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.)
Oh, I love your boy’s room! The old bottles, the jars of “stuff”, the plaid quilts…and I could sleep under a hornet’s nest. 🙂
Oh I love it! I love organization and this looks oh so very organized! Great job!
I absolutely love this room!
The shelves looks fantastic, I may have to incorporate something similar in my daughter’s bedroom. All the best to you & I’m so glad to hear Silas is on the mend.
So very neat! Jonny, it is time to start doing tutorials for men…beautiful shelves! Side note: we share your feeling hip, watching Downton Abbey show. We just caught up…and we heard that they are throwing in Catholicism in season 3. Can’t wait!
Ginny,
I did recall that post you did on trespassing. I had to laugh b/c I do the same thing. my three children share a room. one boy, two girls. and my boy is struggling to find a space to call his own for the treasures he finds. and I’m guilty. GUILTY. of throwing this stuff away.
But, what I love here is that you and Jonny have created an organized space for your boys to encourage the treasure hunting, the reading, the creativity.
Certainly to me, this is an inspiring post. We have high ceilings and this is a project that is doable!!!
Thanks so much for this.
Amanda
my dear Ginny, I’ll give you Versatile Blogger Award, because I have a great respect for your work. You can check it out at http://waldorfbyme.blogspot.com/
Those shelves look fantastic! Great job, Jonny! I never thought of running shelves up higher in a room. Awesome!
Looking forward to the next Seth post (and Keats, right? He’s going to share his finds, too?)
Glad to hear Silas is better.
Please tell Seth that because of him, my boys are anxiously awaiting the delivery of their new metal detector! I showed them his post about detecting and they loved it. So we ordered the beginner detector that he suggested. Looking forward to them learning about this new hobby. Glad the baby is better. Croup is so scary!
No translation needed. Go and bust the 30 mark! :). The shelves are very nice and handy. We have some shelves over the top bunk too. It definitely keeps some things off the floor.
Sorry I spelled Jonny’s name wrong… I have a son named John with the H. 🙂
LOVE what Jonny and you have done with this room! It sure is a great way to use all the space there is.
The shelves are beautiful! Johnny did a wonderful job! +JMJ+
Beautiful shelves and a lovely room for the both of them. I love the hornets nest!! Love, Alexandra.
this looks fantastic ginny!!! i love how it looks streamlined and gives a home to so many
different things (stuff,haha) and still it looks uncluttered!!
great job!
I love it! Wha a great job. Im impressed that your husband was able to tackle the job so soon after it was decided to be necessary- you are very blessed indeed. I was wondering how they were able to access the books and treasures. It seems like around the beds it would be easy to get to things but I would wonder about the rest. The bunkbeds are beautiful. (my sons shared a room the same size for many years and it felt like a closet for sure.)
what a wonderful thing you guys did. i love those bookshelves. what a great way to keep the room together and still let them have all their treasures and actually SEE them too.
Small spaces calls for creative rooms!! It looks amazing and it seems like they really love it!
It is so nice when a simple change can make such a huge improvement. So glad they each have room for their treasures.
Your boys’ room is a treasure trove. Wonderful!
Have the boys tried Adventures Hunting and Adventures Fishing by Evelyn Egan? My 12 year old son loves them. Great book shelves!
It looks so good, love the bed shelf. You are so lucky to have a partner.
What a great boy’s room!
This is so awesome! I love the old canning jars for storage–I use them for all my own crafty goodies.
The shelves look so nice! That was a great idea. I would love to do that for my daughters very tiny room, but they have the slanted ceiling like a lot of old houses have so it wouldn’t work. We can’t even do bunk beds.
I just love the positive spin you put on finding enough dirt ‘to make a generous mud pie’. And the hornet nest, fabulous! We have our eldest boys (nine and ten) sharing a room and I can so, so relate. Beautiful work on organising.
The shelves look great!
I so look forward to seeing how this Seth kid develops intellectually as he moves towards his teen years. He’s awesome. BTW, I totally do the same thing with the jars! Except I use them for spare change, q-tips, nail files… sorry, I’m pretty boring. My favorite jar of his is the utensils. Seeing his finds makes me want to get a metal detector and go traipsing through the woods.
oooh. I had been wanting to do this in our “school” room as it is pretty tiny with not much wall space. I love it! I also love the bunkbeds…where can I find them? 🙂 So glad your little guy is doing better!
We were given the bunkbeds by a friend whose boys were finished using them and I don’t know where they originated. sorry!
you are so lucky to have such a handy husband! too bad he can’t come to indiana & do the honey do list here!
That picture of the marbles is AWESOME. i love it.
We can’t wait to hear more from Seth! My daughter asked me just this morning if “the boy with the metal detector who found all that cool stuff” was going to be showing his latest finds!! Looking forward to the newest treasures~
I love the new look! One of these days, we’re going to get Little Man’s room cleaned up and made into his own, rather than being the guest room, as well……maybe this week we can get some of that done. It’d be nice…
What a great idea for storing all their treasures! I love it. I am glad that Silas is doing better too.
The shelves look great! I love the old mason jar storage system. I wish we had that kind of control over our legos. 🙂 I’ll bet the room feels much neater and more organized now!
First of all, will you please come organize my room for me, lol? I could really use a set of those shelves.
Second, AWESOME bottle collection! My two little wheaton jars on a shelf pale in comparison.
WOW! I love this. You have given me so many ideas. I have 2 big boys and one little boy who share a room and space is limited. I have one son who ‘collects’ things and I never thought of putting the treasures in glass jars. . .FABULOUS! Thanks. I would enjoy seeing one shot of the room in it’s entirety, though. . .
sorry! the room is too small for me to get it all in one shot–I’d need a very wide angle lens.
Very nice! Love those shelves with all the books, and treasures. I’m sure the boys are loving it too.
what a wonderful place to be a boy.
What an awesome room for two boys!
The room looks perfect. My boys favorite book is “Go Dog Go!” A hornets nest, treasures and Go Dog Go! looks like a perfect room to me 🙂
This is a wonderful way to add storage to any room! I’m definitely showing this to my husband. 🙂
Ginny – this is great! Your Seth reminds me of my Samuel…. Jars are just fabulous and I love the books in the shelf by the beds – Great! Rach x
Oh, I love that shelving! It’s a darling room and I love the idea to use the mason jars to display and store collections.
A perfect space for the boys!
That was a really great idea. And I like how you didn’t paint the shelves at all, the pine looks great against the blues of their room.
Love it! I’m gonna bookmark it so that I can show my husband the shelf around the room! I’ve been hoping for one of those for my girls’ room forever. 🙂
Absolutely Marvelous!!! I just love how they have so much room for their collections and books. This is a true Must for a boy’s room. My boys share a room too and when we move I’m going to do this. Thank you! I pinned it too:)
Tiff
Wow! Great job storing all those amazing treasures! Love their room!
what a delightful room. i love that your boys have such wonderful treasures. the kinda of room one, as an adult, looks back on with great fondness.