Tips for Sellers: How to Keep Children's Bedrooms Neat (and Show-Ready)
- Bella Casa
- Jan 6, 2010
- 3 min read
Kids like to play and tend not to be the most organized. Children’s rooms are usually the smallest and are often shared, plus they get crammed with toys. If you have a house for sale, this can be a problem. So, how do you organize your kids’ rooms and keep them that way? Here are a few pointers to help you out.
1) Eye level is very important. Evaluate the space and storage options from your child’s point of view. He or she may not be able to reach some of the more “obvious” storage options. Each organizational solution has to be one that will work for kids. Adult furniture, etc. isn’t very workable. For example, dresser drawers can fall out and hit their heads, closet doors can come unhinged if opened from the bottom and kids can’t reach high shelves. Toy boxes may be the right height but these are often a dumping spot for every toy without any sense of order.
2) Always organize from the bottom of the room up towards the top. Things that get used every day will be stored closer to the ground within reach while items that are for show, expensive collector’s items, etc., will be placed higher up on shelves that are out of reach.
3) Sort through everything and throw out what no longer gets used. Start with clothes. If you have more than one child, separate their clothing into separate areas. Get rid of or store items that are outgrown, out of season, or simply never get used.
4) Picture labels are great for kids as they show, visually, where items belong. Once your child starts to read, promote this skill by switching to word labels. Put these labels on everything from drawers and shelves to toy boxes, bookcases and more.
5) Utilise technology. Technology has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, so whilst you may have had a Tamagotchi or remote control car, kids nowadays have access to phones, tablets and consoles. These gadgets are full of games that can keep the kids entertained for hours, saving you from the chaos of hundreds of toys in every room. Warrington Worldwide, and other sites like it, have a few suggestions on how to stay entertained at home using no more technology than your phone, helping to keep your home clear of clutter.
6) A toy library is a wonderful solution for having too many toys. Take a large toy container and put a bunch of toys in it. Put the container into storage for 2 months. When you feel your child is getting bored with the toys he or she is currently using, whip out the toy library and have them pick out new toys. This will save you money and clean-up time!
7) Contain toys with lots of small parts before you store them. Clear, plastic containers are great because you can see what’s inside them. Lightweight items, such as stuffed animals or extra pillows, should be stored in cardboard boxes. Specialty organizers should be employed for magazines, comic books, video games, CDs and tapes. Storage containers are additionally beneficial as they can help minimize the number of toys that are out at any one time. Have your kids put away one game or toy before they start with a new one.
8) Make upkeep fun by providing a checklist that you and your kids can do together. As they grow up they can then do it themselves and will have already gotten the hang of staying organized. This is much more effective than doing it all yourself so your child never learns. You can turn clean up time into fun time by playing a game of “How fast can you put everything in it’s place?” You can make a morning and evening routine out of it. Beds get made, toys get put away, laundry goes into the hamper and everyone’s happy!
Article Source: www.homestagingchannel.com