The end of the never-ending playroom

We finally finished our new playroom at the weekend and I am still in shock at what a difference it has made to the whole house and its inhabitants.

Almost two years since we began closing off part of an upstairs terrace it was finished in just a weekend.

 Once the men came and laid the floor the change was instant, then Juan set about putting up the storage units while the girls and I began sorting the toys. I collected toys from all over the house; from cupboards, from the sitting room, from under beds, from everywhere. The battle against the toys, which had been the bane of my life for the past four years, was coming to a climax.

In just a couple of hours we had all the toys regimented into their own boxes and put away.

Apart from the speed with which the operation took place, it was the enthusiasm of my daughters for organising their toys that surprised me most. Well, one daughter at least, and with any luck the other will follow her big sister’s example. (Either by example or by being bullied into it.) I hadn’t thought it would be that easy for them to grasp the idea of tidying. But now that there is a place for everything, there’s no reason why everything shouldn’t be in its place.

I began to wonder how long this new-found game of tidying would hold their attention, but then yesterday I spied Sofia, my eldest daughter, having collected all the Kinder Egg toys together in a box which she was then putting away on a shelf. I congratulated her for this and she explained to me that she had to tidy them up as she wanted to get out the ponies. By Jove, she’s got it! This was a milestone!

Another huge benefit which I hadn’t anticipated was just how spacious and almost echoey the living room would feel with all the clutter gone. And not only that, with it went the children, upstairs! So now the children have their own domain and we have a tidy, relaxing, peaceful space downstairs for grown-ups.

 Feeling very pleased with myself I recounted all this to Juan’s mum, who, in true mother-in-law style, agreed quickly but then pointed out that I now had to tackle the garage….....