More clean-up

After a very productive weekend in the east of Belgium, Jan attacked our home last week. He tackled what in all honesty had driven me to despair already in the past but for which I had not found the courage or solution to clean-up.  

Since we have children our living room slowly transformed in a collection of boxes full of toys.  First we managed with rather clean additions of Ikea storage but that wasn't sufficient for the many big pieces that entered and in the end it was simply not sufficient so we accumulated in all corners and especially in the narrow middle part (connecting dining zone and sitting area) a wall of diverse boxes.  
Each birthday, each christmas, Sinterklaas, ...things get added and since Kabouter toys are still valid for Beertje etc, we've not achieved yet to make a lot disappear again.  And the children were too little to move it all up to their rooms and tell them to keep themselves busy upstairs. 
It caused me some blue Mondays in January 2020 where I tried to clean up without success. The overload of boxes is probably also one of the reasons why I love to disappear more to the Ardennes and feel more relaxed there.   The lockdown last year however learned me to relax again at my own home again and just take distance of the toys overload...it's a phase, we'll get out of it again and we'll reclaim our house again in a few years. 

But Jan untertook the mission impossible. Together with the children on mandatory chore, every box got turned upside down and resorted and labelled. Just that action alone cleared some boxes by better sorting and storing away.  

With some additional shuffling in the basement (move the unused tv on top of a cupboard and leave the tv table for storage against the wall), most boxes could move downstairs.   As a result we have reclaimed a sea of space and overview again in the living room. What a miracle! I feel so relieved. 

And the basement?  Well the space that had turned into a dumping place of empty cardboard boxes mostly, has now one wall of a mixture of boxes but that doesn't matter in a basement.  We still need to throw out a bit of babystuff that is currently on the floor but that will happen soon.  As a result the children can now use the space as a play room next to our basement office space...exactly as I had intended that room right from the start 15 years ago with American or German basement play / tv rooms in mind. 

Ideally we order some custom made cupboards there to replace the wall of boxes, but this is already such an improvement that excites me very much. And we are looking in better lightning options as it is too.   Thank you Jan!!