We have a big family. We have three young kids. And these kids are not necessarily big in size. That’s not why I use that term. Big describes that they seem to be in more than one place at a time. They’re lighting fast. Big describes the sounds that they’re able to make. Their cries and yells can penetrate walls, I’m sure of it.
And this presents the problem.
When we’re all together in our house, there is simply not enough space to hide from these kids. Not for extended periods of time, I swear. Sometimes you simply need to escape the madness for a few moments. My eldest daughter is able to open the door to our pantry, so even that is not an option for isolation.
I came to the realization recently that we’re not using our home efficiently for the family we are. High energy kids scurrying around the living room is not relaxing. Nor was trying to cook in the kitchen with the various hazards present in an active kitchen. (I say “was” because we invited Cookie Monster to come live with us - more on that later). We needed a change.
Our home is nice. It was on the upper end of budget when we purchased it over three years ago. It was an upgrade from our 2-bedroom condo. We now have a dedicated dining room. We have a butler’s pantry (this is something that is much fancier when said with words than when viewed with eyes). We have dedicated space for an office and only our twin girls are sharing a room.
Why the hell do we have a dining room though?
As with most homes, the family and guests congregate in the kitchen. The living room is nearby, but everyone still manages to saddle up on a barstool at the island. If I were to stand on our island and stretch my neck out as far as it would allow, I still don’t think I’d be able to see our dining table. How is a plate of food expected to travel from the kitchen and land safely in the dining room if you’re not sure whether the dining table is full of laundry waiting to be folded?
The “dining room” is unused and must be relabeled.
We took inventory of our current furnishings and kids’ paraphernalia. We could not continue to comfortably live within the kitchen and living room. We must expand into the dining room. If it was not going to be used for dining it’ll be used for playing. Now, we have a playroom currently being adapted where our dining table used to live. We’re about 15 hours into this reorganization and it has been blissful so far.
Over the next many days, or weeks, I’ll be a stickler for boundaries. I have given these kids and entire room. I don’t want the defined rooms to be blurred, I don’t want to kick toys as I stroll into the kitchen. I want to be steadfast in this mindset.
This has very much felt like the days of being 8-years-old and redesigning your bedroom. You’ve repositioned your dresser and decided sheets will no longer be tucked under the mattress. New room, new me. I’ve reestablished my kingdom. The living room is not for toys, and kids may visit for defined periods of time before exile (just kidding!).
I’m going to make a real effort to ignore the mess in the playroom for now. Let the kids go crazy in their space and hope someone starts singing Clean Up in the tune of Barney at some regular occurrence.