Allowing your children to leave toys all over the floor for hours on end is a trip and fall risk for them, and more seriously for you and your spouse. Certainly there is a happy medium between OCD perfection and pandemonium. Children can still be creative and clean up after themselves and learn the good habits that will help them in school (and life) and to be good guests, even as young children. Habits that are not reinforced in the home tend to not be practiced outside the home. (Table manners are a good example. Yes, I'm 110 years old, in case you are wondering. No, I'm not, table manners are another one of my pet peeves.) I suggest breaking down all the things your kids have into dedicated zones: I'll give you some examples: Lego zone Blocks zone Arts and crafts zone- further broken down by materials, maybe: painting easel area, other arts and crafts, etc Dress-up zone Play kitchen zone Trains and tracks zone So you need to reorganize the room that way into little mini-zones. If you notice, that is the way that pre-schools and kindergarten rooms are organized. Within each zone, items should be in easy to put away containers that are clearly marked with labels if your children can read, or photos if they can't. You can use clear plastic bins that make it easy for them to see what us inside, too, with lids that snap closed, so when they pull things out they are less likely to spill everything. Cubbies and shelves should be at their height. You need to train your child that when they are finished playing in one zone, they must put away everything they used from that zone before they go to another zone. That will take some effort on your part spending some time with them down there, watching them as they go from one activity to the next. Once you have trained them to clean up each area before going on to the next, you can also tell them that at the end of the day or before lunch you will give them a 5 minute (or however long you think it will take) notice to put everything away. (You've already given the 10 minute notice that playtime is ending.) What would work better is if you bought an easy-to-work timer that they could set themselves, so they are in control of it, and you just say, "Okay, Clean up time, Please set your alarm for 5 minutes." And reinforce the heck out of them when they have cleaned up appropriately within the 5 minutes.

I don't think you can fit two sofas in the room with the TV. Place the TV and console in the same place the current owners had it. Then look for a sectional or one long sofa with floating chairs to use at either end. Make sure the seating stays in the main area of the room and not in the walkways (no chair by the stairs). I think painting before they move in makes a lot of sense as long as they choose neutral light colors. Narrow down your options though - you don't need 11 whites to choose from. I would look for a neutral warm white with the floors and fireplace and possible antiques, and paint the ceiling white like the trim.

If it helps anybody here, my husband, myself, my daughter, and my son in law (all HCW) have all had the first vaccine, with only a sore arm for 24-48 hours being the only side effect to report. With 94% efficacy, and my husband's constant risk of exposure at his office, we are more than thrilled to get the shot and hoping to get back to a more normal state soon. Our small community has been hit hard, we have lost several personal friends, colleagues, including a physician and medical assistant, dear neighbors, and basically Covid has been devastating here. We were able to turn that bonus room upstairs into a most delightful "Playroom" and our grandchildren have enjoyed hours of fun there and they clamor to run there when they are here playing. I am so thrilled that we got busy and moved all the "Junque" into storage and created a space that is absolutely worry free and kid friendly. And, Molly, I bet your space is finished and gorgeous now! Its great to refine space and define life at every age and stage. My last BIG adjustment is preparing for my husband's retirement which will be official April 2021. Any of you houzzers have a husband that has retired with any great tips on sharing house space, I would love to hear. We personally have decided to create his office in (GASP) our dining room. Omg.....I never thought I would give up the dining room. But, POUF, like magic, we moved the table upstairs and moved the desk in its place. And, I'm good with it. We do have an office upstairs, but he prefers to have the view and proximity downstairs, and I agree. Yikes! My daughter will be hosting family dinners, and we will have casual eating in the breakfast room and our kitchen bar. Tell me I'm not crazy!

Everyone, and I mean everyone, told us that our art work was hung too high. DH Googled the proper height of artwork. He had to admit that everyone was right and he was wrong. DH balked at rehanging the front parlor. Or, as I call it, the She Room. I told him that it could wait until I found the final wall elements. I found them. Flo, told me that the wall behind the settee needed an additional element to fill wall. So, I bought two small Chinese vases from my guy at the monthly antique and design fair. (He knows my name, which means I've been hanging around too much.) Then, I went looking for two sconce shelves to set the vases upon. I took a chance at the antiques show and gave a guy $18.00 cash for two gold shelves. It was all I had left in my wallet after lunch. They turned out to be too small for the vases. Oh, well. I got DH to hang them below some plates that were already hung up. I found two larger shelves for sale at Ebay. The price was right. We hung them up. Old holes in the wall have to be filled and the room painted. We lowered the height of the picture to the suggested height. Here is the final wall arrangement.