Back at it

A I mentioned yesterday, I have been cleaning up the house. Our dining room table is a hot spot in our house for clutter. It is intended to be used as a large crafting space, since we eat primarily in our kitchen nook. Recently the space has been unusable. Piles of stuff accumulate on its surface. I have tried to clear it off, but it seems to be a never ending job. As part of my recent purging and rearranging, I decided to tackle this area.

I started by cleaning out the drawers of the buffet adjacent to the table. The drawers were full of coloring books, workbooks, and drawing paper of all kinds. I also pulled everything off the two lower shelves.

Once the drawers and shelves were emptied, I got to work. The coloring books were the first thing to go. My children do not use the coloring books or workbooks. Once the pages have been used in a book, they toss it aside for a new one. I have been unable to convince them that the unused pages are empty canvases just waiting for them. They scoff and open a new one. I figured someone else would enjoy these. I then tackled the notebooks. Many of them were half-filled as well. A quick clearing out of used pages made them new again. The drawers are now empty of everything but canvases, fingerpaint paper, several notebooks and pads of notebook paper.

Paper of all kinds was another challenge. I purchased a block of multi-colored construction paper a year ago. To use it was a disaster. Construction paper would go all over the place. A trip to IKEA seemed to be in order to help organize it. I had tried looking at Goodwill and asking friends, but no one had something that would work. The kids helped me pick out what we thought would work best. Two wire letter trays now hold our paper. The colors of paper are separate and much easier to use.

Bins were returned to the shelves. This was the same, however I added labels to the front of each box. Now we have a place for paint, pastels, stickers, playdough, stamps and science supplies. Our paper letter trays also reside on the lower shelves.

The change has been dramatic. We are back to creating art daily. I make sure the table is clean every night and set out something for them in the morning. Aine loves having a project each day. I am loving our reclaiming of the space and the rediscovery of art.