A New Look

...Beginning with a closet made for 3. It is so nice to have all of the girls stuff in the same room as all of the girls. This project emphasized the fact that they have more clothes than any 3 girls should have or need but I guess that's what happens when you have 3 in a row. The stuff just accumulates and multiplies. But everything has a spot and there are even some empty bins left over in case something else needs a place to live.
Peter wanted a picture because he saw the camera and so he stopped and posed and what could I do but oblige?
...And a new arrangement of beds. The original plan was bunk beds with a trundle, but Shawn just didn't think it was fair for Duffy to have to sleep in a drawer, plus there was the concern of where all of her bed stuff would go. I don't think a trundle could have accommodated her collection of dolls, blankets and stuffed animals.
So we went with a 2 bunk bed system. There is so much more open space in their room now without every wall lined with beds and shelves. I don't feel quite so much like hyperventilating when I go in there since it's not so claustrophobic.
A few months ago, after so many tears, tantrums, continual weekly battles and repeated refusal to clean up their stuff because it was "too hard", Shawn and I went in and packed up everything. Really. We are that mean. We packed up all their books and all their toys and all their little collections of things and put them away. (We left each of them their American Girl doll and clothes and 1 stuffed animal.) We told them if they could manage to keep their room clean with just a bed to make and clothes to put away, maybe they could start earning some things back. They haven't done all that well, to be honest. Mostly, we just keep thinking if it is boxed up long enough, we may just be able to make it disappear forever and they won't even notice - as long as none of them reads this. It is so nice to not have to battle all the stuff. (Don't worry, I don't plan to get rid of all the books, those will be coming out of storage shortly.) All this open empty space isn't making me feel any differently, though.
Here are the girls checking out their new digs.

We decided to turn the little space under Samantha's bed into a little reading nook. (Or as Duffy calls it, a den in her bedroom.) So we put the book shelves in there, along with some little seats so they can curl up and read. I think this is their favorite part.


There are still a few little details to finish up. We will probably replace the curtains with blinds so that they can open and close them easily instead of struggling to slide them past the bed, we need some new lamps in their space that will actually fit so we don't have one just sitting on the floor, and I'm going to hang some sheer curtains from the end of Samantha's bed to enclose their little nook. I need to sew a matching cover for Duff's comforter - at the moment, it is just a flat sheet put on top. They each will have a small picture ledge on the wall by their beds to hold their books and drinks so they don't have to climb out of bed to put them away each night (ha ha ha, as if that's what they would do! More realistically, they would either pile them up on their beds or just drop them down on the floor. Either scenario doesn't go well with my need for organization.)

In general, we'll call the project a success. Hopefully this keeps everyone happy and comfortable for at least a few more years when I'm sure at least one of them will want to move into a room of their own.