We've Moved

....our classroom.

We are no longer conducting school on our kitchen table and in the butler's pantry.  YEAH!  My kitchen table shows the wear of 4 years of school and projects.  It is on Lance's to do list for the spring/summer to refinish the table top.

 I have been wanting to move our school room for about 3 years.  The kitchen table worked great when it was just Morgan but once I added Landon into the mix the table did not work as well.  Last summer Lance agreed we could change the office into a school room.  In order to have the school room look like I wanted, we needed to sell our office desk.  I put the desk on craigs list and it sat there ...unsold all summer long.  Finally at the beginning of fall we moved the desk back into the office.  We continued having school at the kitchen table until one morning I just decided to move our table from the butler's pantry into the school room and start the transformation.  Although it isn't my ideal set up it is working out pretty well. Morgan does her school work at the desk while Landon and Mauryn use the table or sit on the floor.  

 Once we moved the table, charts, and calendar out of the butler's pantry it left this wide open space.  I have been searching craigs list for a buffet to put in this space but I haven't found the perfect one for the right price... yet.

While I was in the midst of moving our school room I decided to move things in our bonus room.  We have a HUGE bonus room {this is the area that sold us on this house} but sometimes too much open space can be an issue. I had not been happy with how we had things set up in the bonus room but wasn't sure how to move it.  Our furniture has to be in the same area due to the built in entertainment center so there are not many options.  The other areas offer a little flexibility and I was ready for a change. I enlisted the help of Mauryn and Landon and we got to work changing our bonus room into this set up.

1.  This is the view from the steps into the bonus room

 2.  the new kitchen/shopping cart area

3.  inside climber... my kids still use this all the time for a fort and ship. we thought we might be able to sell it this spring but since we have the space it will stay for a while.  mauryn's baby crib and strollers are stored on the wall right next to this climber

4.  this area is behind the big couch in picture #1... i love this little nook.  it has housed many things over the years but has mainly been the area for my desk over the last 3 years.  it was good spot for it as it has its own light and is tucked away. i did not like having our exercise equipment sitting out {used to be in the corner where climber is now}.  i felt like it took up too much space and just seemed cluttered to me. i moved my desk and put the exercise equipment in the nook. i like it so much better.

5.  my desk where i work on the computer, sew, etc...  this is now to the left right when you walk up the stairs. it sits there perfectly and i like its new home.

6.  another view of the desk {excuse the mess on floor}... you can see a door on the very left side of the picture that is a storage closet where we keep games, crafting supplies, and kids' toys.