There is one thing that you can count on when trying to sell your house: the kids' bedrooms will always look disastrous! If you do have a 'creative' child, one way to balance this is to ensure that the rest of the house looks spick and span.
The real estate agent may explain all about how to 'home-stage' our house for a viewing, but there is never enough time to get around to every corner of the house.
Kids have loads of 'stuff', but perhaps that is not the real problem. The biggest complication is that they want all the 'stuff' out on display at the same time. They think this looks great and very interesting and we think it looks like a cluttered mess!
How to solve the problem and still keep the peace? Just for the duration of the sale time, perhaps you could push some extra shelves inside the closet. The closet doors could be left open with all the toys and fun jumble on display - but it is quickly closeable! This way the 'interesting' stuff is out of sight.
Book shelves can look untidy, and they will always be on display. Keep only books and 'book shapes' on the shelves. This means boxes or storage tins can be stacked on the bookshelf, but keep them all together. A good idea is to use the lowest shelf and stack them with the large books. Stack all books according to size - it helps!
One of the newer ideas that seems to work is the 'hammock' that spans from corner to corner with a selection of stuff crammed into it! At least this is not taking up floor space, so it does not reduce the spacious feel of the room.
Find a space in your garage to keep seasonal clothes, sports equipment or treasured (or cumbersome) artwork. You can also stack stuff under the stairs, in the attic or in a dry basement area. Some people even go to the extreme of hiring a short term storage space to get some of the clutter away from their home.
When you move into your new home, plan storage into the design of your child's bedroom. Include lots of lower level storage space. Look for beds with large and easy to open drawers underneath. Use chests that double as a seat when a cushion is thrown on top.
You can be creative with storage space - a child's rocking cradle can be used to house all her dolls/soft toys. Another way to store toys that can look fairly cute is to hand paint a wooden rocking chair and keep all the soft toys on that. A toy box (with a hinged lid) can hold all manner of toys.
Stacking boxes with very large ones at the bottom of the pile can look great. Paint each one in a different bright color and use each box for only one type of toy, e.g. building blocks, model cars, doll clothes, Lego bricks, etc. Sets of six boxes can be bought with the largest box being about eighteen inches square.
These blocks can be painted in more subtle tones to match more sophisticated color schemes as the child ages. This way the boxes could always be a part of their bedroom furnishings. (I.e., eventually becoming filled with art and craft accessories, CD's, stationery, make-up, hair accessories, etc!)
Some of these ideas may help to allay that panicky rush to the kids' bedroom after the realtor phones. If the rest of the house is immaculate, it is okay to have one room looking like a disordered jumble. It makes the rest of the house look impeccable!
