The House Tour: The Back Room

Or, as I like to call it, the secret weapon room!

Without this room we would not have bought this house. It adds an incredible amount of space for our soon-to-be family of six.

Here is the view from the garage entrance BEFORE:

NOW:

The story - as we have learned from different neighbors - is that this was an addition put on two owners ago by an artist/art professor at Iowa State. This was his art studio which explains all the (wonderful) windows and sky light. The first thing we did was to get rid of the three six foot long fluorescent lights. We replaced them with a ceiling fan and two sets of track lighting.

Here is a view going clock-wise around the room from the back.

This room is our play room/home school room. I got the table and chairs super cheap on Craigslist. My mom helped me cover those huge bulletin boards (from the ISU surplus sale, of course - $3 each) in fabric.

Here is the BEFORE of this space:
And NOW:
I painted this room "Mysterious Ocean Fog" (a Walmart color I had matched at Lowes). This is my current favorite color in the world. The space above is my office space. We took the door off of the closet behind my desk to create more space in this corner. The closet space is my home school/craft/gift wrap/etc. storage room. It will have its own post next!

I had to post my favorite quote (author unknown) that I have where I can see it daily. Because one of my greatest struggles is the sin I'll call "timeaholicism" - always wanting more time to accomplish more tasks - I need this reminder daily!

It is extremely liberating to recognize that God gives us enough time to finish everything to which he has actually called us. Here are some of those things: devotional time with God, relationships and service in your family, church and community; and matters of stewardship over your material goods. If any of these areas are suffering because of the amount of time you spend doing other things, take a closer look . . .

On with the tour . . .

Jason wanted this room to be as open as possible so that the kids can run around and play. I agreed. Jason and Abram are having "batting practice" as I type this! But, I also wanted a small area that was more "comfy" for the kids to be able to sit and read. We were able to accomplish that with a cheap, small futon from K-mart and a rug we already had. The futon folds into a bed which is also very helpful since we don't have a guest room.

Here is the view from the back of the room looking towards the front of the house. The door on the left is to the garage and the door on the right is to the kitchen. Having an entrance straight from the garage is another huge blessing of this house.
The previous owners (when they "flipped" the house) put an old kitchen cabinet and sink in this space. The reason they put a sink there was because there was plumbing there from the the closet on the other side. The former artist owner made the closet into a dark room and it still had the big trough sink for developing pictures.

While this was a unique idea, the sink had to go. With four kids we needed a place for coats, hats, shoes, bags, etc. So we turned this space into a "mud room"/entry area.

I had half of the white hooks (Walmart) from our old house. They circle hooks were Hobby Lobby clearance. I got the Ikea shelves for half the Ikea price on Craigslist. I love that the horizontal shelf makes its own bench for the kids.
And this is Jason's area for keys, sunglasses, wallet, etc.