From Craft Room to Kid Room: The Jack & Jill Desk Review

About two months ago I shared my revamped Small Space Dream Craft Room and how it's totally upgraded how I do my crafting.  Making a few key changes has kept my stuff neater & more organized than ever before. And there's now plenty of workroom despite the space not getting any bigger.  A major part of that transformation was buying an EZ View and a Helen Sewing Desk from The Original Scrapbox.  Those babies have totally maximized my limited space and revolutionized how I store my supplies:   

The desks have had such an impact on keeping that room under control, I've been looking at the rest of the house with a "how could you be transformed like that?" kind of eye. This is especially true with my kids' stuff, hence today's topic...The Jack and Jill Desk.

The Original Scrapbox loved how I customized my desks with tote inserts & laminated drawer liners and seeing the improvements their desks made to my little room. They've even featured my room tour on their site & as their current FB cover photo!  

Since buying their other desks made such an amazing impact on my craft space, they asked if I'd try out their new kid's Jack and Jill Desk and see how that could change our kids' space for the better.  I definitely needed some help in this department, so of course I said yes!

I love my 3 rug rats to bits, but they excel at making messes.  Since we homeschool, they are home a lot and constantly dragging stuff out for school and play time.  We are fortunate to have a classroom space, but it's always in a state of what I like to call "Kidnado", where stuff is EVERYWHERE after they've breezed through.  I hate discouraging them from being creative or playing with stuff they love, but it's also exhausting looking at this on a daily basis:

I'd tried just about everything to keep it under control: bins, boxes, shelves, even (and I'm not super proud to admit it), hiding stuff up high so things wouldn't be sloppy and scattered all the time.  None of it worked.  My kids like playing with stuff like Lego, building sets and little figurines nearly everyday.  Keeping them in closed containers just wasn't practical, but I was also tired of stepping on Lego bricks, pulling connectors out of the vacuum tank or finding plastic horses in the bathroom or a random closet.  Then, the Jack and Jill Desk arrived:

And we all fell in love with it:

Like my craft room desks, the top of the Jack and Jill Desk is shatterproof plexiglass to see everything inside and each drawer has removable dividers to get a perfect fit for the various contents.  I especially love how easy it makes clean-up.  Just a quick "scoop & drop" and everything is back where it belongs.  

It's also clever because the drawers open on either side:

We've had the desk for over a month now and their classroom has stayed just as neat as the first day the desk was in place.  It's been a life-changer for this mom:

The desk has two height options thanks to the optional extension set of expander boots and side drawer. It definitely gives the desk a longer life span than most kid's furniture, as does the solid quality.  My 4yr old can sit & play at it comfortably, but there's still plenty of grow room for my much bigger 8 & 11 yr olds too.  All 3 can play at it together (AND manage to do it without squabbling), so it's pretty impressive:

The side shelf bins are extra sturdy - they don't collapse at all (unlike most fabric bins) and are really roomy to hold all kinds of stuff.  We're keeping things like play set scenery, masks and balls in them right now so they're easy to grab, but still out of sight. 

The side drawer is nice and wide so all their favorite little critter figures can be spread out and easy to find.  Less tossing everything on the floor just to find a particular fish or dinosaur.

There's also a handy paper roller on the side for instant art time:

Our roll of Ikea easel paper is a perfect fit and the desk surface is big enough for everybody to use at once.

It's also got a magnetic chalkboard on the front, so there's a fun feature on every single side:

One of coolest things about the desk is the LED lighting.  The illuminated top drawers make everything more visible and add some bonus atmosphere while they play.  

The handy remote control makes it easy & fun to change through a dozen colors, change brightness, switch to strobe, flash or fade from color to color.  This has wowed everyone, kid and adult, who's come over and tried it.  

I also really like how it's a proper piece of furniture, yet still holds loads of things.  Much more attractive than stacks of plastic bins! 

Putting it together was pretty quick too, which was a real bonus.  The shelf base and desk top already came assembled so we just had to attach them together, add the two legs and peel & stick on the LED light strand.   We surprised the kids with it and did a bit of an unveiling ceremony. To say they were wowed would be an understatement:

We even took a little video to capture their full reactions:



I'm not exaggerating when I say they have been using it everyday (as you can see from the various outfits & times of day in the pics).  I'm constantly being asked "Can we go play with the desk?". They even opt for control of the light remote over watching tv!  I've especially loved how it's engaged their creativity.  They spend a lot longer playing with the toys or doing art projects because the desk is part of the playscape.  It also gives me a bit more time to sneak into my own play area and craft while they're busy, so it's a win-win for everyone;)

A big thanks to The Original Scrapbox for making our Kid Room just as fantastic as my Craft Room!


I was not financially compensated for this post .  I received The Original Scrapbox's Jack and Jill Desk to review.  The opinions are completely my own, based on my honest experiences.