Making Lemons into Sweet and Tasty Lemonade
We moved into this house 17 months ago and to say I wasn’t happy about it would be putting it lightly. When you get married its nice to buy a home together, not inherit one from your husband’s previous marriage. To make matters worse we both want to live in the city again and really do not like the layout of this house. My husband said there wasn’t much on the market when he was shopping for a home and was just so tired of looking he settled on this home.
Thanks to the current economy even though he has owned this house for 5 years we owe about what its worth. We have toyed with the idea of renting the house out so we can move into the city but the house payments are steep and often leave us hurting each month so to gamble that a renter will pay on time just isn’t a risk we are willing to take. In the meantime we have 3 kids in a 3 bedroom house and my husband and I work at home. What does this mean? Neither of us can get work done.
Since my husband is the primary income earner he needed an office so step one was solving that issue. Step two was finding a place for the kids to play that would not wake the baby, allow me to stop picking up toys 24/7 and provide me with time to work myself. It took quite a long time but I think we have finally turned this lemon into some sweet and tasty lemonade.
Enjoy these before and after pics.
what will be the entry way and the office, previously our formal dining room
where the french doors will go
future home of the new office, so glad to say goodbye to the carpet and hello to dark wood throughout the first floor.
My new workspace in the office
So much storage in the new office it makes my toes curl!
Our beautiful new french doors. The office gave us enough room for a desk for Josh, myself, and the kids as well as massive storage. I will get some zoomed out pictures of the complete renovation soon. We have some finishing touches to get done and after we do I thought I would do an entire blog post about diy when it comes to your home and the money it saves as well as the pride it gives you. BTW, anyone thinking about laminate flooring I highly recommend it. We thought it was time intensive and a little heavy on the back but overall an easy way to make a home look spectacular for very little money.
Now onto the second issue… where do the 2 oldest kids play so that they don’t wake the baby during naps, so their toys aren’t all over the house, and where I can have some quiet time to work? We wanted to finish the basement but even doing it ourselves we would be looking at a $7,000 - $10,000 investment so what options do we have? Get creative! Make those lemons into some lemonade again.
Instead of spending a fortune refinishing a basement of a home we prefer not to stay in we made a temporary playroom for very little money. Re-use and repurpose things you already have. Why spend money or stick things in a landfill when down the road a little paint or some sewing it becomes usable in another way? Above is the before of our basement.
another shot of the before basement
in progress
using IKEA panels to section off a fair sized “room” of the basement
add rugs, floor mat, blanket, pillows, desk and chair, toys, child safe space heaters and what do you have? A play room where the kids can make a huge mess without hearing mom nag them every 5 min to pick their stuff up. A play room where they can squeal, laugh and scream without threat of disturbing their baby sister. A play room where they can feel the freedom to be who they want to be. A mom who can have a moment away to allow her to appreciate the time we are together even more.
As a result of these easy changes Josh and I have been spending the entire day working and actually finding a way to be productive! I am halfway done with a new painting which I will share soon. This evening family popcorn and movie night! Yay!
