Containing Kid Clutter

I've gotten a lot of requests from people asking how we contain all of the "stuff" that goes along with having kids.

Specifically . . . people want to know what we do with all the PLASTIC that kids play with.

No, we're not one of those Waldorf families that only has their kids play with toys made from natural resources.

I wish we were.

But I can't turn down good, clean, hand-me-down plastic toys.

And my sister-in-law Kim has A LOT of plastic toys that she's so graciously handed over to Noah.

Sure, wood toys look so much nicer, but there are some really cool plastic toys and frankly,
I'm not a toy snob.

Especially when I didn't have to spend a dime.

So how do we manage it all?

Well, like anyone else . . . it accumulates and accumulates and then I take a step back one day and realize my house has become one giant piece of brightly colored plastic that makes lots of obnoxious noises over

and over

and over

again.

I realize that Noah isn't playing with a lot of his plastic either.

And then I decide, enough is enough.

I'm going to get this toy situation under control once and for all.

So first, I pick out ONLY the toys that Noah plays with on a regular basis.  I don't spend a whole lot of time hemming and hawing about it. I just grab about 10 toys in his bedroom that he plays with.

I empty out his entire toy box and clean everything off the floor that he doesn't play with and I store it in a plastic bin in his closet.  These are toys that I will rotate out when he tires of his "most favorite" toys.

I place the toys I've picked out as his favorites and I put them in his toy chest.

I'm a fan of baskets, bins and things that close to hide the toys. 

Choosing only Noah's favorite toys has really been quite refreshing.

He doesn't feel overwhelmed by clutter and has actually sat down and played with his toys for an extended period of time.  He also knows where he can find his favorite toys quickly.

I also created a few baskets of some of the toys he plays with.

He has a basket of plastic blocks

 

And a basket of wood blocks.

A basket of balls (his absolute favorite)

And several baskets of books.

And of course, he has some larger, more obnoxious toys that cannot be stuffed in a box or bin.

And we have a damp, unfinished basement so there is no "play room."

We just put these larger toys off to one side of his room (and yes, he does play with them).

Puzzles are stored under his dresser. You can't see them when you're just hanging out in the room, but Noah knows where to find them.

 

Making sure everything has its own basket/bin/spot makes it easy for me to clean up quickly before it's time for Noah to go to bed.  I don't have eight million toys crammed in eight different places. It's easy: blocks, balls and books each go in their own basket, favorite toys go in the toy chest and puzzles go under the dresser. 

Easy enough.  And everything looks so nice when it's all stored in its own place.

As for other rooms in the house, Noah has a rocking horse that a friend gave him for his birthday. It's on display in our sitting room and he enjoys riding on it from time to time.  

We have a wicker basket with a lid in the living room that again has only a few of his favorite toys.  As he gets bored, we will rotate these with the toys that are stored in his closet. 
(Don't mind my spindly plant. I'm not sure what we're doing wrong . . . advice is appreciated)

Who would've known that basket houses this

And when you look into our living room, you don't see piles and piles of plastic obnoxiousness. 

 

But behind our piano is a little evidence that there IS a toddler running around. We have another basket of books (I love books and think they should be in every room) and Noah's favorite little toy to push around when he walks.

The kitchen houses one toy, which Noah has almost outgrown.  It's what I call his plastic babysitter.  We use it when we cook and want him to stay in one place so he doesn't hurt himself.

 

His other favorite "toys" in the kitchen are pretty simple:

 

 

It's true that kids don't NEED all the stuff they have now a days so it's important to simplify . . . but I believe there also needs to be a balance so that we're not so obsessed with keeping thing neat and tidy that we deny our kids an important part of development -- play.

And what's far more important than having a perfect house is having a happy child! 

What about you? What's your system for toys? 

 

He's Arrived!

Please excuse my absence over the last few weeks. We've been a bit preoccupied with our latest love.

Noah Joseph Atkins was born Tuesday, March 29, weighing 7 pounds 13 oz.

I'll do my best to get some posts up .. . in between lots of cuddling with this little miracle.

Thank you for all of the thoughtful comments and emails over the last couple of weeks!

Reading Bieber Tweets in a Comfy Chair

If you're following my Tweets you know that my chair from Tar-jay arrived and you also know I'm in love with it.

If you're not following my Tweets . . . I'll try not to take it personally. You know I'm ultra sensitive right now, being nine months pregnant and all . . .

You can just click on that little Twitter button in the top right of my page and follow, which would make me happy because I get an email telling me when new people follow my Tweets.  I like to know someone other than my mom gives a hoot about what I'm doing every day.

Anyway, my goal in finding a rocker was to find one that could eventually be moved out of the nursery and become a permanent piece of furniture somewhere else in our house.  So many gliders look like they belong in a nursery and look displaced if you try to put them anywhere besides the nursery..

 

I considered just getting a really beautiful antique rocker, but I wanted something really super comfortable and although I love old rockers, they sometimes hurt my tush if I sit in them for too long.

 

So I found this rocker at Target online but I was nervous it was going to be a big pile of junk when it arrived at my house.

 

I was also nervous about the color of the chair because I wanted a cream color and the Target website listed it as "tan" but it was really more of a soft beige or a dark cream.  It's perfect.

It was $399 but it's worth every penny . . . and NO, I'm not getting paid or reimbursed or receiving anything from Target for posting this.  I just want you all to know you don't have to spend $1500 at Pottery Barn to get a decent, comfy rocker glider.

Most of all, I love how soft the fabric is.  Imani and I have been snuggling up in that big chair and reading every night before she goes to bed.  Breaking it in before little Noah arrives . . .

Sometimes I just sit in there by myself and relax . . . or catch up on my emails or read my favorite Tweets from people on my phone.

If you don't have a Twitter account, I'd highly recommend it, even if you don't want to Tweet. It's fun to read other people's Tweets. I'm a bit addicted, actually (does that surprise you?).  I never thought I'd like it but I'm totally in love with Twitter.

I like it far more than Facebook.You can get the inside scoop on all of your favorite blogger's lives

or politicians

or famous musicians . . .

it's pretty cool.

Oh, and yes, I follow Justin Bieber's Tweets.  I blame Imani because we went to see Never Say Never 3D and she learned all about how much he uses Twitter and how he announces his concerts and appearances on Twitter so she begged me to follow him.

So I did.

And I secretly wanted to because after I saw the movie, there was something I really liked about the boy.  Did you see it?

But now, I might drop him from Twitter.

He always re-tweets what a bunch of his fans post about him and it's kind of annoying.  I'd rather read what he has to say than a bunch of retweets from people saying how much they love him.

But mostly it's annoying because he hasn't retweeted any of my tweets or my sister's tweets or Imani's tweets.

Like when Imani played "Happy Birthday" on the violin for him because she heard he wants to learn how to play the violin.  

How could he NOT retweet that?

So yeah, JB is getting dropped from Twitter now . . . not that he'll notice but still.

Anyway, I'm so glad the chair from Target is a keeper.  I was so nervous I'd have to return it and suck it up and buy the Pottery Barn rocker that I've coveted for so long, even though it would take a big ole bite out of our savings account.  I'm still debating if we should get the ottoman to go with the rocker. I don't want to take up too much space in the nursery, but it would be nice to have something to put my feet up on.

It's $169.99 too.  Uggh. 

I'm gonna go sit in my rocker now and drop JB from Twitter.

What's Hanging & Baby Name Revealed

We've made so much progress around the nursery and it's basically complete! I'm sorry I haven't updated you all in a week . . . I've just been busy wrapping things up at my job before I go out on maternity leave.

I'm due on Thursday of this week and I am trying to work right up until I deliver so that I can take my time off with the baby.  I get 12 weeks, and I'd like all 12 to be at home with him, rather than sitting around the house waiting . . .

I figured I'd share what we've hung on the walls this week in the nursery.  I tried to incorporate things that were meaningful and not just random art work from Target.

So first, I bought a shelf from AC Moore and had Jason prime it and paint it Valspar's "Honeymilk".

Then, he drilled holes and put the same drawer pulls in that we used on the dresser.

My mom dug out my old baby shoes and we placed them on the shelf.

Along with this bear that I knitted for the baby.

And I found this adorable sign at TJ Maxx for only $4.99.

We hung up one of his little sweatshirts on the middle hook.

For my baby shower, my mother in law and her boyfriend purchased our Pottery Barn bassinet for us . . . but since it was on back order, she drew this beautiful picture to let us know it was coming soon.  It was too thoughtful and beautifully illustrated to throw away or stuff in a drawer somewhere, so I framed it as a keepsake.

I also finally took the time to figure out how to use my new Silhouette machine and I made this alphabet art.  I printed the letters from the baby's name in brown  . . . and  no, his name is not "Ahno."  Can you unscramble them to decipher his name?

Well in case you didn't figure it out,  here is his name in vinyl on the wall.  The frame was a junking find from last summer and Jason painted it in Valspar's "Honeymilk" to match the shelf.   You can see it in it's original color here where we used it to decorate for Halloween.

I'm so happy we finally settled on a name!  And that's what we have hanging around on the walls of the nursery.   I might add a couple more pictures if I can get it together before he arrives, but I'm not sure. I don't want to clutter the space either. 

Oh, and Jason's been one busy boy finishing our bedroom wall and painting our downstairs bathroom.  I think "nesting" has hit him too.   Stay tuned!



Nursery Progress: Making a Mobile

I knew when I started planning the nursery that I wanted to have some sort of homemade mobile but I didn't know where to begin.

I googled homemade mobiles and found a lot of mobiles made from branches, which I thought were beautiful, but weren't really the look I was going for in the nursery.

Little Slices of Green

I wanted something a little more delicate and I came across this beautiful butterfly mobile/chandelier at Pottery Barn for $59.

It was nice, but I didn't really want butterflies . . . and I didn't want to spend $59.

Then I came across this beautiful ribbon and flower mobile/chandelier at Pottery Barn.  It was no longer available for purchase (and I'm certain I wouldn't have liked the price tag anyway).



Luckily, I found a great tutorial for a knock-off version of Pottery Barn's Mobile at Living With Lindsay.  Lindsay created a similar version of the PB chandelier but she used birds.  It turned out beautifully.

Image: Living with Lindsay

And as much as I loved Lindsay's mobile, our theme in the nursery is the Pottery Barn Lambs, so I didn't know how to make a million lamb cut outs.  I also knew I wanted our mobile to be smaller.

So I decided to stick with the flowers and incorporate the colors of  cream, blue and beige.

First, I bought three embroidery hoops in small, medium and large.  I took them apart and used the inside of the rings.

I also bought ribbon

And seven bunches of artificial flowers in blue and white.

Finally, I purchased some invisible thread.

I began by taking some low-gauge wire I had at home and making a cross on the inside of the two smallest  hoops.

Next, I connected the hoops using invisible thread.  I put the medium hoop on top, the largest hoop in the middle, and the smallest hoop on the bottom.  This was very tedious and I will warn  you that it was frustrating working with the invisible thread because it's so hard to see.

Once I got the hoops in the order and balance that I liked, I hung the mobile across a yardstick between two chairs so I could begin gluing the ribbon on.

Using a hot glue gun, I started by gluing ribbon to the top hoop, looping it down through the second hoop and then back up to the bottom hoop, where I glued it again.

I intentionally made my ribbons of differing lengths because I wanted the bottom of the chandelier to have different lenghts of ribbon to add dimension.

Next, I cut the flowers off of their stems and glued them randomly on the ribbons.  Imani helped a lot with this part and she had so much fun knowing she was helping to create something for her little brother.

When I was finished gluing all of the flowers on, I had to go through and pick off a lot of excess glue but I was happy with the way the chandelier/mobile turned out.

Jason then had the fun job of hanging it in the nursery using the invisible thread.

I will say that the invisible thread is amazing because it's so hard to see, but it's also a pain to work with.

And there it is . . . my smaller version of the Pottery Barn Chandelier, with colors that match our nursery.

I might cover those wires with ribbon or paint them to blend in more.

It won't be much longer and there will be a little baby looking up to see this.

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

Linking up to:

Thrify Decor Chick's Before and After Party