Last October I gave Sophie's room a makeover - she'd just turned 13 and wanted something more stylish and appropriate. It was her birthday present and I promised Sam I would do the same to his room for his next birthday.
He has the smaller of the 2 rooms and it always seems so crammed in his room, so I had to think hard as to how to try and create extra space. His computer is his big 'must have' which he saved up for himself but also plenty of space for Lego building and Lego animation.
So with his Birthday approaching in August, we headed off to Ikea to get the storage we needed - everything has to flat packed to get it up to the attic rooms. Yesterday was D-Day and by midday I had reached the point of no return. It was so tricky to get everything into an already small, cramped space!
Firstly every single piece of Lego was sorted into colour themed drawers (this has taken a few days!!) This was no mean feat, I am talking 1000's of bits of Lego. It may seem like a stupid idea but he gets so frustrated that he can't find the bit he wants, that he'll often just not bother despite loving his Lego. We have put them in shallow 'plan' drawers so it is easier to find what he needs and hopefully he will feel inspired to create again, rather than just spend hours on his computer.
By this afternoon, it is finished and it looks great and yes, we have somehow created more space. With a little bit of a re-jig, sort out, a few bags of rubbish and a pile of bits to be car booted, he now has a new room!
We got rid of his old wardrobe and bought a taller thinner one to take it's place and somehow managed to fit in this set of drawers too, which doubles up as a bedside table.
We replaced the Ikea cube unit with these two Billy Bookcases. They are taller and thiner and because you can set the shelves at what ever height you like, there is no wasted space for all his Lego creations.
So one happy boy!
And one happy Mum, as long as he keeps it tidy!!