If you follow me on Instagram, you know we've been struggling a wee bit in the kid's shared room. It's a good sized room, but when you add three growing kids and all of their books, toys, art, collections, clothes... it's a bit packed, even for this minimalist fam. For the last year or so I've had a long white bench in their room (you can see it in this post) that housed a few things on top and a few baskets underneath.
I love a good basket (can't leave a thrift store without one apparently!), but I felt their room was starting to feel cluttered with so many baskets on the floor. We had them everywhere! Holding Calico Critters, books, Playmobil, doll clothes, and more. And if when the kids mixed up the contents, having separate baskets was no longer helpful and clean up became even more work (and this Enneagram 1 was having none of it!).
I started shopping around for something larger and with closed storage (drawers!) because the many baskets and open storage was starting to feel too cluttered for one bedroom with three crazy kids. Most dressers I found were far too big for their space, but when I looked for small dressers they were all too small (like three shallow drawers). I started to feel like Goldilocks, especially when I found a dresser that was juuuuuuust right!
I found this white campaign-style dresser at Goldtex, a family-owned business here in Montreal. Because it's designed for a child's room, it's not overly bulky, but honestly, we'll use this piece until our kids are grown, and it could work in an adult's bedroom (or maybe even living space!) too. For apartment living and kid's spaces, huge furniture just doesn't work, but most smaller-scale furniture is cheaply made and doesn't seem solid in my opinion. This piece really fits exactly what we've been looking for. Solid, large enough to provide ample storage, but not too bulky in our small space. I love it!
We gave each kid their own drawer and it's been hilarious watching them fill it with their own precious things (plus lots of their personal toys that were crowding up their room). In the other three drawers I put small boardgames and card games, Calico Critters, and Playmobil. The room feels way less cluttered and I'm glad to have the bench back in the dining room.
Spy any other changes? The British pillow is probably my favourite thing in our house haha! It was $4 at a thrift store and I couldn't not get it. I wondered what Brad would think since he's certainly no Anglophile and loves to mock my love for all-things British on a daily basis, but even he likes it! I think having the Quebec flag + map and two globes in their room helped me make the argument that it was just one of many cultures being represented ;)
This post was in collaboration with Goldtex.
All views are 100% my own.
To book a collab, contact me.
Hi Emily! I stumbled upon your blog while looking for ideas for our family as we spend a week in Montreal this summer. We were last in Montreal 3 years ago, and I wanted to seek out a real person to see if there are any "must do" activities with little ones that would also allow them to use their French with other children. I looked at day camps, but I'm not sure that's the best option given that I do want to spend time with them myself, too! My kids are 7, 5, and 2, and I'm a former French teacher so I speak in French to them but have a hard time getting them to speak to me! Any sites you can point me to or activities your family loves, I would love to hear about them!
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