Sharpen those pencils! | #curatedpsa
Lillie Foulé’s Bedroom/Play Space Makeover | October 2019
Lillie Foulé’s bedroom doubles as her play space (and at times as a play space for her baby brother too). Her mama reached out to me because she was feeling overwhelmed by the space, which had become cluttered and wasn’t fostering independent deep play. After an initial consultation it was evident that the main issue was LF had too much stuff.
Being her bedroom, the room needed to have a bed and a space to store all her clothes. It is also the access for her parent’s bedroom door, which is in the finished attic. Being her play space, there was a lot of toys, stuffies, art supplies, and lot of miscellaneous. Lillie Foulé is a vivacious creative four year-old, so finding a way to create a calming sleep space as well as an inviting play space was the challenge.
BEFORE and AFTER
Play Invitations.
It’s The Little Things (but like, really…)
Drowning in STUFF? Just get rid of it.

It’s funny how much anxiety ‘stuff’ can give you, and when you have kids you seem to always have a lot of ‘stuff’. Take the PlayMobil in our house. I had never heard of it before moving to the US and for awhile I would find (and of course buy) bags and bags of it from thrift stores – especially the vintage stuff. I organized it beautifully and placed it out for my oldest to enjoy. And he did love it, but the way he played with it was ALWAYS tip it all out and ultimately leave a trail of pieces all over the house, with ‘junk piles’ of PlayMobil placed in vehicles and other various places. I’m all for toys being played with in open-ended ways, but this game made me miserable. And trust me, it’s not worth being miserable over a toy.
So one day when his interests had shifted, I packed up 99% of the PlayMobil and donated it. Just like that. Did my son ask for it and miss it? Not really. I kept the few key pieces I knew he loved, and by removing the rest of the pieces, he actually started to really engage and play with the PlayMobil vs just exploding them like a volcano. Click HERE for a great article about why fewer toys will benefit your child.
So often I hear from parents that they are hesitant to give away toys because 1) their child might miss it, or 2) it was given by a friend or family member and they worry about upsetting that person. Let me tell you, 1) your child will thank you for creating a cleaner more organized play space. It’s overwhelming for them to be surrounded by so much stuff and it’s hard to focus and play when you don’t know where anything is. Nobody needs 30 stuffed animals or 100 broken crayons. Do yourself and them a favor and purge! I know it’s good practice to get your child involved in the process, but for most kids, giving away their toys is next to impossible. My advice, and what works well for my family, is to find a balance.
Tips for Organizing + Cleaning Your Play Space

Lots of times for folks, the hardest part is knowing how to get started. When faced with a play space overflowing with baskets of tiny toys, it absolutely can feel insanely overwhelming, although I will admit these kinds of scenes also make me super excited to see – haha. But in saying this I still have piles of crap in my house that I should just sit down and spend an hour sorting through and I don’t.
It is a thousand times easier to sort and organize someone else’s stuff than your own, because in your house there is always so many other things to distract your time and brain. Just being a parent is enough of an excuse, and then to be a working parent, a partner, a pet owner, active community member, attempt self care etc etc. The thing is, once you get rolling on cleaning and organizing, you pick up traction and slowly things feel more manageable. I thought I’d share some of the common recommendations I give families who I work with, to help you start to gain some momentum.
Garrance + Gaspard’s Play Space Makeover | August 2018
Client goals:
- Mum wanted a space that was more organized and allowed for more independence and greater play arcs.
- Garrance wanted a place she could do art, and for it to be easier to have friends over and play.
- They rent their home so they did not want anything attached to walls.
- I also tackled their art storage chest, and created a little reading nook in the kids’ bedroom.
Here are the main things I did:
- So much sorting and organizing! Garrance is an avid artist and also the owner of so many teeny tiny toys. There were totes and baskets filled with them that needed to be sorted through and organized. This is where the main chunk of my time was spent.
- Rearranged the storage box in the room to be under the windows to free up floor space for a designated art nook.
- Brought down the dollhouse from the kids’ bedroom as well as the small table and chair.
- Purchased an IKEA Raskog cart to use as an art cart. Most of what was in their art storage chest was moved over here.
- Used the two lower shelves on the large shelves for small world play toys and dress-up/gross motor storage.
- Created a reading nook in the kids’ bedroom using a chair and cart that was already there, but I moved to the free space created when I moved the table and chair to the playroom.
BEFORE
Eddie and Walter’s Play Space Makeover | July 2018
THE PLAYROOM
BEFORE
- The space was crowded with too many toys and the deep baskets on the Kallax shelves meant that things were thrown in and lost in the ether.
- The foam mat on the floor was working primarily as a dust/dirt collector.
- The room also doubled as the kids’ clothing storage space, but the large dresser took up too much valuable play room.
- The same went for the large armchair, which didn’t serve much purpose in the space except to house a watchful adult.
- The artwork on the walls was years old and there were other things to mount that no one had had time to get up.
AFTER
- I removed some of the unneeded furniture and then shifted around the furniture that was left to create more floor and counter space.
- I sorted through all the toys and removed ones that were broken, gimmicky (think McDonalds toys), or not age appropriate (i.e. baby toys).
- The newly sorted toys went back into baskets and were organized in the room by type to help create play areas and inspire play arcs.
- Art supplies were placed out in the open near the newly introduced easel + work table to encourage art to happen.
- An area on top of the shelves was created for Eddie’s STEM toys + Legos, out of the reach of baby brother Walter.
- The foam tiles were removed and small rugs I sourced around the house were added.
- Old artwork was taken down and new organizational pieces put up – hooks for ukuleles, a hat rack, and a height chart (all things that were waiting to be mounted).
BEFORE