Monday, January 18

Owen's Closet Overhaul - The Big Reveal...


I have three words for those of you considering transforming a closet in your home into a bookcase...

GO FOR IT!!!


Now that the closet-turned-bookcase project is complete and Owen has been living with it for over a week, I can easily say that this is one of the best decisions we have made in making our home work for us.

The last photo I left you with in my previous post was this:


We were working on getting the shelves cut and installed and making sure that the whole thing was stable enough to hold all that we intended for it.

Once the shelves and supports were in place and secured...


the tops and bottoms of each shelf got a good, solid coat of paint. I painted it the same blue as I had painted the inside of the closet so that they would blend in...


Pine trim was cut to face each shelf. I painted it white to match the existing trim around the closet and throughout the room...


Once that was done, we were ready to get all of Owen's belongings out of our room (where they sat during this project) and put into place in a newly organized fashion.

Canvas bins were filled with marble tracks...


dragons...


costumes...


and all of his other multiple-piece possessions.


We stacked all of our family board games up high so that they would stay out of reach from little hands...



And his buildings from his train set were placed on top for display, but are easy enough for us to reach when he feels like building a new track...


A stool for Owen to stand on was all it took to complete his new bookcase...


And then it was time to stand back and admire what we had done!


Everything below the game shelf is easily accessible for Owen.
Easy to get out and, more importantly, easy to put away...



Owen is still getting used to sleeping in a room without his big brother, so I came up with an easy way to give him a nightlight.

A push light hung on a nail on the inside of his closet illuminates his train track buildings and let's him dream up new track designs before falling to sleep...

I thought it was a clever idea.

And Owen loves it!




So, once again, I say...

if you're considering doing this
(and I know many of you are based on your comments on my previous post)

GO FOR IT!

You won't regret it!

What was once a constantly messy, good-luck-trying-to-find-the-floor, little boy's room...

is now an organized, cozy space to be in. The boys are happy to play in there, setting up marble tracks, playing trains and competing in rousing games of Connect Four and Dominoes.

You won't find any regrets here!


But I have to say, I think the key to keeping this bookcase easy and do-able for Owen was not placing any hard rules on where things belong. The canvas bins fit on two of the shelves and his lego bins fit neatly under the first shelf. The shelf above his lego's has been kept open and he is free to arrange it as he sees fit. His canvas bins can be filled any way that he likes. I thought about labeling them, but decided against it. Easy for Owen is the main objective. As long as there is room for everything to fit, I don't mind where he puts it on the shelves.

And, luckily, it has been working!


Along with a closet overhaul, Owen also got a fresh take on his decor...


I am happy to say that Owen's room is finished!

I'll show you how it all turned out in my next post.
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