Hoarders - 8 Year Old Edition

As a bonafide Throw It All Away-er it pains me to admit this, but I'm raising an Everything Is Treasure-er.

Receipts, rocks, every tiny nicknack she finds on the street.  It all has value to her.  Everything is either A) beautiful or B) able to be made beautiful as part of a craft.  Which is a pretty awesome way to look at the world, but lends itself to a bit of a clutter problem.

It's a clash of the titans type situation.

Think I'm kidding?

This was her room last week:

bear bed crafted from 700 paper bags and 8 blankets

vacuum box that became a robot, construction paper "tv" for when

screen time is over, box behind robot for her stuffed animal daycare

I struggle to find the sweet spot between her need to collect and create and my need for order and blank spaces.

My current solution was to find more storage options so she could keep a good portion of her treasures, but they could have homes.  Our rooms here aren't small, but they aren't large either.  And since Josie is in love with her Princess Sized Full Bed (what she calls it), there is limited room for containment.  

I searched for months for a dresser.  

Did you know these puppies are expensive?  

Goodwill to the rescue.  

$20 for the dresser, $18 for the paint, 2 years off my life for sanding and painting in 115 degree weather.

Worth it...

Would you believe that after adding a ton of shelves to her closet, that there are now empty drawer?  We should take bets on how long they stay empty.

And once I started I just couldn't stop.

So her entire room got a Almost Tweenie Bopper redo.  And I love it.

Disclaimer: Josie has been on vacation all week and hasn't set foot in this room yet.  It will probably never be this clean again, but I will always have these pictures to look back on and that's good enough for me.