We are continuing Operation: Organization 2017 and today I have a fun project to share in my daughter’s room. We’re also teamed up with two other bloggers–both Erin from Sunny Side Up and Julie from Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss are sharing for Operation: Organization so be sure to hop over and visit them too!
I love doing projects in my daughter’s room because it is such a bright happy space, but of all the spaces in our home it’s probably the hardest space to keep organized. As any mother of an eight-year old girl knows, between the Barbie shoes, the crayons, the American Girl clothes, the chapsticks, the tiny scraps of paper from art projects–you get the picture–it’s a world of tiny, small things that I swear multiply overnight. When her room is nice and cleaned up it looks like this {below}, you can see all the room details HERE and the room with its previous pink and gold color scheme HERE.
I’ll spare you what it looks like the rest of the time, but it’s her space to play and create in so for the most part I let her be as messy as she likes, so she can enjoy her personal space along with the all the Barbies and American Girl dolls that live here too :).
One thing that we’ve really needed in her room is a place to store all her art supplies, and since she’s growing up, I thought it was time for her to have a desk for homework. She has had a sweet little table and chairs, which she inherited from Christy’s daughter, but sadly she’s really outgrown them at this age.
We’ve been keeping our eye on Craigslist and such for a children-sized desk that could be refinished for her over the last few months. Then one day (I actually think it was Christmas Eve!) would you believe in our very neighborhood this desk was on the curb with a FREE sign on it?!? My daughter was determined to get it loaded in our car and home lickity split–she couldn’t have been more excited about it. In fact, she even said it was a “Christmas present” just for her (because the neighbors) “must have known she needed a desk!” and then she bugged me non-stop over the holidays to getting it fixed up so she could start using it. Santa just happened to bring her a bunch of new art supplies as luck would have it 🙂
I painted the desk with the same Amy Howard paint that is on the beds {the color is a beautiful blue/green called “Tick Tock”} and gave the knobs a spray of gold spray paint (this is our favorite); that task was extra-challenging in the freezing weather we’re having. They’ll need some touch-ups once it warms up but for now, the gold matches all the other accents in her room. Here is the before so you can see what we came home with, I’m definitely grateful to have such generous neighbors!
Once the desk was complete, she and I took a little shopping excursion to HomeGoods so she could pick some accessories for her new work space. We found the the large gold polka-dotted bin there {the one under the desk} which holds some of larger books, sketch pads etc.. We also found the gold heart bowls, the small annual calendar she has hanging on her Art Board {she really wanted that calendar, she is SO my daughter!}, and the white fluffy area rug that completes the space.
You can see the tutorial for how I made the Art Board for her HERE. I rehung it over the desk so she has a place to pin up her masterpieces.
The bowls with the gold hearts were part of a set but only three were available {and I may or may not have climbed under a display to rescue them from where they must have been accidentally knocked down!}. The nice people at HomeGoods let me buy them ‘as is’, and they are perfect for storing and displaying all her little things. I’d envisioned putting some gold paper clips and such in them but within minutes she had her scented hand sanitizers and lip balms in the bowls; it’s her room and so we’ll go with it, I just adore age EIGHT :).
,I used some fabric I had on hand to line the drawers {I just cut it to size and hot-glued it down} to it adds color and make it all a little cuter. The desk was in great condition so I didn’t bother to paint the entire insides of all the drawers so the fabric finishes them off nicely. I was hoping to have enough of the fabric I used on the Art Board but that’s gone MIA, but some pink and white polka dotted scraps filled in nicely.
| the cutest kids’ coloring book ever | markers | blush gift boxes |
Since this is an organization series here are a few thoughts on organizing a kids’ desk space:
–While I want her to be creative and that includes making a mess in the end having drawers to tuck things away {especially all the small things} will help the space stay neater. She will be able to easily find the art and school supplies she needs, increasing her chances she’ll sit down and create and that is always a good thing in my book.
–The small bowls display the things that make her happy, and now I don’t have to pick up coca-cola flavored lip balms off the floor all the time, so that is a win-win!
—The Art Board is a great way to keep her creations on display so she can enjoy them, and they can be rotated throughout the year. I know art storage is a common challenge when you have younger kids, you can see how I contained all those preschool and kindergarten projects in this post HERE.
I also have a cute chair project planned but the weather is just not cooperating for spray painting right now; I’ll return with that once it warms up enough and it will be the finishing touch. In the meantime, she can sit at one of the chairs from her smaller table so that hasn’t deterred her from using the space 🙂
I am thrilled she is happy with the space. She’s been inviting anyone who comes to our house up to her room to see it so I think that must mean she’s super excited about it 🙂 I’ll be back with the chair project if it ever gets warm enough, but in the meantime here is the whole Operation: Organization schedule, there is tons more inspiration:
Monday January 9th
Wednesday January 11th
Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss
Friday January 13th
XO,
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Oh my gosh! That room!!!! Love love it, Amy!!!!
xx,
Sam
Thanks Sam! Thanks for sharing your talents with us this week 🙂
XO,
Amy
I absolutely love that amy howard color. What a Happy color for a young girl or even us older girls. How lucky you were to find the desk. Did my first project with One Step Paint this week (finally, because the weather was warm enough to paint outside) and loved it. hopefully a big reveal soon.
Thanks Carol! Can’t wait to see what you have created. I LOVE Amy’s paint! 🙂
XO,
Amy