our front room

welp.
 it's taken a year and a half but i finally got our front room functioning well for our family.
i have had the hardest time figuring out how to make this room function the best for us.

some of the challenges with this room have been:
*it's one of the first rooms you see when you walk in our house.
*it's long and skinny
*it has no overhead lights
*it has 3 door ways, two of which don't have doors.

mostly the front room has been our play room.
if you're curious, here's a couple of posts about it. here and here.

it has been just fine as a play room and really convenient, honestly.
however, it's just a really large space to be used solely as a play room.
we've felt like we were wasting {much needed} space but had trouble figuring out how to make it work.
finally, this summer i decided to break the rules and make the room function for us.
we thought through all of the options and realized that the best use of the space would be a multifunctional room . . . a play room, my office, a homeschool space, & a guest room.
with a budget of . . . zero.
:)

i got the ball rolling one afternoon this summer while we were all lazing around in the pool.
i was living on the edge and looking through craig's list, on my phone, in the pool.
yes, i am a crazy woman.
i randomly saw a queen sized mattress, box springs, & rails for fifty bucks.
i had just sold something else on craig's list so the money was burning a hole in my pocket.
on a whim i said we'd buy it and they were at our doorstep a few hours later.

we are typically sloooow movers on house stuff so this was really quick for us.
especially since i had decided that afternoon to have the room function as partly a guest room.
we lead a crazay life.

i think we had our first house guests less than a week later.
it seems like we've had a steady stream of guests since then.
clearly, we needed a guest space.
we weren't sure how it would work out, what with there being two door ways without doors and all . . . but it seems to be working out just fine.
and our guests have the added bonus of 7 am wake up calls by three very chipper boys.

honestly, we are loving this space.
we spend so much time in it now.
it is cozy and comfortable.
and we use it constantly.

some disclaimers:

*since our budget was zero, it's mostly a hodgemapodge of stuff i could find around the house
*there are no overhead lights but lots of really big windows so lighting for photos was really really difficult {and i'm no photographer but i'm guessing you don't read my blog for the photos}
*we are renting so we aren't changing any structural things on the house....working with what we've got. :)
* i know this room is not going to win any design awards, but i wanted to show you how you can make a room work for you with a little thought & creativity, even with a zero dollar budget.

okay pretend you're walking in the front door and you turn to the left . . . this is our front room . . .

we have a little table that is perfect for sawyer to do activities while we homeschool.
also a couch for coziness and reading books.

on the left we have shelves for toys that i dismantled from our old entertainment center.
next to that is my desk.

i lovelovelove having my own desk space down here in the middle of all the action.
i can blog, check emails, grade papers, etc., all while the four kids are milling around me.
this little space of mine does a lot for my spirits on homeschool days.

i just love having my own little space with my things, my pens {that they are not allowed to use} and my coffee. :)

moving to the right we have the guest bed.
we put down a couple of mattress pads and topped it with a vintage blanket, quilt, and and fun pillows.
i made the two mustard yellow pillows last week and my friend, stacy, gave me the fun ruffly pillow for my birthday. :)

since there are so many big windows {which we adore} in this space, we got room darkening curtains so that guests could have a little more privacy.
okay so that was over a zero dollar budget but that was a non-negotiable. ;)
and they were really inexpensive from the walmarts.

this little end table {given to use by friends who were moving} is a nice place for guests to set down their keys & phone and whatever . . . which makes me realize i should put a little dish on that table. 

on the other side of the room we have our homeschool area {which we use three days a week} and the boys' keyboard.
in a perfect world, there would be a beautiful, vintage piano right there, but the keyboard works for now . . . someday . . .  :)

this room is so functional for us.
just yesterday fin and i laid on the bed and read his assigned Bible reading while avery was at the desk working on something else.

this room definitely looks a little crazy with all it's functions . . . but we really love this space now so that's all that matters.

i'm so glad that i got out of my own head and just made this room work for us.  . . whether it's what you're supposed to do with this front room or not.  :)



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