Our New School Space

I'm still gushing over our new place.

I know, it's probably getting old.  I mean, you know I really am loving where we landed.  But I can't make any promises as to when I'll quit wanting to share it with you.  I always love peeking in other families homeschool areas.  So today I'm showing you ours!

When we first decided to move to Scottsdale we knew we'd have to give up some square footage in exchange for the exact area we wanted to be in.  I made peace with that and did a major clean out of our school supplies.  It's kind of nuts how much stuff I had stock piled in the closets at our old house.

Flash forward to where we live now.  We did give up a little space, but not nearly as much as I had thought we would have to.  We even have an extra room that would be perfect as a school room if we decided to use it for that.  However, Andrew staked his claim on that room so school is happening at the dining room table.

And I love it. 

Really, really love it. 

But only because I got creative with our storage options.  As much as I want to be one of those homeschool moms that is totally OK with her house looking like a place where kids are learning and creating all day, I'm just not.

During the day, our kitchen/dining room area is covered with projects and notebooks and library books.  There are pencils and markers and dry erase boards all over the place.  But when we wrap up our last formal subject, I need this space to be clean and clear of all clutter.

So here's how I'm making it work.

We do school mostly in our kitchen/dining room.  It's a big open area with an island and a built in desk.  There is plenty of room for us to all spread out and do our own thing without being on top of each other.  There's a lot of natural light which I love. 

If you look close in the picture below, you can see Gabe outside.  We are putting in a screen door so I can leave the sliding glass door open.  Now that we are done with triple digits, I'm expecting we will move most of our school outside.  We just need a table out there.

I almost didn't bring our big bookshelf cabinet.  It was a custom build for a very certain space and I wasn't sure if I could make it work after the move.  I'm so glad we ended up bringing it.  We put the base in our dining area as a buffet type table.  And the cabinets are perfect for school.

On the left I have all of our curriculum.  Gabe's on top, Josie's on the bottom.  These are the books we use on a regular basis.  The right side has our sensory tubs and other manipulatives that keep Gabe busy.  Beads, lacing, letter cards, and Playdoh are his current go-tos.

I gave myself a drawer to keep all of my things or materials for art projects we are doing soon.

And the other drawer is for all their supplies.  I ended up finding a basket that fits perfect for the pencils and scissors that I just pull out and stick on the table during school then put it back at the end.  It has made it super easy to clean up.

I hijacked a wall in Andrew's office for their bulletin boards. 

This works great since we pretty much just hang stuff to show him.

I also used the bookshelves in the office.

I put the kid books on the bottom shelf so they can grab them easily.  I want to get a bunch of globes to put on the top.

I'm using one cabinet of the bookshelf to hide my notebook hoarding problem.  Not quite ready to admit I need an intervention here.  Seriously though, notebooks were .05 cents last month!  How could I not grab a billion of them?

Paper, learning posters, dress up, and bigger art supplies are all stored in this drawer system in the corner of the office closet.

And a shoe organizer holds all of our other random supplies on the back of the coat closet door. 

Another thing I almost didn't bring was this dresser.  We decided to use it as a TV stand and I love it.  It makes the room feel cozy for some reason.  Plus it gives us a ton of storage.  We haven't used up all of the drawers but this is where I'm keeping puzzles and games.  They used to be stored on a top shelf of a closet so it's been fun to have easier access to them so we can use them more.

Our kitchen has this desk area.

I claimed this as mine, but Josie usually props herself up right here.  It's nice since I can get stuff done in the kitchen and still be totally available if she needs me.  We are using a few online tools right now and this is a great space for that.

I'm so happy with how great this space works for school. 

We are getting to be all together and still not have school stuff all over.  It's the best of both worlds! 

Come On In - Josie's Room

Josie's room is very Josie.

She has strong opinions about what she likes and what she likes is color.  And Lalaloopsy.  Both of which her room has plenty of.

We added the book shelves and window seat as a birthday gift.  I think they make the room so cute.  I envision many days of her reading in by the window.

Also, she has a bathroom two feet from her bed, yet still wakes me up at least once a night to "take her potty."  Someone please tell me she will outgrow that this year.

Disclaimer: Josie's room is also very lived in.  She has spilled paint on the carpet, there are always, always toys everywhere, and girlfriend has a unique way of organizing her bookshelves.

On a normal day, this is what her room looks like:

Yea.

And this is after I had her clear some paper so she could actually walk through the room.

I'm trying to learn to let this space be her space within reason.  This particular week, she was planning a Welcome Home Party for the Lalaloopsy she saved her money for.  She spent three quiet times creating gifts, making streamers and banners, and creating a play.  Every little thing that looks like mess to me, is there very on purpose.  How can I get mad at all that creativity?

She told me yesterday that it wasn't her fault it was messy, she just has too many ideas in her brain.

All that to say, I heavily staged her room the way it's SUPPOSED to be, i.e. it's never this clean.

The walls are Tiffany Blue.  The lighting makes it look different, but it's so pretty.

Come On In - Gabe's Room

Since tomorrow my tiny baby boy will turn four, I thought it would be a good day to show you his room.

But first, let me show you a picture from when he first came home to us.

I hope you haven't had any cuteness yet this morning.  Wouldn't want you to OD after seeing this one.

Goodness.  He's been beautiful since day one.

Anyway, back to Gabe's room.

He is Josie's polar opposite when it comes to room decor.

While she wants every toy, poster, book, and decoration in her room, he flips out if I add anything.

When I put up the paper airplanes he cried for three nights.  If all the books aren't put in the basket, he simply will not go to sleep.  It's slightly maddening, but also totally OK with me.

He's a child after my own heart.  Cleanliness is next to Godliness after all.

On with the show:

Come On In - Laundry Room

Today I'm taking you into our mismatched laundry room.

This room sees a lot of action.  How does a family of 4 go through so many loads of laundry each week?!?!  

This is another room that I haphazardly painted dark green one day back in 2009.  I instantly didn't like it, but tried to convince myself I would learn to like it.

Then I stumbled on a Pinterest image and isn't that how we all get fed up enough to make some changes?  We pulled out the old wire shelf, reclaimed a cabinet from The Farmhouse and added a wood shelf above the machines.  Throw in a tiny shower curtain and some random knick knacks from around the house and I now hate doing laundry just a little less.

Come On In - Hall Bathroom

This is the upstairs hall bathroom.

A few years ago I painted it an awful, dark green.  It made the room super dark and look even smaller then it is.  But since this is the least used room in the house, it wasn't a high priority to fix.  

I finally got around to lightening it up last month.  I also took a few notes from Pinterest and ditched the towel bar for a gallery wall and added a double curtain to the shower.  I say this every time I update a room, but this is my current favorite room in the house.  Now I just need more guests to come over so it gets used more!