Whew!

Well, I have managed to get the kids rooms done! Actually, all of the downstairs (not counting the sun room but that is a story for another post) and the kids rooms, bathroom and hallway upstairs. That leaves, you guessed it, my room! Where do you suppose all the stuff we didn't know what to do with ended up? Yep, my room! Piles of clothes that need to be put in the attic for hand-me-downs, books that won't fit on any shelf (because I need more shelves), a basket of stuff I found that belongs to other people. But, THE KIDS ROOMS ARE DONE!

Now that the boy's room is clean and organized, I can reveal the FIVE YEAR BUNK BED PROJECT! We decided the boys needed bunk beds and an entertainment center/bookcase to give them more room and more storage options. Paul loves to work with wood and thought it would be a great "weekend" project for himself. Well, that was about 260 weekends ago! As always, each piece cost more and took longer than we planned! We designed the pieces ourselves. He made them out of birch and did not use any plans, other than those in his head. And, technically speaking, it isn't quite done since he still has to make the drawer for the trundle, but....let's just say, it was a learning experience!

HERE IT IS

Representing countless hours during many weekends, buckets of sweat and a few arguments but thankfully, no blood---THE BUNK BEDS! We tease him a lot, because of how long it took, but we also know how much heart went into it.

And, the entertainment center/bookshelf which was done first and we have been enjoying for a year now! It was completely full until I did "the purge" yesterday. Now there is actually room on it for more books!

And, now there is actually room in Isabel's room for Claire to move in. That child had THREE dressers full in her room! One with 5 drawers was full of her clothes. One with four drawers was full of Barbies, Littlest Pets and dress-up clothes. One with three drawers was full of baby doll clothes, bottles, diapers, blankets etc... How does that happen?

Well, we have a very different scene now! Isabel has one dresser with 5 drawers. Her clothes are in 4 and her American Girl doll and clothes are in the last one. Another dresser is empty and waiting for me to put Claire's clothes in it and the last one got chucked out the front door. It sat on the lawn for all of 30 minutes before someone came by and loaded it up their truck! I cleared out a lot of Isabel's toys and created a little play area downstairs for Claire so I can keep my eye on her during the school hours. That left plenty of room for a crib! We may move Claire in there this weekend! We'll see!

Isabel, showing off her newly organized closet with shelves that thankfully, only took a weekend!