This area is the wedgie in my life.
It’s causing me great discomfort. Right in the rear end. It’s literally suffocating my bum hole. Sorry mom about the anal-ogy.
I just needed to really emphasize what a pain in the butt this area is in my life. It’s the little walkway that falls behind the sofa and ever since we lived here, we made it the play area in the living room. The problem is….it’s a play area with toys. So when you walk in our house, you walk through this fantastically huge space-wasting foyer and into our rather long and skinny living room and this is the first thing you see. It’s like botched plastic surgery. It just confuses your brain and you can’t help but look.
Every six months or so, I sort through everything and take the extra toys to the basement (to the place that we call “where toys go to die”) but it still looks like this afterward…
Sooo we got to thinking…where can we put the toys?
Our first thought was to make the reading room a play room. The reading room is right off the foyer and has french doors leading to the living room. But that would be a problem. First – the toys would totally spill out into the foyer ready to welcome guests with a twisted ankle and a Lego-inflicted-puncture-wound. They would possibly end up back into the little toy area that we are trying to clear out. And I am not exactly fond of the idea of the playroom having two exterior doors and a very low window. Plus, there isn’t a whole lot of low wall room so storage would be hard. But the good thing is – the reading room is NEVER used. I mean like never. I can count on one hand the number of times someone has gone in there and it is my in-laws.
So then we got to thinking….again.
And what we decided was that the very best place for a playroom would be my office. Remember my office?
Well, it hasn’t looked so clean and organized lately. Because it is behind a closed door, the clutter has had a party.
What I need in my office is a little accountability. Because I could shut the door, I always chose that option over actual organization. But playrooms are always disorganized…and that’s okay by me….as long as there is a door.
Now that is what we are working on….switching the old office into the new playroom, the old play area into a new storage/console table hallway, and the old reading room into my new office.
And so that is what we are working on….what about you guys?
I love the idea. When we first bought our home the playroom was in our formal dining room. But once I found more toys in the kitchen then the playroom it was time for a change. The toys are now in the basement playroom. They are getting better about playing in it. And I get a office/library/kids art area. Good luck changing things around!
That’s a great idea Katie! A playroom with a door to close sounds like Heaven! Can’t wait to see what you come up with. Fun! 🙂
Saw your instagram shot of office painting and wondered what you had up your sleeve! Looking forward to seeing the transformation!
Great idea!!
I just made a switcheroo this weekend. I have made the decision to work from home more and I have an office area in my basement but I loathe being in the darkness during the day.
This weekend I just switched the office area into my living room and claimed three built-in cabinets for my work stuff including my printer. Happy with the switch and the best part is it cost $0. Moving furniture is my favorite!
I LOVE stuff like this! Cannot wait to see what you do with all the switching when you’re done 🙂
Oh wow! That is going to be quite the move. I can’t wait to see how your office comes together in the new space and how you organize that area behind the couch. Best of luck!
http://jax-and-jewels.blogspot.com
That’s a good idea! I love the reading room with those HUGE windows and all that light. It’ll be a great office for you. Can’t wait to see!
Hey…your office looks like mine! I’ll trade you my junk…lol
I can’t wait to see the final pictures! What is the wall color in your existing office? I love it!
This switcheroo is going to be awesome! Being able to close a door on the toy mess will be magical. I can’t wait to see how the room turn out!
That sounds like a perfect idea! My living room is my playroom. We have a second playroom and an office in the basement but my son is under two so I prefer him playing upstairs so I can get things done in the kitchen. It will be nice to have the playroom nearby but also close it off when necessary!
What a great idea!!!!!
That makes a lot of sense! And isn’t your old office/new playroom close to the kitchen? If so, seems like a very convenient location. I have a question… where does the exterior door from your current play area lead? It looks like it has a safety gate affixed to it, as if it still needs decking built onto it??
Ooh can’t wait to see what you do! I’m having the same problem… (first world problem?!) Our baby girl’s ‘playroom’ is at one end of our dining room and basically a junk yard of brightly colored plastic stuff for us to kick on our way to the table. 🙂 It’s a good place to keep an eye on her while we cook but could do with being a little more organized. Can you head on up to Boston when you’re done? 😉
We go through the toy phase in our family room with each child and as soon as one got old enough to remove the toys – we had another addition! We’ve tried everything to hide the toys, but it looks like a small explosion in our family room every day. At night I pick it all up and by the time I wake up its exploded again! Just shows I still have a happy little family :).
I forgot how pretty your office is/was! Good luck moving everything. I’m currently trying to control toys too but not with as much luck. Which is why I chose to enjoy the beautiful 75 degree weather (25-30 degrees cooler than normal!) and work in my garden to get rid of all my recycled brick to edge our garden beds.
Yeah! I love it when you stumble upon an idea of how you can make your house more functional without spending any money. I love switching it up every now and then.
If you never use the reading room, why don’t you eliminate it altogether? You could use that whole room for your office instead of a small area to the side of the living room. Since the current reading room is open, you would still be held accountable to stay organized and have more space for storage furniture. Also, if you receive clients, that space is right by the front door and they don’t have to go into the heart of your family space.
Nevermind my other comment. I misread the last paragraph.
I can totally relate to trying to find an inconspicuous place for kid toys. My kids’ riding toys are still out in the open in a corner of the dining room. But we have a seagrass storage trunk in the living room where I hide the smaller toys.
I’m working on a playroom upstairs where my girls can leave things all over the place without me feeling like toys are taking over the house.
Looking forward to seeing how you recreate the office in a new space with different features. That room was one of my favorite makeovers of yours.
I love this idea! Can’t wait to see it all come together.
We did a switch in our living room with just the furniture and what a big different it made. Sometimes reevaluating how a space is working for you can open it up to all new ideas! 🙂
It is another front porch door. The porch wraps around the side of our house.
xo kb
Great idea Katie! I also noticed you are making more progress on painting your trim white. You are my hero!!
Great idea! Can’t wait to see how it all turns out!
What a great idea! I always hate rooms that aren’t used, and this is the perfect solution to get more use out of your spaces- (while hiding the crazy toy clutter.) We have a playroom that we can close the door to, and I LOVE it. [ http://oneprojectatatime.blogspot.com/search/label/Playroom ]
When friends come over to visit (and bring their kiddos) the room is a total disaster, but there’s no judgement because that’s exactly what the room is supposed to be for. Plus- you have the added benefit of bathroom connected to the toy room. Perfect for potty training toddlers! I can’t wait to see the transformation.
I am so happy/maybe-not-so-happy to see that your office is a clutter-fest! I’m happy because I feel sooooo much better about myself and how I can fall behind on clutter (especially when it can be hidden behind closed doors). But I am maybe-not-so-happy, because I sometimes like to tell myself that if other people can stay on top of the mess, then so can I. And your home is always so beautiful, if even Katie Bower can fall behind on clutter, then there may not be any hope for me.
Yay! This is beyond exciting – I LOVE to re-think the spaces and the storage in my home – your switcheroo is going to be so. much. fun. to observe, Katie – it’s eight years later and we still haven’t settled down with a ‘whatever’ attitude in our home .. still workin’ on what’s the best way to use our rooms – but everything I do feels like a step in the right direction, like, never two steps back, y’know?
Love that open toy chest! Did you make it?
We had this same epiphany about a year ago. Our 1st floor office (which we never actually used, we just stored in it) moved to a room in the basement perfect for an underused office, and our girls got an official playroom in the old office. It has changed our lives!! We have a rule that all toys go back to that room at the end of the day (the girls are 1 and 3, so not really put away, but in there). It’s so much easier keeping the house together. Plus, we had so much fun designing and maximizing the girls’ new play area. But beware, with the available space, toys seem to multiple overnight in there! Have fun with it all!!
Okay, first of all not only do I love your idea of switching the rooms (because arranging furniture and room layouts is one of the most true and wonderful joys of life), but I love that it’s so practical! Closed doors are a beautiful thing – my mom kept our playroom in the back of our basement, which makes it sound like she hated us, but really she just wanted us to have a space that was really and truly ours, and looking back on it now, I think she probably had the same ulterior motive you do: keep the clutter out. Or hidden.
Also, your office looks scarily similar to my guest room right now. So much so that I actually laughed when I saw your picture and had to run and show my husband. So thank you, as always, for keepin’ it real 🙂
Can’t wait to see how it turns out!!!
Great idea! Can’t wait to see it all done. And thank you for showing a picture of your real life clutter, makes me feel better about all of my clutter. I blame my kids.
I can’t wait to see this! I also have a mommy question…what do you do when you feel like you’re going to lose it? I had the hardest time putting my son to bed tonight after a day of him hitting and kicking me (he’s 3 1/2) and I felt like I was going to explode 🙁 do you have any tips for hitting/kicking or rough nights in general? I’m crying as I type this! I hate myself for getting so upset.
Oh Melissa – we have all been there! That is something that I go through all the time. And my best tips are really simple. Plan distractions….crafts, activities, helper situations. Write them down on a list so that in the moment, you know exactly what to do. At 3 1/2 your little one should not be hitting and kicking because frustrations of communication so you can more than likely be consistent with discipline and I have found that taking Will into the bathroom to talk about things away from everything else is HUGE. We don’t do tv or video games unless it’s a reward that he earns. And sometimes a little system like posting rules and talking about them every day and having visual consequences is effective. Kids want their own way. Every single one of them. They also crave consistency even if they fight every step of the way.
xo – kb
It’s a play table that I got at the thrift store 🙂
xo – kb
It’s called Palladian Blue by Benjamin Moore.
xo – kb
What a brilliant idea! We have a similar problem at our house. Right now, we are using the three season porch as a playroom but an unheated room does not make a good playroom in our cold Minnesota winters! Not sure what we will do then….
Your reading room is going to be an amazing office with all of those big windows!
Um …. I admire your motivation and I’m not quite sure how you’re doing all this!! I also have three boys … Very similar ages (4, 2, and brand new), and I can’t get a single thing dine around the house. Like zero. In fact, our house projects seem to be going in reverse!! Love the idea of switching up the rooms! And … I love your picture of the currently disorganized office … Makes me feel better about my disaster of an office (and living room, and bedroom, and …). Ha! Hope you’re having a good week!
XO,
Katie
What a great idea and I can’t wait to see it all come to fruition. The bathroom is going to handy for potty training as somebody mentioned. I have to ask and I don’t mean to be a killjoy; will you put a lock high up on the door or something to avoid things being flushed down the toilet?
SWITCHEROOS ARE MY FAVORITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love when you can step outside of the obvious and totally rethink a space. Joys of life 🙂
Can’t wait to see the switch-a-roo!! 🙂
What I just got done doing is giving away all the toys that don’t fit into 3 hope chests. The humONgous, not to be confused with fungous (toy chest) went upstairs in the playroom, and the two smaller ones remained downstairs. One holds nothing but books, and goes beautifully under our console table which is also under our tv that is on the wall. The other one is on the other side of the living room and holds toys. Toys that they scatter everywhere and never play with mind you, but since clearing everything down to the three trunk chests, they barely even play now, so surprisingly my house is pretty spotless the last few days. My living room is painted palladian blue too! I love that color!
You are not alone. I am constantly rearranging rooms and switching things up. My poor husband – whenever he returns from a TDY, there is always something different with the house. 🙂
Thanks for being real! My office (at work) is a mess and I have plenty of messy areas at home. I also have 3 little boys and know that toys/things are everywhere with a 16 month old walking around.
Good luck with the switcheroo!
I love that your a clutter bug like me. Constant battle!
How exciting! I love a good switcheroo 🙂 There is something so satisfying about making your home function better for you. Plus, re-arranging the furniture is fun!
Looking forward to seeing your progress!
That’s a great idea 🙂
xo – kb
I get lots of help these days….which makes it a lot easier 🙂
xo – kb
Toys have completely taken over my house! The one flaw in our floor plan is that our entire downstairs is all open- no rooms to close the doors and hide stuff. So our dining room is the make shift playroom and there are toys in every single room in our house! My boys are 1 and 3 so we are just surviving for now. When they get older we will definitely banish the toys all into ONE room! Great idea to switch everything around!
It’s going to be great! I love all of it. I always feel guilty when space it not being used enough. You should be able to use them all more and better;) You’re even motivating me to find a place for my office…which is currently non-existent.
I’m so excited for this- however I am secretly hoping you do an exact replica ( I know you won’t!) of your office cause I think it’s just dreamy!
I like how you are going to finally use the sitting room, and you’re a cool mum to set up a designated playroom! Can’t wait for all the reveals x
And soo excited that another room…the new office… will under go the ‘from tan to bright white trim makeover!’
This post is instantly dear to my heart! Someone in our house literally got a Lego puncture wound this week!! Our playroom is in the unused former formal living room right next to the front door. I am daily kicking the spillage out of our foyer and back in there. 🙂 So I’m laughing with empathy as I read your dilemma. Your solution is genius! I also had to laugh at your current office picture…many many claps for posting real life. We just built my office on the main floor and it’s open to the foyer and the kitchen. I’m hoping the location will help me keep it tidy…my money is still on “no.” Hahaha.
Awesome! We have a designated playroom and it has saved my life – I can see the room from the kitchen so I can make dinner and keep an eye on them.
Remind me again – where is your office located? Tucked in the same hallway by the laundry room?
Oh, Katie, toys are so difficult! There will always be too many and they just keep coming. You are such a good mama, though! Keep going, The Lord is on your side! One teeny question…the curtains in your reading room–can you tell me about them? So beautiful.
looking forward to seeing the results of your ‘switcheroo’. I have the same problem area, but unfortunately don’t have the rooms to make the switch. Absolutely love your room colours! Would love to know what they are:)
That is actually fabric I just draped over a rod because I love the fabric so much that I don’t want to cut it! It’s Robert Allen and I got it at a discount place for a fraction of the cost.
xo – kb
Yup! Right there.
xo – kb
ME TOO!
xo – kb
I would’ve never thought of a lock before now. With my 3.5 yr old girl that’s never been an issue. However, just yesterday my 2 yr old son came sauntering out of the bathroom, smiling, and shut the door behind him. Curious as to why he was in there, I went in to discover he had stuffed 3 shirts into the toilet!!! Ewww!! Why would he do that?!!
A little off topic, but where did you get the white deer mount in your soon-to-be play room? We are working on a nursery and looking for something just like that! Thanks!
I got it on ebay. Here is the original post about it.
xo – kb
I sooo can’t wait to see this!! I’m seriously jumping up and down…makes typing difficult 😉
Totally random question, but what do you have on top of your desk to protect the surface??
It’s a piece of glass. Ikea sold it with the desk as a glass protective surface 🙂
xo – kb