Not Back to School Blog Hop : School Room Week!

Right before last year's Blog Hop, we had to gut our School Room because of water damage.  All last year we spent doing "school" in various rooms in the house.  This worked out just fine, but I am very glad that the room is completed and we will be starting school next week.  Here is what it looked like last year:

Here is what it looks like now:

We put ceramic tile floors in and then covered half the room with thick interlinking foam pads for the children to play on and the baby to crawl on.  The book shelves got a fresh coat of paint (white is not a good color when you have seven children.)  We left the doors off the cabinets so the children can get to their things easier.  Storage bins with lids keep all of the small toys where they belong.  Nick, Alex, Anthony get a small cubby for their school supplies: spiral notebooks, 3 ring binder, sketch pad, silent reading books, and pencil box with: scissors, glue, pencils, colored pencils, and crayons.  Christian and Lily are sharing a cubby and Chelsea gets a shelf.  The shelves on the right side of the room has all of our educational books and supplies and the shelves have art supplies, paper, science kits, and other items we will need for school.  The left side has children's books, board games, and toys.  The top shelves are dedicated to storing some of the boys' Lego's (trying to keep little sister away from them.)

Daddy thought it would be fun to put a chalkboard in.  He made this one using plywood and painting it with blackboard paint.  The boys drew a space ship and some planets in this picture.

This is where our table is going to go.  We used to have desks down here but I wanted an area we could all work together and not have to use the dining room table for art projects.  So I ordered a 30 x60 adjustable classroom table.  I hope to have it by the end of the week.

This is a closer picture of the cubbies.  Our morning board is also in this picture (doing a separate post about explaining about that.)  The morning board will go on the wall along with some posters and our laminated map as soon as the table is put in and I get something to hang them without damaging the paint or putting holes in the walls.

I am so happy to have our School Room back!  Check out some other great School Rooms here.

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Our New Family Room!

When we looked at this house over 4 years ago, one of the first things we noticed was the potential to create more space by closing in the garage and turning it into a family room.  Our house is a tri level and the garage was right off if the playroom and a half bath/laundry room are also on this level.  The second level has a living room, dining room, and kitchen and the top level has 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms.  I loved the idea of having a playroom/schoolroom, but the children would drag their toys up to the living room so they could be in the same room as me.  Turning the garage to a family room would put us all on the same level and keep the toys in one space plus would add 600 square feet onto our house.

In January 2010 we began the remodel.  My husband did all of the work himself with some assistance here and there from me and the children and my dad helped put in new windows.  At the same time we decided to go ahead and renovate the garage, we had major water damage in the playroom that forced us to gut it and remodel it as well.  Having two rooms to do made it a bit more expensive and take a lot longer to complete, but it was so worth it!  Here are the pictures of the family room renovation.

It is not 100 percent finished yet, but it was done enough that we could move down there.  We did the floors in ceramic tile so they would be easy to clean and take care of and resistant to water damage (should that ever happen again.)  To make a soft place for Emelia to play on, instead of an area rug we used the same thick interlinking mats that we put in the playroom.  The walls are painted sage green.  The closet is in the process of being finished and the doors still need to be painted.  In the area between the two closets, Art is making me a long desk with an area to put my sewing machine.  I am still in the process of making curtains and hope to have them done in a day or two.

We love our new family room!  It is so great to have the extra space and have us be able to be all together.  The living room is going to be empty for awhile until we finish up some other projects and have the time and money to start a new one.

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The School Room Is Not Completely Finished But.....

Here are some pictures of the progress.  The blackboard has not been painted yet because it has a very potent odor and Art wants to wait for a day the children and I are not at home to paint it, and the door from the laundry room/bathroom to the school room/playroom has to be painted.  I wanted to take some pictures (forgive my camera I really need a new one)  now though because this is probably the cleanest this room will ever be!  I still have to buy a table, make the curtains and a cushion for the window seat.  Then, we will get to move the toys and school stuff back where it belongs!  The family room is coming along too and should be done in a couple of weeks.  I will post pictures of the remodel from beginning to end when both rooms are finished.

I just need to say what a wonderful husband I have!  Not only does he work so hard to support our family at his job, he has done almost all of the work on the remodel by himself.  I am so blessed to have such a hard working, talented husband!

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The Floor is Finished!

You might remember my post a few months ago about the playroom floor being finished. Well yesterday, the Family Room floor was finished! Over the last couple of months in his "spare time" my husband has tiled 800 square feet in our downstairs because the playroom needed a new floor due to water damage and we are converting our garage into a family room. We chose tile because it is water resistant, economical, and easy to clean (all important things when you have seven children!) Tile can be hard work to put down though. Way to go honey! Now you just have to trim, primer, paint, put in some ceiling fans and we will be ready to move in!

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A New Floor!

Art Tiling Family Room

Last year, we started working on remodeling our downstairs. The playroom/schoolroom floor had been damaged by water (more than once) and needed to be replaced, and we decided to convert our garage into a family room to give us some more living space. A couple of weeks ago Art got the floor finished in the playroom and yesterday started tiling the family room! We chose ceramic tile for our floor because it is inexpensive, fairly easy to clean, long lasting, water won't destroy it, and neither can the children. It does take a little while to put down though. especially when you are one man and working in your "spare" time tiling 800 square feet. It is so exciting having this all coming together and hopefully getting it finished and moving down there in a couple of months.

Playroom/Schoolroom

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We Are A 3 Bathroom Family Again!

The downstairs construction project (family room, playroom/schoolroom, bathroom) is moving along. Three years ago when we bought this house, one of the things we liked about it was the 3rd bathroom downstairs off of the playroom. Unfortunately, after a hot water tank explosion, a flooded playroom and laundry room, repeated water leaking (until we found the source of the problem), and work on other areas in the house prevented us from finishing that bathroom. I am very happy to report that we now have a completed downstairs bathroom. Now the children don't have to go all the way upstairs during "school time" or when the baby is napping. Hooray!

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Walls and a Change in Direction (sort of)

The walls in the family room are up! I cannot believe how much has been accomplished in such a short time period. While Art was finishing the walls in the family room, he noticed a wet spot on the floor and decided to check it out further. The problem was discovered, but he wanted to check the playroom also to make sure it was OK too (it is shares a wall with the family room.) During the initial investigation, some light surface mold was discovered. Since we have had several water problems down there (which has led to this renovation) Art decided to make sure the mold was not more extensive and pulled up the whole playroom floor. The good news is he only found one other area with surface mold (easily cleaned up.) Now we have 2 rooms in a bit of disarray and all of the toys from the playroom in various places around the house. Originally we thought we would try to work on both rooms at the same time, but now the focus will be turning to the playroom and getting that back in order which will still take several weeks. Until then we will try to keep the toys somewhat under control and I must clean out and organize the book shelves, which needed to be done anyway.

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