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Day 20: Bonus Rooms

The beauty of a bonus room is just that… they are a bonus.

While some homes are designed with that extra space — others are not. But that isn’t as limiting as one might expect.

Bonus rooms can be created out of unusual spaces. They can be carved from awkward nooks, unused bedrooms, portions of other rooms, lofts, landings, basements, or even covered porches. They can be carriage houses or sheds or even attics.

And they can be used for anything your heart desires; playrooms, media rooms, music rooms, theaters, man caves, craft rooms, game rooms, rec rooms. The only limitation is your creativity.

I love these rooms. Multi-use spaces that can grow and change as your family does.

Organizing these rooms are completely dependent on their use.

But a few rules still apply. And those are the same tools and mindset we’ve employed through now 20 days of organizing the home.

Controlling clutter by eliminating excess, grouping items in categories that make sense, creating functional storage – which importantly results in giving everything a home.

Let’s get to work on multi-use bonus rooms, which often comes with multi-use clutter, and give those odds and ends a home.

Be sure to peruse ideas at the foot of this post for great ideas!

Create Zones

Bonus rooms are generally open spaces that need to serve several functions.

Create zones for the various activities that will take place in the room. Using space planning, create areas for play, gaming, TV watching, studying, crafting, reading… and anything else planned for this room.

Be sure to include comfortable seating as this room is a fun room and will attract friends and family.

Create Storage

For high-use items with many parts — clear, lidded and labeled plastic storage works wonders like these from the Container Store.

Going Up not Out!

Use vertical space whenever available to help maximize square footage. Extra tall bookshelves work wonders with books, games and more.

Checklist

31daily-easy-steps-to-an-organized-life-bonus-room-day-20

Objective: To organize a family fun room.

• Determine how you want to use this room.

• Take a blank piece of paper and draw a floor plan, roughly penciling activity zones for the room.

• With plan in place, remove everything from the room that doesn’t fit your plan.

• Create structure, likes shelves, to store organized items.

• Create functional use storage for small items, like toys, craft supplies and so on. Be sure to clearly label each bin.

• Sort through items in the room and eliminate anything that is either broken or unwanted and either discard immediately or put in a donation box.

• Group like items together by category. For toys, plastic bins labeled; farm toys, police, art supplies, hot wheels (can you tell I had a little boy?) are easy to keep organized.

• Return newly organized items, including bins, into their organizational zones.

• Create a comfortable seating area.

Tomorrow

Laundry Room

GET THE BOOK:

Easy Steps to an Organized Life in 31 Days or Less (Amazon.com)

Bonus Room Inspirations

Storage Central: The Ultimate Bonus Room

Serving as home office, playroom, and occasional guest quarters, this bonus room is the hardest-working space in the house.

Kids’ Desk Area

— One of two desk areas (the other is for adults), this pint-size version gives little ones their own space to create art, crafts, and inevitable messes.

— This kid-friendly area is outfitted with a roll of art paper and other scrubbable surfaces.

— The quartz-surfacing countertop is durable, stain-resistant, and easy to clean.