The post-Christmas purge

Is it just me?  Am I the only one who feels a sudden and urgent need to clean, organize and purge the minute Christmas is over?  Maybe it's a natural reaction to all the excess - to need to rebalance with a reduction of some sort.  On the 24th, I always sit on the couch and stare in wonder at the beauty of our 9' tree, the warm glow of the lights, the colorful gifts beneath, but as soon as the 26th rolls around, the tree suddenly seems a monster consuming our living room, the toys have taken over, the Christmas knick knacks seem to be attacking our once peaceful house.  And every year on the 26th, I am totally over it.  I need to clean and get organized for the next year!

So this year, my purging and cleaning project ended up being the playroom.  We had a monstrous entertainment center with a 350-lb TV (from before the days of flat screens) and loads of AV equipment (a VCR and old Xbox, etc.) that was NEVER used taking up a large portion of that room.  I had been hinting at Brett for some time now that I would like to get rid of that monster, and he had been giving me lots of push back.  The problem is that the entertainment center was too big to get down our stairs (it really tore the walls up going in and we swore it would never go out in one piece).  So, a few weeks ago, I visually reorganized the playroom, then went to Ikea to get what I needed to make it happen.  And Brett finally agreed to attack that monster up there.  He took the entertainment center apart piece by piece until it was just a pile of wood, screws and hardware.  Sadly, it had been a relatively expensive piece from Bassett, but we decided it was not worth ruining our walls to get something out that was of no use to anyone, since TVs don't need those big entertainment centers anymore.  Our neighbor helped Brett carry the 350-lb TV down the stairs, down the sidewalk, and back up his own stairs into his playroom!  We were so glad to find a home for it!

With all our newly reclaimed space, we put in a larger (adult-sized!) table and chairs for art projects and homework.  Previously we just had a toddler sized table, which has been great, but we are ready to move on to something bigger at this point.  We also got some storage units for managing all the toys up there.    And two book ledges for forward book display. The kids really flock to the little library now that their favorite books are front-facing and easy to access. Pierce sits in the Elmo chair and reads all the time. It's so cute.



Our "library" using $10 photo ledges from Ikea.

  

Our new school room for art projects, homework, puzzles, crafts.  This is a dining table from Ikea along with chairs for both little people and normal people.  The storage unit (also Ikea) is just removable plastic bins for drawers - easy for little kids to use and replace.

  

I also bought these plastic storage cups for crayons and markers from Ikea.  They were meant for storing kitchen utensils, but they are perfect for arts and crafts.  The easily pull off the rail and sit on the table.  $1 each.

So, I can breathe a sigh of relief as we have tackled one major project to start the new year fresh! We spend a LOT of time in that room, so it is a real blessing for the kids and me to have it organized and functional. Brett did all the work since I am not supposed to do any heavy lifting and I also am not in the least bit mechanically inclined. Thanks, Brett!!!