Mommy's Magical Monday Makeover

I love my house, every square inch.  May sound somewhat obnoxious to make that claim...but it took my husband and I nine very long months to find it.  As a realtor now, I think "Sheesh, we were high maintenance couple!".  We live a split level (split from side to side) with 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathroom.  A few years after we moved, we tore down a wall and made our kitchen and dining room one big area that has a large doorway to the living room.  Lately, I've been drooling over homes that have a family room attatched to the kitchen.  I dream of cooking, really cooking...while the kids play.  When I came home today from a morning out, I looked and realized the living area on the same floor as the kitchen and dining area could be that place....but we needed a mini makeover.  I call it magical because I can see hours of cooking, sewing, reading, playing, crafting and relaxing time spent in this space.  Enjoy the before (first) and after (last) shots of our living space.  Not too much difference, but needed to hide toys!


So here is what I did.  I found the least obnoxious child chairs we have and cozied them up to the coffee table, voila...the coffee table (which is also the train table) becomes a game spot and house area.

There was a small unused nook in my kitchen.  I snagged one of their kitchen pieces and slid it in there.  They have two kitchen pieces, so this will force them to share and still let us have the kitchen play space somewhere else too.

I love changing up my mantle with decorations to go with my mood or the season.  I added some wooden boxed games, books under the gourds and two baskets of toys.

Two of my moms old chairs have cute little "dresses" or at least that is what I call them.  I began stowing my running shoes under one when I didn't have a enough shoe cubby spcae for them .  The other one was wasted space (ever seen that DIY show...i heart it)  I pushed Gav's trucks and Chels's doll house and yet another activity for the kids is now in the living room.

Quickie...2 easy release hooks + empty hall wall space = dress up spot

Doing this gave me the afternoon to sew, read and cook.  I feel like this should have dawned on me before.  It has a certain times, but the kids never seem to clean up so I felt like the living room would end up being a wreck.  That is never the first thing anyone wants to see upon arriving home.  But now that the wee ones are two and three, they clean up more.  With about 10 minutes of work I can remove all the toys for a party or gathering.  Magical Makeover complete!