The time has finally come for us to move Sprout out of our room, the only problem with that is to get him out of our room, we had to literally rearrange the entire house. It was a huge undertaking, and I should have taken before and after pictures to show that I did actually do something all month but I didn't.
(Basement bathroom.)
(It was January when I took these pictures and the stair rails were just finally added on.)
We live in a four bedroom 3 full bath home and I love it! When we first moved in I thought we had a ton of space but the arrangement of the house just felt off. I was really excited to do an overhaul. Things started in the garage. We had to clean it out so that we could move stuff from the basement into the attic in the garage, cleaning out the storage room. We pulled out cupboard and I did a major organize, going through each box junking out. There were shelves hung up where the kitchen play area is set before. We had to move the storage from the shelves into the storage room, taking down the shelves and then rehanging them. For that I enlisted the Sister missionaries to come over to help me hang shelves. Once the basement was emptied, we moved the playroom from upstairs down to the basement. Once again, I enlisted the sisters help. The basement is still a MAJOR work in progress and needs to be officially finished but I have big plans for that space and I love having all of the toys downstairs.
Once the playroom was emptied, we moved the office from the smaller room upstairs to the bigger one. I am still not happy with the space, BUT it's a work in progress. After the office was moved, we painted the kids room. Another project for the Sisters.
Sprout helped a little too!
We ended up running out of paint and since we are still a one car family (for the past 3 years) Sprout and I bundled up and walked to Home Depot to get some more paint.
(Upstairs bathroom, between the office and the kids room.)
Once the room upstairs was painted the hunt was on for twin beds for the kids so they could upgrade from their crib mattresses and so that Leif could have the crib. I found a set on Craigslist for $300 for both mattresses. They are fairly new and were in great condition, PLUS they delivered!!
I moved the kids upstairs to their room and enlisted the neighbors to help me move some shelves upstairs.
Then we rearranged our bedroom kicking Sprout out. Perviously his pack a play was by the door. both dressers were crammed in the corner by the bed and there was a glider in the corner by the closet. It was extremely claustrophobic but it worked for the moment. I can't tel you how much I enjoy having our room back however!
Duke and E were previously sharing this little room. E had a toddler bed where the glider is and the dresser and the crib stayed where they are. There were also shelves that ran around the ceiling and it was painted bright blue. Back in June Mom and I ripped down the shelves and painted the room. I can't tell you how much bigger it feels just having Sprout in there.
Through all of this the only rooms we didn't overhaul were the living room and the kitchen. (Just for fun here is a picture of the kitchen.) I honestly think it may have been easier to just move everything out onto the lawn and start fresh. The house was in chaos for weeks and I was going insane. But now that the dust has settled I cannot tell you how much I LOVE IT!!!
I feel like we are getting so much more use out of our home. Having two playrooms was just a bit silly. I love having Duke and E upstairs, how they have SPACE and how we are not living on top of one another. they love to play up there and read in the teepee which I double love. I love how Sprout fits into his room just perfectly and I triple love having our room back to ourselves! Now it's time to make some beds for Duke and E and start finishing the basement (hoping to persuade everyone to come to Kansas for Christmas his year.). I have a feeling it will be a very busy year!
