Last year we split the school year into two different spots: The upstairs study and the dining room. I felt too cut off from the rest of the house while upstairs….and the dining room became messy and disorganized, as well as served as extra work for me every day (since we didn’t store anything in there at day’s end).
This summer, my attention turned to our lower den/playroom, quite honestly my least favorite room in our house. It feels cold and bare (probably partly because of the fact that I chose to paint it a chilly green in my pregnancy-induced decision-making state three years ago). It is a room FULL of openings….doorways, windows, more doorways, a fireplace, a staircase. Arranging furniture in here would be a challenge for anyone. I’ve given adequate thought into submitting a “Please Help Me” videotape to HGTV on more than one occasion!
Even Ken had his doubts when I summoned his help in the “heavy lifting” part of the process. When the last piece of furniture was placed, though, he said he had to admit that it looked good. It served our purposes. It worked out for the better, surprising as that fact was.
We moved G’s art desk out of his room and in front of the den window. R’s little white table came downstairs, too. Now they can choose to sit there together, or separate for more individualized tasks.
In the back corner under the shelves is my “craft cabinet.” It’s full of tons of stuff (including junk)….and once it’s cleaned out, most drawers will house arts & crafts supplies for schooltime.
The opposite corner is the “reading corner.” A big basket of books is part of it, though it’s not shown. If this isn’t terribly popular, we’re going to bring Rainey’s toy kitchen downstairs and turn it into a “Home Ec” space instead.
The big, square pillows are taken out during “self space” time. The Horizon curriculum stresses the importance of each child sitting within his/her “self space” during story and discussion time. I like this idea! My kids need practice in sitting still and in one spot!
We took our much-moved-around storage cube unit and use it for manipulatives/free time activities. Puzzles, games, math & language maniuplatives, flash cards, blocks, and other things are here. I’m enacting a strict rule of “only one thing out at a time per child” this year. Completely re-sorting tiny lacing beads and letter blocks isn’t my idea of fun.
I boxed up many of my personal books and made two empty shelves available for school books and supplies, within very easy reach!
Last but not least, the bookshelves my dad made and painted for me when I was 6 or 7 have transformed into something new…cubbies. The bottom shelves are to hold more toys and blocks. The top corner cubbies are for the kids….each has their own spot to put completed work. It was evident that they enjoyed this ownership of space, tiny as it is! I know this is another great way to prepare them for their future classrooms, as well.
Now that I have all of our “stuff” in once place, I can see what we have, what we don’t, and what we might want to consider buying for our schooling. My days of taking inventory in retail stores are paying off in a big way! My wish list is growing….but for now, I’m contentedly enjoying our space, looking forward to our time spent there in the coming months.
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Amber (2 years ago)
Very creative and good use of space!
jodi (2 years ago)
ooh – looks fabulous! you are so inspiring!