Living Space Tour

The children and I have been in our new house for just over a month and we are still organizing and finding homes for our belongings.  Organizing is a constant job because there is always something needing a home, or a better place for something.  We have reorganized the kitchen cupboards three times, and rearranged the furniture twice.  Perhaps we will find something that truly works before our lease here is over and we have to do it all over again in a new home.

When you walk in our front door there is simply a hallway, a few doors and the stairs.  The doors go to the garage, storage/utility room and to T's office/dog room.  T's office has patio doors that go out onto our backyard space.  The second floor of the townhouse is really the living space, which is annoying when you have a lot of groceries to bring in or when the doorbell rings unexpectedly - so many stairs!  But it is great because you do not open the front door and expose your living space - so an unexpected person at the door does not see the toy tornado that went through earlier in the day.

Once up the stairs from the hallway, there is a closet and a two piece bathroom.  There is ample counter space so we actually have a change area set up for Ian - third child and finally we are using a change table and not the floor!  It also works really well for introducing Ian to the potty - take diaper off, sit on toilet, flush.  It is so much easier than using a potty.

The rest of the 2nd floor is living space.  Our living room, play room, kitchen and dining room are all in one large space.  It is a great space because I can be doing whatever I need to do in the kitchen and the boys are there playing.

The kitchen has a nice large island, which has an eating space.  This is where Lucas and Jack love to eat breakfast.  It is also a great place to play lego so that Ian cannot get to the tiny pieces.  It is large enough that they can be playing on one side and I can still work on the other.  Though there is so much counter space compared to our old home that I don't need to use the island if it is cluttered with toys or what not.  I love that I can have my mixer, breadmaker, blender and other large items actually in my kitchen.  No longer do I have to go downstairs to the basement to get my breadmaker.  These items also fit great into the awkward corner cupboard! 

There end of my island has become the perfect home for the boys' kitchen.  They love their kitchen and the imaginative play that goes on there is so fantastic.  I love being able to cook in my kitchen and watch them create elaborate dishes in their own kitchen.

Just past their kitchen is the play area.  Our large bookshelf which seemed so gigantic in our old house and is just dwarfed by the size of our new living space.  Since we no longer have a living room and rec room, all the toys are now in this one space, I gave up my book space for toy space.  We spent hours organizing the toys and yet there is still so much more to do.  We made labels to try and keep the boys organized.  It seems to be working so far!  They also have space for their train table and a computer area.



Just past the play area is the living room.  We have a nice cozy fire place, and an awkward corner space which is where we put the tv.  We bought a new dresser to hide all of the movies and games and fits nicely into the awkward space.  Our coffee table is never in the same spot, as Ian loves to use it as a walker and pushes it all over the place.  We thought about getting a large area rug to prevent this and to tie the area together but we decided against it as we love how easy the floors are to clean!

Off the living room is the balcony.  They boys love being able to go outside, and even Ian has mastered the step down onto the balcony.  I love being able to go out and drink my tea while looking at the pond and listening to the birds.  The boys are so excited for when we finally buy new sand for their sandbox.  We also plan on having a small container garden for tomatoes.






Back to the kitchen.  To the left of the kitchen is our dining room.  It is nice to have a space that is somewhat separate from the rest of the living space but still connected.  Because it is not within the traffic flow pattern it does not get over run with toys and other general clutter that we typically cover our table with.  It is great to be able to have a table to eat at each night as a family.  There is also a nice big window, which Jack likes to pretend is a movie theater.  After dinner (or sometimes during), we get to enjoy the play by play narration from Jack about the movie that is being played.










The only downside to such an open floor plan is that I cannot keep the boys out of the kitchen - especially when cooking.  I am constantly seeing little hands pop up to steal the veggies.