Teen Boy Room!

(Yes, I am saying that in Strong Bad's "Teen Girl Squad" voice.)

Organizing for teenagers is tricky. Some of their stuff is bigger (clothes) some of their stuff is smaller (big toys have been replaced by tech.) They (understandably) have more autonomy and more independence and can do more for their rooms upkeep. For all of those reasons, it works best when you have the teenager involved in the reorg, whether it's in the actual grunt work, or in the planning stages. If they don't like it, or if it's not going to work for their needs, they aren't going to keep it up (and you'll just have a different kind of mess on your hands.)

For the last several weeks, I have been documenting the reorg of a boy's room on Instagram. The room had several points against it:

• small room

• dresser is built in and can't be moved

• no desk (dude likes to draw)

There were some things that were in our favor!

• floor to ceiling shelving on one wall

• built in bookcase

• This guy puts his laundry in the hamper on the daily! Without being reminded!

He also has ADHD, so I knew doing this all in one big go wasn't going to work. I would lose him. So, we did it over the course of four days, working an hour-ish a day.

Do I normally do that? Not usually. Do I do that for kids with ADHD? Totally.

We broke the areas of his room down thusly

1. Closet and dresser

2. Bookshelf and desk/dresser area

3. LEGO shelf

4. Walls/art

The categories ended up being

1. Clothes (obviously) and accessories (belts, shoes, costumes)

2. Mementos from childhood

3. Collectibles

4. Books

5. Art supplies

6. Art

7. LEGO

8. Stuffed Animals

   
   

A few things were on their own (a sleeping bag needed to be dealt with, but it didn't have a category.) Some things took longer than I anticipated, and some things took way, way less time.

We started with the closet. Clothes usually have the least amount of sentimental attachment when it comes to kids.

• Does it fit?

  • Yes?

    • Do you love it?

      • Yes? KEEP!

      • No? DONATE!

        
        

  • No? DONATE!

I was surprised with how much he was willing to get rid of, and how much space he made in his closet. We repeated this with the clothes in his dresser, and deciding to hang things (like his long sleeves running shirts) freed up dresser space! More space in the dresser made it easier to fold the things in it (and makes it more likely he'll keep the things inside neat) once we did a folding tutorial.

I should add that a lot of organizers subscribe to a "best" way to fold things. I don't. Dresser drawers vary in size, in depth, and there are many ways that people prefer to fold things. Even in this room, we didn't stick to one type of fold.

• his t-shirts: standard fold

• his pants: envelope fold

• his short sleeve running shirts: not folded at all

• his shorts: rolled up

If it makes sense to you, if you can maintain it, and it fits, go with it!

Freeing up all that closet and dresser space meant that we could go through a lot of the childhood things that he had on his walls and dresser/desk. There were things he was on board with donating, so another kid could enjoy them, There were some things he wanted to keep for the memories. Those were boxed and put on the bottom of his closet, so he can toss his luggage on top of them.

His sleeping bags were rolled up and put on the highest shelf, because he uses them only a few times a year.

The lower shelf on his closet was a perfect fit for a basket of costume pieces he collects, as well as his dress shoes.

The bookshelf was gone through: books donated, action figures that he wanted to keep and display were put on the top shelf along with family heirlooms that he now had room to display.

The star of his bookshelf is a box that was intended for photos, but is now the TBR box: To Be Read. Books that he hadn't gotten to read yet are in there, so the next time he reaches for something to read, he will go there first! In fact, since we did that, he has been reaching for books over the iPad more (!!!!!)

His immoveable dresser was covered with art and art supplies. Downstairs, there's art storage and a big box for his drawings, but this guy draws in his room a lot and he wants a place in his room to store his work without them sliding all over the place and falling onto the floor.

A neighbor gave me a rolling Ikea cart about a year ago and I hadn't found the right client for it yet. Another client decluttered something that was intended for cup lids. They fit together perfectly and hold his in progress drawings, his art books, his boxed supplies, and that cup lid holder keeps the supplies he's working with at hand! A makeshift gallery wall was put up over his bed with decorative furniture nailheads and colorful twine. Clothespins mean he can change out what he wants to display up there as often as he wants to. The rest of the art on his walls (and he has a lot) were things that he already had framed over the years: Movie posters, Star Wars themed art, and the work of a local artist.

The floor to ceiling LEGO shelves were a great deal of work. We took down, and cleaned every creation. The dust was...a lot. Some from the high shelves even had to be hand washed. He went through them all and decided which he wanted to keep on display, which sets he wanted to donate, which sets he wanted to sell (thank you Bricks and Minifigs in Portsmouth), and which sets he wanted to keep and maybe put away for a while. He made so much room on his shelves that he was able to bring the boxes of LEGO sets he hadn't had room for out and put them on his shelves. So he knows what to work on next!

The stuffed animals weren't hard to organize. Sentimental: The older ones that he had from babyhood that he really wanted to hang on to, but didn't feel the need to keep accessible. They went into a sturdy lidded box in the clopset. The others, the ones that come out and get tossed on the bed* every now and then stayed in a different bin, also sturdy, also lidded, but easier to access at the foot of his bed.

*He is a Nester. You know how some people sleep with a sheet, a quilt or comforter and a pillow? Nesters do not do that. Nesters sleep with multiple smaller soft things. Stuffed animals, little pillows, smaller blankets, all in a bundle! This guy is a Nester!

The nightstand was also given a quick re-org as it was kind of wasted space. It had three drawers and he wasn't really using them. Not intentionally, he just forgot. We found three categories of small items that needed homes, and labelled his drawers (kind of crucial for ADHD. If it's out of sight, it could be out of mind.)

The end result had him looking around saying "It feels so much bigger in here!" Of course, the real test will be a month after it's done. Is it still going to be organized?

We'll see.

The gallery is below with the before/during/and after photos. These and more can be seen on spacewithkate on Instagram.