creating spaces - clean creative spaces for Autumn play

 

Welcome!  I have been "fluffing our nest" for the cozy Autumn days ahead.  Refreshing our supplies and tidying up our spaces is a big part of our seasonal change over.  

Since taking the Playful Learning Spaces course my goal has been to bring all of our common supplies together in one space rather than having bits and pieces stored all over the house.  Being that we live in a small home, it's not been easy as storage space is limited, but over time I feel that I get closer to this goal each time I go through our things.

Our family loves to read and create, so supplies for these hobbies are often scattered about our house and found in every corner.  The kids have a nook in the living room that is designated as "their space".  Like most children they prefer to be in the centre hub of our home rather than working on a project off in a room by themselves.  This space has  evolved over the years as their abilities and interests change as they mature.

Before my reorganizing, this shelf held about half of the children's books with the other half stored on a bookshelf in the hallway with my husband and my books.  Also on the hallway bookshelf were boxes of less frequently used art supplies and boxes of fabric.  A third bookshelf in the living room (shown below) housed more art supplies that were used on a more regular bases.


It seems so obvious now that it's sorted and done, but at the time it appeared that there was not enough room on the living room shelves to store all of our craft supplies in one space...until I moved the books to hallways bookshelf that is! 

 

I like to use plain kraft storage boxes to store our art supplies as they are clean and neutral in our living room.  I also like that I can easily transform any box to coordinate with these boxes by simply wrapping the box with kraft wrapping paper.

I took a few minutes to label all of the boxes with the same font making them clean and easy to read.




Having a work table close by means the kids can easily grab a kit or supplies and create some Autumn art whenever they have the urge.

And now when they want to read or look up something, all of their books are in one spot!  After purging the entire book shelf, I sorted the kid's books into several categories: seasonal books, childhood classic story books, chapter book series,  British comic books, reference books, paperback fiction and non fiction.  Above their books I have our gardening, craft, music, natural health and fiction books.

 

I found a great way of storing series books like Magic Treehouse and Geronimo Stilton is in the same kraft storage boxes that I used for art supplies.  It saves a lot of shelf space and is also handy if the kids want to take the whole series of books to another spot in the house.




At the end of the hall I have our front facing bookshelf that I picked up at a Thrift Store for $10!  It's been a great way to display our seasonal books and to casually suggest new titles to kids!

Have you been refreshing your home for Autumn?  I'd love to see how you have organized your home, leave a link in the comments below!

~ joey ~
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