Quick note: Tonight we’ll be in Minneapolis at the West Elm on 3879 Gallagher Drive for cookies, cocoa, and a book signing at 6pm. We hear the parking lot is small, but there’s a larger lot at a nearby Macy’s and a ramp that leads to a parking garage. Getting there early, carpooling, or being dropped off will help. More info on the event page. We’d love to see you there!
You asked for photos of our over-the-top playroom—the one packed with secret book projects, items for our yard sale, and pieces earmarked for future rooms—so now that the book projects are out in the world, here’s a peek at the chaos and the cleanup.
When my mom visited, we turned the mess into a mother-daughter organizing session. The second I put Clara down for her nap it was as if an imaginary starting gun fired and we sprinted into action, each tackling different parts of the room. It was surprisingly efficient and very entertaining.
With so many items to sort—some destined for a charity auction, some for the yard sale, and many kept for future makeovers—the first step was to clear the playroom. We moved everything into the entryway, which offered more floor space for sorting. We set up three zones:
- Yard sale items
- Book auction items
- Things returning to the playroom for future projects
Most of what we pulled out belonged back in the room eventually: luggage for the closet, shelves for a later build, and so on. My mom took charge of the closet-related items—the gift bags, tissue paper, and ribbon—while I assembled the yard sale and auction piles. Teamwork made the pile-up manageable.
About an hour and a half later, we could actually see the room again. It felt a little like discovering a hidden room in your house after clearing away years of accumulated stuff. Tip: don’t fill a room with miscellaneous items and you won’t be surprised later by how lost the original purpose of the space becomes.
Clearing the playroom shifted the chaos to the entryway and hallway, where we built what might be the world’s largest yard sale pillow pile. We eventually moved the yard sale items into the sunroom to keep them separated and protected from sunlight, leaving the playroom with only the pieces we planned to reuse or reinvent.
After loading most of the items back in, the room still looked busy, but it was a dramatic improvement. We even rehung some old curtains from our bedroom temporarily so they wouldn’t be crumpled in a closet—though they do need a proper ironing and retraining to sit right.
The daybed—soon to be Clara’s big-girl bed—was covered with pillows, a small admission of my pillow problem. We’ll likely reuse them in the sunroom and the new big-girl room, and if we still have excess afterward, another yard sale might be in order.
One of the painted walls in the room had seen at least three different colors: navy for a headboard backdrop, paprika red for cloud shelves, and then blue for a photography tip about painting only part of a wall. It’s a reminder of how many backgrounds we created and repainted during book photography months.
Speaking of the auction: we raised $500 for charity from the local silent auction held at the R. Home for the Holidays event. We’re grateful to the generous locals who bid on and took home pieces from our secret book stash. Shipping larger items made it impractical to open bidding nationwide, so the auction remained local to preserve the donation amount.
Back to the closet: my mom’s sorting handiwork was impressive. She lovingly organized every gift bag and spool of ribbon, and it was honestly one of the highlights of her trip—aside from spending time with sweet Clara, of course. In a tie for favorite moments, Clara probably wins.
With the entryway and hallway clear, the house suddenly felt more calm and functional. Clearing a room like this is always a big step toward the next phase—here, that means converting the playroom into Clara’s big-girl room. We still have several other projects on the list (the hall bathroom, basement, sunroom, carport, and guest bathroom), but getting this room under control is one more milestone.
I hope these before-and-after snapshots of our playroom cleanup were worthwhile. If you have a cluttered closet or a chaotic junk drawer, you’re not alone—we’ve all been there. Clearing out and organizing small zones can lead quickly to big, visible improvements. Bring on the paint, the fabric, and the moose lamp!
Update: No, I’m not pregnant. Just clearing that up here so everyone knows.