Transitions, part 1

In case you didn’t notice from my last post, SportsBoy is looking less like a boy and more like a teen clearly transitioning to a young man:

Last summer I hatched a plan to start transitioning his bedroom to match, but somehow got side tracked. So this year when the summer bonus-in-lieu-of-a-raise time rolled around again, I made sure to set aside money for a new bed for him.

OK, flashback – it actually kind of started when I got my new bed in November. Sweet Prince gave me his gorgeous king sized bed with it’s super nice mattress. I then had to re-arrange things to make room which then started the whole “closet overhaul project” of 2011. The thing is, he has some pretty nice closet space in his room. I initially was going to use that as my bedroom when I first moved in due to it. But then I realized that room I am in is bigger and that if needed I could just use one of his closets to store out of season or little used items. Which, of course, never happened since he had so many toys and so much sports gear over the years. But now I really need to utilize it better. So the biggest part of this whole endeavor was the cleanup. I never took a proper before picture, but this is what it looked like when I started yesterday on the final big clear out – this is after I’ve already done two closets and he and his brother took down his two older game systems (an ESPN game station setup with basketball net and another fooze-ball sized gaming table). He had also moved his TV and Xbox out of the way so that I could access his game closet:

The bookcase is going entirely. The few books he wants to keep will store very nicely in his game closet. The trophies are going to be moved to the top shelf of another closet. His dresser is already placed in there. He’s a boy – he has no need for hanging more than a few items and I am not kidding about the closet space – he has two long ones – one has three sliders – and then he has what we call the game closet but which I guess is supposed to be a linen closet that is floor to ceiling shelves. No way he will never fill all that with clothes!

Yes, I had feline assistance. Wouldn’t have expected anything less. Here’s what it looked like part way through with many items moved to the floor to be sorted and transitioned out to the garage in proper piles:

Those plastic containers are filled with Legos. Some of them 20 years old since they are from Music Man 🙂 If you want Lego’s come to my garage sale! I will have boat loads!

The bookcase is gone. The stuff in the bag is what I think he will want to keep. No, he was not there but that was good. It goes faster and I am able to throw out more when he is not around. He is so sentimental sometimes that I think he would want to keep much more if he were to see it! In fact, I am taking bets now – there is an enormous bag full of stuffed animals due to be sold. Will he take some out? Specifically – will he keep Blue Bear?