My son is a pack rat. He saves everything from bits of broken pencil lead to rubber bands to dried flower blossoms. Recently, we moved him into his own room, and in the process, we purged a large portion of his collection. By we, I mean I, while he whined and gave me lots of reasons why that broken plastic fork needed to be moved to his new room.
While I wanted to throw away all the bent nails while he was sleeping, being a parent is all about compromise, so I thought about what I could do to make both of us happy. I wanted a neat, tidy room with a spot for everything. He wanted to keep all of his treasures.
One day, as I was walking through the garage, I spotted a solution. My husband had a leftover piece of pegboard from a workbench project. It was the perfect way for him to display some of his favorite “treasures” without leaving them all over the top of his dresser in one giant heap.
The finished product!
One of the edges was damaged, so my husband cut it down for me. I painted it with some heavy-duty grey porch paint we had on hand. Painting it was a necessity–it gave the board a finished, almost artistic look which is great because it’s now the focal point of the wall. I would love to make an interesting display out of it, but then my son wouldn’t have any place for his stuff and we’d be back to square one. But if anyone ever wants to make a giant Battleship headboard, this would be the way to go!
While the paint dried, the boy and I ran to the hardware store and purchased a bunch of hooks, baskets, and other accessories for his board. I wanted a magnetic strip for the top and bottom, but couldn’t find one so I bought two metal rulers and hot glued them to the painted pegboard. A couple of magnets, some with clips, allow him to hang up art or other keepsakes. My husband donated a magnetic knife holder so Jonathan can hang up his pocket knives, but it’s a little too heavy so I’m going to keep looking for a simple strip. We need to add a few more hooks and some magnetic spice jars for things like nails, but for now, it’s done. What do you think?
It will never look this neat again.
Brilliant Idea!!
i’d like one of those in my toolshed 😉
I love this idea for hanging up all of the treasures! My mind is spinning now with ideas….my son’s room must be very similar to yours; “treasures” everywhere! I like the idea of having a board even just to hang guns and the darts! Thanks for sharing.
Great idea but mine would never use it. He prefers heaps and piles 🙂
very creative! Did you just have a lightbulb moment to come up with this idea? I have 2 packrat boys too. Now we somehow need to teach them what is good to keep and what isn’t and to stay organized! Not always something learned. I think it might be something your born with :0)
Yep–a total lightbulb moment. I saw the board when I walked past my husband’s workbench and I thought, “Ah ha!” I’m kind of a problem solver by nature. I let it rattle around in my head until I come up with something. What’s the saying? Necessity is the mother of invention!
I love this! I also have to send the Lego wall thing to my dd. They are so into Legos that when they have their own place (i.e., not military housing), they want to make a room just for Legos, with shelves all around the outside and a building table in the middle. Good for crafts as well, which they also do a lot.
Anyway, just want to pass on my brilliant brainstorm from when my youngest dd HAD to thin out her STUFF. We started with bringing every pair of foot gear to where we had a big open floor space, lined them up and began sorting them by type … sandals, sneakers, etc. Then reduced by chucking the really worn out ones and some that just didn’t fit right, but she still had way too many and got all pouty and stubborn about donating to Good Will.
I told her she could fill up the floor of her closet and make a line along the open side of her bed, but nothing under, because of dust allergies and the need to clean. She picked out her favorites of each type, put them away then we sat and looked at the too good to throw, not good enough to keep problem.
i went and got my camera and suggested she do some creative photography. Wow … did that ever work! She did some wonderful designs, put herself in some while I snapped. Once all the shoes had been recorded and moved to the Good Will box, I said, “Okay, now we can do your tshirts.”
She said, “You know, Mom. I don’t think I need to now. I’ll just thin them out myself.” And she did. 🙂
Wow, that’s a great idea! I’ve thought about taking pictures of my kids’ pictures, just because they want to save them all, but doing it with clothes is something I would never have thought of! Great idea!
When they were younger, I got them to thin out the dolls and stuffies by snapping photos that we then put in their scrapbooks. We only had enough storage space for one banker’s box each of memorabilia. They divided their lovies up by “must sleep with”, “must keep forever and ever and ever” and “a photo is enough.”
Love it! I wish Legos were magnetic. Then maybe I could have a desk free of the latest creations! (Shelves are useless because the Legos are always a work in progress!)
Have you seen the Lego walls? You affix big sheets of Lego building squares to the walls and let the kids have at it. I’ve seen it on Pinterest. It looks cool, but I’m not sure I want to be that committed to Legos!
Thank you! Will look around… space ships always need docking stations anyway!
I do like this a lot! I think I need to use that for Ron! His dresser top is covered with “stuff”. I finally tried to contain some of it by putting a large ceramic bird bath on the top of his dresser to hold all the little bits and pieces so that the cats weren’t knocking stuff off in the middle of the night. I wasn’t using the bird bath anymore but really liked the colors, etc. so this was a great way to repurpose it. But…it’s full to overflowing!
What a fabulous idea! I am going to do this for Corbin’s room. His dresser is one big cluttered mess, as is his closet, with things he just can’t part with. Never mind that I never see him doing anything with them. Thanks for the great inspiration!
That’s pretty genius…I’m going to have to remember this for when my son outgrows the little treasure chest he’s currently using for his random things and wants to create piles on his dresser.
Thank you! I found some larger baskets and kind of wish I had gotten two big ones instead of three little ones. Ah well. Next time. 🙂
great solution!
I hope it works long-term! He adores it, though, so it’s totally worth it even if it doesn’t help things stay organized.
Love, love, love this idea!!! And sooooo understand having a boy that just won’t get rid of anything 🙂 I blame Thomas the Train for this collection obsession really. Thanks for posting this wonderful solution.
Come to think of it, Thomas the Tank Engine IS to blame for everything!!!