Switcheroo

Ever since we knew Amber was a girl, we have planned on the sisters sharing a bedroom. The plan was to switch rooms around when Amber was done with her crib, sometime after she turned one. One day a week and a half ago, however, when Jay and Rose were cleaning their room, the whir of organizational activity inspired me to make the change right away. I recruited the Husband for the heavy lifting and about 15 minutes later, Jay had his own room.

That was the easy part. The next step took the rest of the day. I had to move Amber's clothes into Rose's closet and Jay's clothes into Amber's dresser, and not just the clothes they're wearing right now--I moved ALL the clothes. Amber has clothes to wear till she turns four. Jay has enough clothes to last him the whole next year. It was a lot of clothes to handle, kind of like an endless nightmare of laundry that kept multiplying every time I touched it. I got Mt. Clothing under control in the end, and now the girls are in the blue room and Jay is in the green room. His room has no bedframe (aka his mattress is on the floor) and the window still has the pink valence I made for baby Amber, but one thing at a time.

So far Jay likes having his own room. In the 10 days since we made the switcheroo, he's only returned to his old room for a sleepover once. Bedtime has become infinitely easier--the visits, arguments, and accusations we had to deal with nightly have been nearly eliminated. Jay and Rose are still best buddies, but when they are tired at night it's nice to have them separate so they don't keep each other up teasing, playing, etc. Jay keeps his Legos all in his room (all over the floor). That's pretty much the only thing besides clothes and a bookshelf and a mattress that he has in there, and it is wonderful to be able to close the bedroom door and NOT see, think about, or step on the Legos. Amber is getting rather mobile too, so it's extra important to have a baby-free closed-off room for the Legos.

Amber is so easy-going. I wondered if she'd have a hard time sleeping in a different room or if she'd get distracted by Rose, but she is so happy in her new room. When she wakes up, she plays happily in her crib for nearly half an hour before making any "come get me" sounds. Mostly Amber is asleep by the time Rose goes to bed at night, early bedtime baby that she is. Naptimes during the day are slightly tricky because Rose often wants to go play in her room while Amber is asleep. To compromise, we've moved half of the toys (aka blocks) out of their room back into the family room.

An unforseen bonus to all of this switcheroo-ing is that we had a spare chair and nightstand when the dust settled--the thrift store super-comfy old-school Lazy Boy recliner and rough-hewn nightstand that were in Amber's baby room. Jeff and I have been using stools for nightstands for our entire marriage, but now one of us has an actual nightstand! It's me. We put the chair in our room too, and it's my sanctuary. I love having a place of retreat where I can sit comfortably in peace to read and think. Wins all around!

Amber waking up from her last nap in her baby room. I loved the simple subtle decor in this room so much I almost didn't make the switch.

Jay's room during the clothing organization. Eventually he'll have a real bed instead of a mattress on the floor.

The girls' room during the switcheroo.

This picture doesn't show the artful stacking techniques I employed to cram all of Amber's clothes into that tiny closet.

Playing in her new room!

Here's what the girls' room looks like right now, today.

Jay's room right now today

Eventually the pink valence will have to go.

Ah, and then there's my sanctuary.

Living in the same house for more than a year (still a novel experience for us, and we just passed the 3 year mark in this house), it's easy to get in a rut and assume that the furniture placement is permanent. Not so! It feels so exciting and powerful to do a little switcheroo.