I am highly visual.

And watching my house degrade, day after day, into deeper chaos can be, um, challenging (read: crazy-making).

A few evenings ago I took note of our downward spiral and decided to set up an art table for the children.  Reign in some chaos and make some unschooling magic happen.

The play table had been seriously underutilized.  It was coated in dust and contained some stray bits of paper, a basket of pompoms that Sage made over Easter and promptly forgot about, and a puzzle. (Have I mentioned the dust?) Now is it pure loveliness (ignore the missing outlet cover please), complete with a shelf for art supplies and personalized chairs.

The kids have been creating art everyday. They were already seriously crafters, but somehow the transitions between meals and art caused a glitch in our program and sometimes it just wasn't worht anybody's effort. 

 Last night I set out watercolors for them before bed, and when they woke the set to work on creating art. It was fabulous.

Aside from the art table, I spent that evening organizing our playroom as well. We have nice toys. Lots. Of. Them. So rearranged, and loaded a couple of laundry baskets with neglected treasures and hauled them off to the toy-graveyard in the basement.

(Sorry for the image below. I don't mean to scare you.)

This…

Became this:

Aaahhh… So much better.  I think I can breathe again.