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 Jeez Louise. It. Is. Done.
And you're going to have to forgive spelling, punctuation, wonky pictures and general blog awkwardness. I am exhausted after putting together this behemoth of a post. 

A few weeks ago I set out to conquer M's room, my depression and my slovenliness. I enlisted the help of Org Junkie's 29 Day Challenge to help with M's room, a shrink to help with the depression and 28 Days to Hope for Your Home by Dana White for the slovenliness.
I am so happy to report that I have come so far on all 3 counts! Thanks to the challenge, I now feel that yes, I can be an organized, functioning adult. Yes I can get my things together. If I can conquer a room as big as my daughters in just a few weeks, I feel like I can conquer anything. 
There were a few last minute blips, but overall, it was a smooth project, considering we started with this:

 Before

Yet now now M goes to bed with a room that looks like this:

 After

 Does that make your heart as happy as it makes mine? Probably not. The thing is, now that it's clean it is so much easier for her to keep clean. We have some awesome organization tools in place to help my 3-year-old keep her room clean. It's so simple and she has been a champ at picking up after herself in the weeks since we installed her new closet system.

 Before:

 We stored her toys in this closet. On these shelves with a little help from a few clear shoe boxes and assorted boxes and coffee cans... Her bulky items were kept on the floor which caused a bit of confusion when it came time for clean up.

After

 All of her toys have a specific place - and she puts them there when she's done!!! The top shelf only holds toys that she needs our help to play with (puzzles, her baseball glove, a really fancy pop-up book), extra coloring books and a few keepsakes from her babyhood. The only thing hanging in her closet are dresses and her 2 lightweight jackets. All other clothes were banished to her dresser drawers (what didn't fit went to Goodwill in The Purge).

 She has the labels shown above for every item on top of the storage unit. All the bins are clearly labeled with pictures. When I finally invest in a label maker (by the time I get to the laundry room for sure) I'll put words on them as well. Stuffed friends are kept in the hamper beneath the teddy shown at left.

 Bulky items are now stored on top of the storage unit, and hanging on the side. I will need to purchase utility command hooks for the toys hanging on the side however, because the current hooks are too curved to make replacing them easy. In the shopping cart there is a basket with her dress-up shoes and accessories.

 The drawers that hold more than one type of toy are separated out by drawer dividers. Little People and farm animals up front, princesses and Strawberry Shortcake toys in back.

 Before

 This is Smalls' Sleeping space. The dresser was moved into the toy closet and everything else cleared out.

 After

 So, the crib we are getting is out of stock, so to make sure I saved room for it, I taped off the area where it will go... It looks classy, I know, but I had to make sure I wasn't going to infringe on the crib when setting up the craft area. You'll just have to close your eyes and pretend there's a little crib there.

No more digging around for a place to color and her coloring tools, I give you:
The all-new crafting area! Hanging bins for her coloring utensils, favorite pieces of art rotated on a hanging wire, above that cards sent from relatives. Below is a detail of the hanging file bins I purchased to house coloring books, paper and stickers. It is so much more efficient than the mess of a plastic drawer where everything was stored before.

 Before

 Her messy, cluttered bookshelf/dresser. Yes that is an issue of Revolver Magazine from 2005 hanging out up there.

 After

 Cleared up, some pictures and items moved from Smalls' dresser onto here, a few pictures moved from here to the living room. The only toys that are out of the closet are her pull toys. She plays with them regularly and puts them back when she's done. She also loves having pictures of her grandparents to look at.

 Before

 The play area... complete wreck.

 After

The bookshelves we wanted to hang were also out of stock, but they will be purchased when we go back for Smalls' crib. For now I've wrangled excess books into a large basket. With the shelves not so stuffed, M can easily get books on and off the shelves, so there's no longer books all over the floor. The reading nook I wanted to set up has been put on hold because apparently there are hardly any studs in our ceiling. So, for now there is space for a hanging chair or some other kind of nook and the Barbie vanity is still next to the window (you can see a  more full picture in the first after pic of the room).

Before

This is now the toy closet, but it's just another image of the craziness that was my daughter's room...

After

 This is Smalls' closet (the toy closet pictured a ways up in the post). It is empty for the most part, cleared out for all of the baby stuff that we are sure to accumulate in the coming months. There is space for Smalls here now! That was the goal of this entire project... get space for a new baby.

 I came up with what I think is a pretty good idea, which means I probably saw it somewhere on the internet, forgot about it and now assume it is an original idea. We had a drawer stuffed with hand-made baby blankets that always kind of bummed me out. Crocheted baby blankets should be celebrated, not crammed into drawers! We used to have them on a quilt rack, but got rid of it after one of our dogs chewed the legs to pieces. I've been unable to find a suitably priced and sized rack since then. And then, I got the idea to just use pants hangers! Huggable pants hangers actually. On the left are my favorite blankets and a bit of embroidery hanging on display behind her door and on the right are more blankets hanging in the closet.

 And to wrap it up, the challenge questions.


1. What space did you decide to organize and why? I decided to start my whole house over-haul with my daughter's room. The reasons were numerous, of all of the rooms in our house, hers was the one that was stressing me out. I need it to be a functioning nursery and "big kid" room by July and the fact that it had never been organized before was overwhelming. I had no organizational system and the place was a constant wreck. When I started I was almost in a panic about the amount of stuff she had. What was I going to do with it all? How was I ever going to make room for a new baby in there? It was causing some serious anxiety issues. So, I thought if I can tackle this room, I can do any room in our house.
2.  What steps did you take to ensure you completed the space within the 29 day timeline? I took it one problem at a time. First task, pick it up. See how everything is currently stored, see what was working (not much if anything at all) and search for ways to fix it. After that it was all down figuring out solutions to each problem, one bite at a time. I didn't let two days pass without going in her room and taking stock of what was going on in there - even if I didn't "organize" anything on that day, I kept up with how she was using her toys, what she was doing, where the problem areas were. When I took it one area at a time, everything seemed to fall into place.

3.  What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and how did you overcome it? Honestly, the hardest part was the overwhelming anxiety I would randomly feel if things weren't going on track. At one point all of her toys were out of the closet and half-way sorted into her new bins and it just seemed like she had so much stuff. I felt like we had done a fair bit of purging, but still, her toys seemed to be multiplying! Turns out, things just look extremely overwhelming when you have them strewed about the place. After just gritting my teeth and putting a full Saturday into getting it back in shape I realized everything that was out actually fit in the bins and my faith in the PROCESS was restored.
4. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space? Goodwill! We purged a completely stuffed garbage bag of clothes that were all in my daughter's size but that were just completely excessive. How many khaki skirts can a girl need? She helped pick out every toy that left the house. I simply told her that they would go to a "new home" so that another little boy or girl could play with them. The only things that left the room but stayed in the apartment were the rocking chair which is now in my room and her shoes which are now conveniently stashed in a fancy new shoe cabinet at the front door. Good-bye messy shoe racks!
5.  Tell me one of your proudest moments during this challenge? I was extremely proud of my daughter during the purging process. She did so well in giving up an overstuffed box full of toys. I think I was most proud of myself after setting up her toy closet, getting everything to fit and coming up with ways to make sure that every toy has a specific place to "rest."

6.  Explain any organizing “tools” you used to help you create additional space and to establish some limits and boundaries? I honestly would have been lost without Ikea. I was able to pick up a storage system for all of her toys, a hamper for her stuffed animals, bins for her craft supplies and even the most amazing chair for a "reading nook." I'm not saying that I didn't spend a fair amount of money, but we did come in well under budget. The whole rule of "shop in your home" is really hard for me because I've honestly never seen the point in organizing before. We don't have things like cute little baskets, bins and extra shelves laying around. We have the bare minimum in our house - so now it's my time to start building up our stock of organizational tools. The best part of M's room is that all of her toys belong in one closet. All of her art supplies belong at her craft desk. All of her kitchen supplies fit in her kitchen. It's a marvelous feeling to have everything assigned a section. Best of all - everything is labeled with pictures so she knows what goes where.
7.  What is ONE piece of advice you’d give to someone else to encourage them on their organizational journey? It's cliche, but: One day at a time, one task at a time. Stay focused on the task at hand and don't worry about what's next on the list until it comes up. You can handle clearing off one shelf today. It's easy and just one shelf. You can handle anything if you just break it down into smaller tasks and take it a day at a time. And don't stress about other areas of the house until you've completely finished the one you're working on!

In conclusion: I have learned so much from the challenge. I feel like I've picked up some good techniques on how to organize and how to stay organized from Org Junkie and I've done so well at implementing a new routine into our schedule that includes pick up time and making sure we pick up before moving from one task to the next.
I honestly do have hope for the rest of my house - which I will tackle bit by bit.
Next up - My computer desk!

(before the final reveal that is)

So this week, I honestly haven't done too much regarding the kids' room.
I got around to half-way setting up the "crafting area" which M loves.  I couldn't find the hanging file bins that I needed at walmart, so I'm going to have to try Staples (just called to check and they have them in stock - yay!)

It doesn't look like much, I know, but the bins hold crayons, markers, glue and scissors. I know that it is a risk putting marker's in a 3-year-old's reach, but honestly, she's never had a problem before now and they've been in her room for ages. She likes things "just so" and when you're supposed to color on paper - she ONLY colors on paper.
She loves having her artwork hanging up. She's constantly asking to take it down to tweak it just a little bit. Above her work hangs cards from relatives - since we've moved she's gotten quite a few. And she loves "reading" them...constantly.
The art and cards are hanging on a bit of jewelry wire (found for $1 at wally world) that's wrapped around a couple of nails. I originally wanted to hang the work using mini clothes pins, but they wanted 4 bucks for a dozen of them. So, we got mini-binder clips instead. 70 of them for 2 bucks. I'm planning on rigging a similar system for behind my computer.

Here is our purge pile from M's room. The playdoh is actually going in the trash and the books below it are supposed to be on the end table, so the box and the trash bag are the only things going - but that's a lot of toys and clothes for a 3-year-old to allow to walk out of the house. I'm excited for her.
Well, the iron came from the laundry room. But, you get the point.

I'm sick today and hoping to God that this is simply a sore throat and not a full on cold or anything. Still left to finish up in the next few days is Smalls' closet:

There's not too much to do to it. I think I figured out how I want to display/store the tub and drawer of baby blankets - but that will be another trip to the store. Hopefully Target has what I need because I cannot handle another trip to Wal-Mart. I have no idea why that store sucks the life out of me, but it does. And after every trip I vow I'm never going back. Until six months later when I need food, and office supplies, and new socks, and a laundry basket. And I realize that I can get all of those things at 1 place!
Anyway - since my last post M's room has stayed CLEAN. And I am amazed. She actually picks up her toys when she's done playing with them - without prompting from me most of the time! Every type of toy has a drawer and she puts it in the proper place.
I still have to get the labels printed off. Will probably head to Staples for that as well, but I have them made up and can't wait until they're on her drawers! They're not the fanciest, but M will know where to put what at a glance and that's what counts.
So, not much accomplished this week, except waking up this morning with a wicked sore throat and achy-all-over body, but again, we're so close I can taste it. Hopefully Micah will get her chair hung up this weekend and we can be all done with her side of the room (well, minus the bookshelves).

So, I'm kind of feeling like we've got it done. Almost. There. I honestly think I was just overreacting last night when I felt so incredibly hopeless about the kids' room.
A few hours of work today (maybe 4 or 5 since I wasn't exactly the most focused person) and the room is back to looking like a room.
I promised pictures.
I did not promise quality pictures.
When I finished up this afternoon I went to go take pictures and realized that my camera battery died yesterday at the fair... So I had to let it charge for a while and while I did, it got dark. Therefor, these pictures are all dark and I don't feel like fixing them in photoshop. Call me lazy.
But I put in some hard work today. I'm done working... and looking at the kids' room.
So...You can find the extremely embarrassing before photos here. While this isn't the finish line, I'm so close to it I can taste it. And it is delicious. I think you can agree, we've come a LONG flippin way.

 Overall view of the room. Look how CLEAN it is. M's duvet cover is in the wash. She's hiding in her "castle" - otherwise known as a canopy.

 Smalls' sleeping space. The crib that we want is out of stock but will be back in around April - so I took the measurements off the website and taped off the area where it will go (with a few extra inches just to be safe) so that I make sure to not hang anything where the crib will be. It looks f*ckin' classy. I know. The shoe rack will be gone TOMORROW when Micah sets up this amazing shoe storage solution for me in our "entry way."

 Smalls' closet. Still needs a lot of work. I completely ignored the baby blankets up there, but I did install a little mesh organizer. Not sure if I like it or not.

 The bookshelf, somewhat organized. It was all neatly arranged, but M really likes to move the pictures around to check them out. It needs to be dusted something terrible. Shh. Don't tell my mom.

 My little helper today. That's her new doll Gemma, purchased at Ikea since M has been such a good sport about giving up her toys to make space in her room.

 Where all of my work went today. Micah put this unit together for me and I organized everything until it fit. All of the baskets/bins on the top shelf are her previous storage solutions - completely empty! We'll keep them up there to see if they can be used elsewhere around the house.

 Alternate view of the closet. Those are all the dresses she has left and her jacket. The teddy bear is sitting on her hamper of stuffed animals. The closet door isn't open all the way. Despite what it looks like, it's not too difficult for M to access her furry friends. I am currently hunting for a handy way to label the bins since M doesn't read and I want her to easily find where things go.

 The kitchen/library. I will either be moving that poster up a couple of inches or switching it with the memo board (likely the latter). All of her kitchen toys now fit IN her kitchen. No more bags of dishes and food laying about. The book storage that I really wanted was out of stock as well, so until they can be purchased (or another solution found), I've wrangled excess books into a large basket.

 Open view of the play area. Between the bookshelf and the Barbie vanity there will be a reading "nook" (already purchased, simply waiting on Pops to put it together for me).

The crafting area. The drawer and binder are not permanent fixtures. I will be purchasing a hanging file system to sort the craft supplies in the drawer and display for select completed work in the binder. The binder will then be stored at my desk. The little bins on the desk will also be hung with some command strips. They currently hold crayons, markers, glue and other craft supplies. Also, the Ariel chair belongs at the barbie vanity. There's a little stool under the table for crafting.


So there it is! Super EXCITED to see that light at the end of the tunnel.

So, the kids' room is slowly coming along. And by slowly, I mean flippin slowly crawling, drudging... I am still just completely overwhelmed by stuff.
We have purged.
And last night we hit up the always wonderful Ikea to purchase some storage solutions for all of the toys we own. And by we I mean The Punkin Head.
The unit has yet to be put together but I have sorted through her toys and attempting to put the things into the bins/drawers for it. And now her room is covered in red, white and green bins along with bits of randomness that doesn't fit.
And I'm ready to give up staring up at the top shelf of her closet where she still has a ton toys.
It is slightly depressing.
HOWEVER! I am going to get the unit put together tomorrow (today was made for the State Fair) and we shall try to see just how much space she really  has in that closet of hers.
And I shall convince her to attempt to purge more toys. Especially the plethora of happy meal/super small/mostly useless toys that have been collected into clear shoe boxes.
After church of course.
Maybe the service will be about giving to others. And M will learn from that.
Sorry no pictures, come back tomorrow for that. 

edit: PICTURES (and a better, more upbeat update. SOOOO PROUD OF MYSELF)

Today:
1. LAUNDRY.
2. Clothes purge - both the punkin head and I will be getting rid of a fair amount of clothing. And by fair I mean massive.
3. Clean up my bedroom (see number 1).
4. Measure the punkin head's room and closets to start work on a configuration for her toys/furniture.

Tomorrow:
1. Draw out what I want M's room to look like, possibly move some stuff around to get a feel for it.
2. Purge more toys.
3. Find a space for the rocker. Get it out of the punkin head's room.

So, I'm a week late on this, but I only just found it today.
And yesterday I started cleaning up Marley's room. Honestly. You couldn't see the floor when we started... and after two hours it's still not cleaned up all the way. So, I'm posting somewhat extremely embarrassing before pictures (although not as embarrassing as they would have been if I had found out about this challenge yesterday morning).
The goal is to have a functioning room for two by the end of the month. I know I'm not due until July, but honestly M came a month early and I got screwed out of my "nesting phase" so absolutely nothing was prepared for her. Since I'm feeling the organization bug right now I'm making it a goal to at least have a space saved for Smalls by March 1st.
Also, I'm coming out of a pretty serious depressive episode and I feel that if I can get the apartment cleared out, I'll have a better chance at not relapsing before winter next year. I'll be good to go so to speak.
And bonus - we have the funds right now to do some organizational shopping. And I'm flippin' stoked about that.
So, while the challenge will be focused on the Punkin Head's room - I will be attempting to get the house in order - many great purges this month.


1. What do I want the purpose of my room or area to be? The Room needs to function as a nursery and "big kid's" room. The space also needs to serve as a playroom with a space for the punkin head to color, play with her babies, barbies, kitchen toys and lastly as a children's library. It sounds like a tall order for one room - but I know this room can handle it. It's huge. 
2. What do I need in or near the room to serve that purpose? All of M's toys need to be in this room. All of them. We will have to do a bit of a toy purge for this to happen, but I think she's up for it. Most of the things that are needed in the room are already in it. Her books, her queen size bed, her dresser. I need to add a crib (obviously), or rather the space for a crib by the end of the month. I would like to add a reading nook and crafting area.
3. What can I remove from the room? The rocking chair will hopefully find a new home in the living room, if not in the master bedroom. Her shoes (which are taking up a good chunk of closet floor space) will hopefully be in a brand new shoe cabinet in the "entry way" - budget permitting. The ugly old shelving in her closet that is holding toys will definitely be removed to make room for Smalls' changing table.
4. What problems do I see with the room? There is simply too much stuff in it. Too many big toys - play kitchen, barbie vanity, child-sized hutch. Nothing is really kid friendly at the moment. Shelves are great, but my 3-year-old can't keep them organized. I haven't found a system that works to hold the small stuff, to corral the stuffed animals, to keep the Barbies in check, to keep the babies comfortable, etc.
5. What organizational tools might solve those problems? Baskets. My plan is to start at the Dollar Tree, work my way up to the Dollar General and or Wal-Mart and then hit up Ikea. I'm on the look-out for ways to organize her drawers, double her closet hanging space since what now fits in two closets will have to fit in one. I'm on the look out for toy storage options, hopefully clearly labeled drawers and bins for everything. Also, more book storage. And something to store her ungodly amount of stuffed animals.
6. What habits need to change to solve the organizational problems? I am going to have to stay on top of it. I'm already working out a morning and evening chore plan for the punkin head to keep things put away. We're going to have to do more mini-purges throughout the year just to keep the amount of stuff that accumulates from getting too overwhelming. With so many doting grandparents and great-grandparents, she often winds up with more stuff than she knows what to do with. Also, I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and spend a little time each day cleaning up after her. She is only 3 after all.
7. What kind of a budget do I have to create the organized room of my dreams? I have allotted myself $500 towards setting up a nursery for Smalls. This includes a new crib, bedding, and decor for the baby. Of that $500 I'm thinking at least $250 can go to organizing.
8. What kind of a timeline is necessary to organize the room? I'm thinking 4 hours a week until the end of February.
9. What is my plan of action? First of all - today the room will be clean. Everything put away as best as I can with our initial mini-purge done. The mini-purge consists of me asking M which toys she would like to send to a new home as we pick up. Those toys go in a Goodwill box. I will vacuum and dust. After that comes my terrible sketching skills as I attempt to draw what needs to go where in order for the room to function - what I would like the finished room to look like. Next will be a great toy and clothing purge. I haven't purchased clothes for M in over a year, but the hand-me-downs are out of control. She has so much clothing it's ridiculous. The next stage might involve a bit of rearranging. I'm not 100% on this. Once we have the area cleaned up and cleaned out, it will be off to the Dollar Tree to figure out what we can purchase to make things easier on me. Then it will simply be bit by bit to figure out what we need to buy and where we can put things away. 


And now... on to the embarrassing pictures...

 An overall view of the room... what's most embarrassing is we spent about 2 hours yesterday cleaning up... and it still looks like this.

 The changing table that will be placed where the shelves are in the photo below. This space will become Smalls' sleeping space.

 Smalls' new closet, currently the toy closet. I was sitting in the rocking chair to take this picture. Hopefully that rocking chair will find a new place in our home. Most of the cleaning took place here yesterday.

 The Punkin Head's dresser/shelf...always a mess.

 Punkin Head's closet. It looks really empty right now because just about every stitch of clothing she owns is in the dirty hamper. Usually this thing is crammed full. Today I'm working on laundry. The tub of clothes is filled with clothing she has outgrown that will go to the storage unit for Smalls to use if Smalls turns out to be female. The shoes... they're always just piled up like that. Can't wait to figure out some new storage solution. No one in this family does well with shelves. Hopefully we can get some cubbies or a cabinet. 

 The Play Area/Library. It is always a mess. As you can sort of see, the bookshelf is completely full and there are books all over the floor. As much as I want to get rid of the Barbie vanity, I think the punkin head would kill me if I did... or at least never forgive me. I'm hoping to find a new place in the closet for it and to put her small table there for coloring and "crafting."

Alternate view of the play area... just so you can see how awesome we have been at cleaning up after ourselves. I'm hoping where that little hutch is I can put a reading nook and some spice rack bookshelves. 

TL;DR:
By the end of this month - this room which is currently a disaster will surface as a fully organized, functioning space for two little munchkins.