You might recall that I trespassed into Seth and Gabe’s room not too long ago. I threw away some things I shouldn’t have and got myself into trouble. That episode motivated me to beg Jonny to tackle a little project that we have talked about for well over five years. He built simple oil rubbed pine shelves to line the ceiling around half of the room.
Seth and Gabe share a very small (9 x 9) closet-less room. They have a bunkbed, an armoire for their clothing, and until Jonny built this new set of shelves, there was a bookcase against one wall. That bookcase was overfilled with books, and the edges of the shelves were cluttered with “treasures” of all sorts that have been found by Seth mostly via metal detecting. I wanted to free up those square feet occupied by the bookcase, and provide Seth with a way to store all his finds. In the process the room got a very good cleaning; I swept up enough dirt to make a generous mudpie. Gabe, Seth, and I worked together to sort through their belongings, only keeping the things that were important to them.
Seth’s favorite bottles occupy the shelf over his head.
His special books
Gabe already had a (made by Jonny) shelf next to his bottom bunk to keep bedtime reading and a book light.
Seth used his collection of old canning jars and lids he has found, along with some jars from our pantry, to sort and store his treasures. This system allows him to separate things into categories, which he enjoys, and also to easily look through his finds. When a jar becomes too full, he will know that it is time to part with some of his objects. He’s allowed to keep all he wants in his room as long as it fits inside the jars. He can only have as many jars as will neatly fit in their section on the shelf.
There’s a jar for marbles, not just any marbles, only those that he has dug up.
And a jar for old silverware, also dug up.
I placed our field guides on the shelves as well, moving them from the basket they have been in on the floor for ages. They haven’t fared well at the hands of my younger children.
The metal detectors are now stored in a basket. This helps prevent dirt all over the floor, as they get very dirty.
Jonny put a hook in the ceiling so that the boys’ hornet nest could be hung rather than left sitting on top of the armoire. (Every little boy needs a hornets’ nest right? What? You couldn’t sleep at night with one of those near your bed?)
I am so very, very happy about this room now. It is set up in a way that Gabe and Seth can manage it on their own with little need for me to interfere. Thank you, Jonny.
p.s. Silas is much better. He’s still coughing at night, but it’s regular cough now rather than a croupy one.
p.p.s. Seth was going to include some photos of recent finds from his recent treasure hunts in this post, but decided last minute to wait. He says that he wants to find a few more wheat pennies so he can “bust the thirty mark” before sharing them with you. (translation: he wants to wait until he has found thirty wheat pennies before he shows you any more.)
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