Reclaiming order from chaos...

We have three rooms in the house that we generally try to keep the kids out of, except with permission. So much of our home is child-friendly, even designed with creativity and play in mind, that I have equally created a few select places to be more mature and less play. The problem is, since we live in the kid-friendly spaces most of our days, the other three rooms occasionally (more than I would like to admit) become messy dumping grounds, spaces that end up unusable and require a good deal of effort to restore. Please tell me you have rooms like this and I am not alone! (Please?!?!?)

The one comforting thought is that I know that everything has a place... It's just not there at the moment... And I wrestle with making good decisions on how to use my time. Since I could naturally tidy and organize all day, neglecting the kids, I have been really trying to play more and clean less. But eventually, I hit a breaking point and I can't stop thinking about cleaning whatever space has become overwhelming. Recently the upstairs craft and music room became that space and its plight has been on my mental to-do list looking for an opening on the calendar to plunge in and restore order. 

Last night the twins asked E to take them to their gymnastics practice. This morning, Micah woke up with the gymnasts and asked to go with E to watch them. Leaving Hannah and Noah and I at home, I knew exactly what to do. Tackle this...

In the process of cleaning out this disaster area, I discovered some paintings the kids had done when we had friends visit in June. I added some simple hardware to the backs of each piece and hung them up in our gallery between the kids' bedrooms. 

After about two hours, I could see the floor again...

We had a wedding to attend in the afternoon and I was wondering if I would finish in time to get ready. Elliott came home with the kids from gym and started making lunch. I was too close to finishing to eat, so I kept plodding and resisting the urge to make piles to be dealt with who knows when. 

And then, I vacuumed. And then I stepped back and smiled. And the sun was shining through the window, smiling too.  :) 

And yes, I realize the only reason it is still clean now is that we left the house before anyone could enter it. But it made me smile anyway. And it makes me want to go create something.