I’ll admit, I am sore and tired. It might have to do with day 3 actually starting on Day 2. We needed to just bulldoze through it because both the kids rooms needed to be finished before school resumes on Monday.

My 12 year old daughter’s room is one of my favorite rooms in our home. Her personality shines through with the beachy colors and vibe. When I was younger and we moved into the renovated mid century modern that my parents had owned since the 1950’s I begged my mom to let me keep the hardwood floors in my bedroom. No go, she did not like hardwood floors, so carpet it was. I also wanted antique furniture that wasn’t matchy matchy. Again, her answer was no. I think I loved thrifting and quirkiness at an early age.

This is why I let my daughter pick out what she wants in her room. It’s her room after all and I want it to be a space that is relaxing and that she enjoys being in. The only catch is that I want it kept clean and picked up.

When we started, we sat down together and read a few pages of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I had ear marked one particular paragraph.

“To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those things that have outlived their purpose. To get rid of what you no longer need is neither wasteful nor shameful. Can you truthfully say that you treasure something buried so deeply in a closet or drawer that you have forgotten its existence? If things had feelings, they would certainly not be happy. Free them from the prison to which you have relegated them. Help them leave that deserted isle to which you have exiled them. Let them go, with gratitude. Not only you, but  your things as well, will feel clear and refreshed when you are done tidying.” – Marie Kondo

So we began. We went through EVERY SINGLE ITEM in her room, starting with her closet. Here is the beginning of the process.

That giant red bin on the left was FULL of stuffed animals. I thought the hanging mesh bins would really work, but they ended up just being a pain. It got in the way of the hanging clothes and if  you put too many in it, it would fall.

Here is the after.

Craft projects are stored on the top shelf. Sentimental items are in the bin on the second shelf. Toys are in the second blue bin. Hoodies are on the 4th shelf. (Some are in the laundry) Socks are in the white wicker basket.

I was amazed at how fast we were going through items and at the number of things she was discarding. Her stuffed animals are now in the pink basket, except for her TY ones that are on a bookshelf.

We moved her pants to the left side because the rod is higher and it just works better. Her cardigans and jackets finally have room on this side without the hanging bins and that horrible giant red mesh bin. Her keyboard and art folder fit perfectly. Now when she gets dressed everything fits her and she loves all the clothes that remain.

We moved her purses, wallets, accessory bags and sunglasses to the bin on top of her plastic shelves. With everything now in one place, it’s so much easier to find and put away.

Because everything was stack folded before, we actually found things that she had forgotten she had.

She is an artist, so the main clutter we have in her room is paper and art supplies everywhere. We chose an oversized desk for her room. She needs the extra space for some of her larger sketch pads. Now that we have put everything in one place it will be so much easier for her to clean up.

Her desk drawer holds the items she uses every day.

She told me that she had run out of sketch books. Guess what we found when we started going through her things?

We found all of these throughout her room. Now they are all in the banker’s box underneath her desk. Easy to get to and easy to put back.

This bookshelf holds all of her books and extra art supplies.

This one holds all of her special items.

Her dresser top now just has the necessities. Her jewelry is in the drawers and body care is in the crate.

I won’t show you all the drawers, but this is her swim drawer. She’s on her school swim team. You don’t have to use fancy baskets to house all you things. These are shoe boxes and they work just fine.

Her wicker shelf holds her Mardi Gras beads. We had bags and bags of beads. She chose the ones that she really liked and the rest went away. The plastic box holds her special shells.

We put her extra body care items in the crates.

Hannah and I actually had a lot of fun doing her room. We were able to spend time together and even though it was work it didn’t feel like it. According to the book, you are not suppose to organize by room, but by category. We did do everything by category, just all at once. Her room is still 100% her. We discussed where things should go and where they would make sense.

Here is her room completely finished. We gave her the hanging chair for Christmas. Our home in Baton Rouge had an amazing backyard with a hammock strung between 2 trees. Every day,  after school, she would grab a snack and a book or a sketch pad and go swing on the hammock. We left it for the new owners when we sold the house and I knew how much she missed it. It’s not a hammock, but she loves it.

This is our donation pile.

Trash pile minus one bag that wasn’t full yet.

One thing I learned from decluttering you kid’s room is to let them make the decisions on what they want to discard. A few times it was hard for me, but it’s her stuff, not mine. Don’t make them feel guilty for discarding or keeping items.

She was happy with the results. It’s going to be SO much easier for her to function in her space. It took us about 6 hours total, but oh so worth it.

Day 3 is in the books. Day 4 is her brother’s room. Wish me luck.

Stacy