Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Customizing our space



source


Do you agree?
Our family is close. Both figuratively and literally.
And the trick to putting 7 people in a 1600 sq ft. home is efficient spaces.
..and outdoor living space... and kind neighbors who check the cul-de-sac for biking kids before backing out of their driveways.

We have three boys sharing one bedroom. Obviously we have a bunk bed. As well as another single bed (for some reason, I can't imagine bedtime going smoothly if two boys were to share a bed). We also have a desk and a dresser in there. And because our "family room" is miniscule, the toys are in this room also.

How do I fit it all, you ask?
Well, for a while, I didn't really. I had the toys and one boy's clothes in the closet. Another's were in a dresser. Another's weren't even in this room. Then I got tired of the crammed closet and the mess and decided it was time to do something about it.

Have you ever looked in your closet and realized there is a lot of wasted space? Why do builders put one shelf and dowel bar across the whole length of every single closet in a house anyway? Do they hang all of their clothes?

After coming up with a little drawing, based on this website, I presented Dean with his next project.
Aren't handy hubbies worth their weight in gold!?

He is marvelous! Check out the boy's closet now!



I can fit ALL three boys' clothes plus the toys and craft items.
We used 15" deep shelving from Home Depot, cut down and re-used the dowel bar, and re-used and raised the top shelf. The total cost for this closet was about $150. (I haven't done any painting yet.)

And while our plan was to sell the dresser, I am hanging onto it for now.
Because I like it. And because it looks better than plastic organizers.



I was able to get rid of a cheap little three-drawer cart that held miscellaneous little toys by putting those items in the dresser. Also, each boy has a drawer for their prized possessions (gosh, are my kids the only ones who hang onto tons of junk?).
The kids' piggy banks reside on top of the dresser too. Some day I'll get around to hanging a shelf for them.

In the meantime, I am planning on painting this room a gray color and accenting with navy blue and bright green.

And I'm wondering how soon I can pester my handy, handsome hubby to customize the rest of the closets. ;)

4 comments:

  1. Wow, Looks great! Ready to putter on our house again. We have 3 kids in one room also and the closet is tiny. Still trying to figure out the best way to maximize our space in there.

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  2. Well. We've less than 800sq. ft to live. But we've only 5 people sharing it. Sixth one coming soon but no worries! Planning to move into a new one that has hopefully at least 500sq ft for us to use and it's going to be on the other side of earth... :-D I like your closet though! Looks really pracitical. (That's what we Finns like.Ü)

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    1. Where there's love, there's room, huh? :) I think we Americans could take lessons from you Finn's on how to live efficiently. There are so many huge houses here with only a few people living in them! Your situation reminds me of the summer we lived with other family. Basically we had our family of five in one bedroom! Then of course, you visited us at our apartment at NAU. 586 square feet for the five of us. It was very cozy! And certainly do-able.

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  3. :-) We've been watching houses for sale around Prescott just for fun and I really think it's waste of space and money to have a house more than 2000sq. ft that has only 2 or 3 bedrooms!

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