kids spaces Archives - Emily A. Clark

Gift Ideas for Younger & Older Kids

Nov212018

Since I end up buying Christmas presents for a good range of ages, I’m sharing my gift ideas for both younger and older kids. The younger kids are fun. They like anything and forget what they’d asked for in the first place! The older kids (mine are 14 and almost 13) are tricky. They like small, expensive things–and did I mention, they’re very specific? By the way, I asked my son and daughter to add a suggestion to this list. She said a water bottle. He said an xBox (basically the love of his life–for now) so, there you go. . .

See my other 2018 gift guides here:

Peel & Stick Wallpaper Picks for Kids’ Rooms

Sep192018

First of all, thanks to everybody who checked in on us over the weekend. We were fortunate to have no real damage from Hurricane Florence (unless you count the mess made inside our house due to being cooped up together for three days). Continued prayers for our neighbors on the coast who lost their homes and businesses and for others, including some near us, who lost family members, even babies. A good reminder that all the stuff is just stuff and none of it really belongs to us.

And after saying all of that, I’m sharing some of my favorite peel and stick wallpaper picks for kids’ rooms. Life is hard enough and we might as well make it pretty where we can, right? After using both traditional paste and the newer peel and stick wallpapers in our home, I’ll never use paste again. While peel and stick can be a little pricey, I promise you’ll think it’s worth it when it’s time to take it down (and as you’re hanging it; so easy to reposition if you mess up!).

In Honor of Design

Peel and stick especially makes sense for kids’ rooms since chances are, they’ll change over time. And, if you’re going to go for wallpaper in their playroom, bedroom or nursery, you might as well be bold and playful with pattern. (I attempted to put some of these into categories, but many of them would work in multiple spaces. All of my picks are available from Etsy sellers, btw!)

CeCe Barfield Inc.

Meghan Carter Design

You don’t have to paper an entire room for impact. A few more cute places to insert pattern:

source

Katie Ridder

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Lily Z Design

At Charlotte’s House

Domino

See another post I wrote about peel and stick options here.

When Toys Take Over (Practical Storage Ideas)

Sep122018

I’ve been asked many times to write a post about stylish storage ideas for hiding toys. I’ve hesitated because I’m no expert–just a frustrated mom trying to keep up and often grumbling along the way. I definitely do not pride myself on organization, but I’m willing to share what I’m doing in our home to (somewhat) keep my sanity.

rug source // storage boxes (similar)

Keep small pieces in pretty containers. When my kids were going through a Jenga phase (in our living room) a few weeks ago, I finally dumped the pieces in a blue and white bowl and got rid of the box. Any game with little pieces or crayons look better in something pretty if they’re going to be scattered across your coffee table anyway, right? I like to use blue and white bowls, pretty lidded boxes and wooden bowls.

Store games and art supplies in a grown up piece of furniture where they’re handy but hidden. Since I know they’re not going to run up and down the stairs to put their things away, I find it easier to just have “dump and hide” spots throughout the house. In our dining room/home office, for example, I use an antique chest to keep art supplies, paper, activity books, etc. While I think that shelves with storage cubes work great, I’d rather keep those in the playroom and use something with a little more character in the main areas of our home.

And along those lines. . . . Less sorting, more dumping. I’ve tried like you probably have to sort all of the crayons and Legos and blocks and markers and Lincoln Logs and Lite Brite pegs into separate bins/boxes/drawers/you name it. Ultimately, they all end up together and I end up mad that I wasted my time. So now I go with a more general dumping approach and use drawers and baskets and bins to corral all the things for quicker clean up. If they’re not sorted, not my problem. And guess what? My kids don’t care. Why should I?

Free reign on one space. I know this suggestion will make some of you break out into hives so feel free to skip ahead. But. . . I’ve found it takes a little pressure off if you can just designate a spot to pretend you don’t see. It could be a single closet or an entire playroom. (And, sometimes it’s the entire upstairs. . .) Close the door and walk away. I’m sure this is not the advice you came here to read.

Style shelves with toys. Not everything has to be out of sight. In fact, some of the more colorful toys make really great props and/or bookends–especially the things they don’t play with that often or the special ones you want to save from total destruction.

See more of our playroom makeover here.

What do you do with the toys in your home?