I love our house. I've loved it since the minute we drove into the driveway! And, it was the perfect starter home. We were going to live here for roughly five years and then upgrade to the next level home. Fourteen years later, we are still here! For a family of three, it works, but at times it's a little tight. We have a two story home, with three bedrooms, but one of the things we like most is that it's multi-level. We have the main level with a kitchen and living/dining room. We have the upstairs with three bedrooms and two baths. We have a room downstairs from the living room, our den, but then we have another level down to the basement which is partially finished. It's McKinley's playroom on one side and the laundry/storage room on the other. It's perfect for what we use it for currently, but I'm now looking around and wondering where we can build a work space for McKinley.
For those of you new to the blog, I created a home office earlier in the year in our den. It's a long narrow room, so I took the opposite end of our living space and made it a little office. I don't have much there. A desk, nice upholstered chair, and a little antique cabinet I "stole" from my parents for my storage cabinet. I love it! And now, I want the same thing for McKinley.
Now that he's in Kindergarten, he needs an area to work on afternoon activities that are required for him to earn SOAR tickets each day. These tickets are super valuable as he's able to turn them in for something from the treasure box as a reward for completing his work. I've loved working with him in the afternoons on math, sorting, writing his name, alphabet scavenger hunts, and other fun things I've come up with with the help of Pinterest! And, he was able to earn a little firetruck he's had his eye on since she introduced the treasure box on the first day of school.
Right now, we use the kitchen table, which is the age old space where kids have done their homework for years. But, he has this darling table and chairs in his playroom that is currently being used to collect toys that he doesn't feel like putting in their proper place on shelves! It's a pit and you can't even see the work trucks that are painted on the table top. I want to find a place in our house for this cute table to be utilized. I'm thinking of a little corner in his room that houses a chair where we gave him nightly feedings when he was a baby. That chair is the catch-all chair for clothes, blankets, and other things. I see a pattern here. If we moved out the chair, the table would fit nicely and we could use this space to do school work and other fun arts and crafts throughout the year.
But then there's the issue of just having the table and nothing else. Yes, he has his playroom, so I guess technically he has a place to play, so this new area would be specific for work. So if we carved out a little nook in his room, we could add shelving to the walls around the table to give him cubbies and other places to put things like crayons, construction paper, and such. And I've found some spaces, again on Pinterest, that I love and that have brought about some inspiration.
Okay, okay, so the ones on the bottom are a little far fetched, but how cute are they? And I love how bright and cheery they are. I could really get to work in a happy space like this! However, the top two are much more realistic. I love the loft idea with the bunk beds and the work station below. It would grow with him as he grows older. I would definitely jazz it up with color. I love pure white, but he needs a little color and pizzazz!
So this is where I am in the newest "finding space to use" in our house. I'm constantly trying to help our home evolve, but eventually we are going to run out of room. I'm in constant denial regarding a potential move that really isn't necessary. But, it would be nice to have a little more square footage to give everyone the personal space they need.
What have you done to prep your home for a space that your child can call their own? Are you thinking that a playroom is enough and to use that space wisely? My fear is that he won't really concentrate in that room just due to the fact his toys are all around. It's so easy to loose focus when your play thing are so close at hand. Does a child need a work space? Should I simply rely on that age old kitchen table where I too did my homework year after year?
Let's chat!
XO,
Andrea
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