My wife ‘can’t breathe’ when she looks at this corner of our house
A man has sparked a heated debate online after revealing that his wife said a corner of their room was so cluttered, “she can’t breathe.”
Post on Redditthe husband from Stockholm shared a snapshot of a cabinet of children’s toys, with a desk and chair, next to what appear to be bunk beds.
Each of the slots is filled to the brim with various trinkets, toys, and books, while boxes on top of the unit hold more items, and toy guns and musical instruments hang on the wall.
But the arrangement has caused some strife in the household, as the man explained: “My wife says this is so messy ‘she can’t breathe.'”
Commentators remained divided, with some claiming it’s incredibly organized for a child’s play space, while others insisted there’s so much going on that it makes them anxious.
The man from Stokcholm posted on Reddit and shared a snapshot of a shelving unit containing children’s toys, with a desk and chair, next to what appear to be bunk beds
One commenter said they couldn’t understand the problem and said, ‘It’s not a museum. People live there. To me this looks more than good,” while another wrote that it looks “clean as hell.”
Another agreed that there’s no point in changing it, saying, “However, it’s a toy corner for young children, everything will be ripped out on a daily basis.”
“Honestly, I think a revamp would be overkill for its position. I think if you have kids, you have to accept that parts of your house are going to become theirs when they grow up.’
“There doesn’t have to be a system as long as the kid can find what they’re looking for,” another Reddit commenter wrote. Everything else is just passing your own hangups and neurosis onto the child and may even lead them to develop a neurosis themselves.’
Some co-parents didn’t understand the problem and said they’ve seen kids’ spaces that are much messier
And several people commented that they wish their kids’ bedrooms looked just as tidy.
Others, however, weren’t so sure and said they didn’t think cluttered was the right word, but agreed that space isn’t well organized.
“Things are randomly shoved on the shelves and nothing is sorted,” one of them explained.
Another said they don’t think the setup is appropriate for a child, which may have triggered the woman.
“What probably makes it messy rather than busy is that it’s clearly set up so that a little person has access to a lot of what’s out there,” they explained.
Some people said they don’t find the space cluttered, but agreed that it’s too cluttered and offered solutions
“With the way things are set up, the little human has no hope of making a big mess of it. Multiple rows of toys on a single shelf, books behind other items and baskets to pull out all create a human instinct to dig and explore to find the ‘buried treasure’, so to speak.’
‘And I suspect that the woman is the one who often cleans up the mess afterwards. That’s what I see.’
A multitude of commentators suggested solutions to make the space look a bit tidier, such as baskets and bins, and standing the books upright.
“This will look a lot better if you get cube boxes and put all the stuff in a square box on all the shelves on the right,” someone wrote.
Many people sided with the man’s wife, saying that they, too, would be concerned about the cluttered space
Others said it would be a good idea to put doors on the cabinet so the items are out of sight, or hang curtains over the shelves.
But others totally agreed with the man’s wife, saying that a lot of clutter can be overwhelming, especially for people who suffer from anxiety.
One commenter sided with the woman, writing, “I have really severe OCD and watching this really makes my head spin and gives me a knot in my stomach. There’s nothing intentionally dramatic about it in my case.
Another agreed and said: When I looked at this photo my chest immediately felt tight, I doubt it’s dramatic. So many … things make me very anxious, especially the way you can see everything at once, it’s really overwhelming.’