening out of nowhere he said, "Mama you cleaned my room really nice."  I could have melted - I love it when his sweet side comes out!

So that was what I was up to today.  That leaves me with half of my summer projects list completed.  Left to tackle is the living room/office area and the hall closet.  Originally I was hoping to have them done before Logan's birthday next week, but seeing as I only have one day between now and then where both boys will be at day care I don't think that is going to happen...especially since it is my birthday next week too! 

Oh, and as far as summer to-dos go, remember how I told you I could be a candidate for "What Not to Wear"?  Well, my wardrobe has not improved any, but despite my claim that I refused to weigh myself I stood on the scale anyway today.  And guess what???  I've lost five pounds!!!

Today is what I would call a good day.  Hope it was the same for all of you!