**This post does contain affiliate links to products we use in our home.

I’ve been promising pics of the newly rearranged house. I know it seems like I’m always rearranging something around here but it has been awhile since I’ve posted house pics so here they are.

Many of the pics show the before we moved in and the after… which is now. It has been quite challenging getting to this point partly because having a large family means you have a lot of stuff.

Another part is that we need this small space to function in a variety of ways. We homeschool and do a lot of arts and crafts. I like to cook, sew, and blog too. Not to mention the kids need a place to play and we need to eat, relax, and maybe sleep a little bit. Previously trying to find a spot for some ‘quiet time’ has proven to be a bit difficult as well.

I think we’ve finally found an arrangement that allows for everything we need. With our new furniture pieces we can make more room when needed and move things around quite easily to accommodate whatever we might be doing. This new arrangement has also allowed the house to feel much more open and it seems like we have so much more space while still being nice and cozy.

This is the bedroom area and the view from the bedroom:

Not much has changed in the bedroom since I moved the king sized bed in here earlier this year and moved the two bunkbeds to the Main Room. I can say that having my ‘room’ has been really nice and occasionally I come in here to get a little computer work done while the kids play in the Main Room.

When we first moved in we divided this room into two rooms with a partition and added a small storage loft above the second room which is W’s room right now. 

The view from the bedroom has changed quite a bit though. No more bunk beds!

I’ve also added a ‘door’ by taking apart a screen and attaching two panels to the door frame. I have a hook and eye latch on the top so I can secure it when needed.

Then we have this set of pictures from the main room:

I had that big cabinet here by the entry in the beginning but moved it around only to put it back again. It holds a lot of our school supplies and such but I’d eventually like to clean out the one side and use it for a coat closet again.

We added an island here after moving the dining table. This is now my main work area right now. It also holds my sewing machine, serger, and sewing boxes as well as some of my teaching materials. Those large bar stools were a bit more than I really wanted to pay but they are so worth it!

I also have a small bookshelf on the wall which acts as command central here. The top shelf holds our printer and one of our many oil diffusers. The lower shelves hold paper, mail, a basket of flashlights, and a variety of other items that we use on a regular basis.

In the living area we have our new couch. It was bigger than I had wanted but oh so comfy so this is about the only way it fits. For Christmas I’ve requested a handmade custom bookshelf for the wall where the three shelves are stacked together so hopefully 🤞 I’ll get it soon so that mess can be better organized.

I’m also really loving the DIY entertainment center that Mr. Awesome made using one of my can’t sleep drawings. It holds a computer and most of our DVD collection underneath. Added Bonus was that one of our rolling storage carts fits right underneath and doubles as a bench for the kiddos when working on the computer or watching TV.

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a few more pics of the main room which is approximately 19’x15′  :

The top left is the view when you come in the door. So much nicer than our old view. I placed our computer cabinet between the two bookshelves and added a shelf on top for displaying some of our things. If you look to the right when you come inside you would see the living area in the top right.

The bottom left is our ‘new stained glass’ window. (I’ll try to update links to the previous posts soon.) This area is working out so much better for our big table. We simply pull it away from the wall for access to the back bench for meals and push the table against the wall when we aren’t using it to make a little extra space.

Those chairs are so comfortable and we have been so happy with them. The great thing is that they can easily be moved to the living area and used for extra seating there. They also add a little pop of color to break up all the wood in the room.

Then the last pic shows the ladder going up to the loft area. The kids are really loving this area and they go there during the day when they want a little quiet time away from everyone else. I made a little door/safety gate up there so when they go up they can shut the door behind them. This saves my sanity as I’m always afraid someone will fall. 

While downsizing has been a bit more stressful than I originally thought it would be it has had some great benefits like with lower utility costs. We have a small heater and an electric fireplace, positioned on opposite sides of the Main Room, which have kept the Main Room, and most of the rest of the house, nice and comfy during this cold spell we are having. On cold nights I also have a small tower heater which heats the bedrooms.

In the summer we have one large AC unit in the Main Room (you can see it in the top left pic) and a small unit in the bedroom. (The large AC also has heat but no thermostat so I’ve opted to use heaters that I can regulate easier.) 

More of the Main Room and the bathroom:

The bathroom really hasn’t had a lot of work just some good old fashioned cleaning with lots of elbow grease and our favorite cleaners from Grove Collaborators. I did add a curtain and shower curtain which helped update it a little.

I’m hoping that the bathroom will be our next big project. It really needs a good updating and many of the fixtures need replaced. I’ll be sure to post pics when it happens so stay tuned!

The little area between the bathroom and kitchen now holds our school cubbies and calendar. There was a large open area here but I put in a small folding table. I like that this table and chairs can fold up when we don’t need them.

We plan to put our Christmas tree in this spot but we are waiting until the weekend before Christmas to put it up this year.

And last but not least the kitchen:

 

The biggest change is the view from the kitchen. I moved our arts and crafts cabinet to the center of the room where the main beam was. It now hides the back of the TV which was driving me crazy. I really like that I can see 90% of whatever is happening in the Main Room and I can see up into the loft when the kids are up there with the light on.

This little house has changed a lot over the past year. It is working so much better with this arrangement but we aren’t quite finished yet. We still have a couple of projects to tackle and the porch still needs a major cleaning and decluttering.

I also want to eventually stain or paint the wood that we’ve added with the loft addition. I have a couple of ideas but haven’t committed to anything yet. You might have noticed in a couple of the pics that’s I’ve tried out some stains but haven’t found one I’m happy with yet.

One step at a time and we’ll get this finished. Hopefully when the holidays are over and if the weather cooperates I’ll have some more pics to share. Maybe I can even get to work on a little decorating now that we have it arranged the way we like.

Have a wonderful weekend!