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Movie Night Birthday

When my daughter turned 8 she wanted to have her friends over to watch a movie. She had never had a big party with all her friends, so I was very excited to make this happen for her. The Dollar Tree came in handy for popcorn buckets and a variety of movie theater candy. Amazon also has paper buckets. Amazon had a great selection of themed décor. We even used leftover table runners to line the walkway. ( Banner , Hanging Decor , Balloons ) We prefilled buckets with popped popcorn, and lined up the many popcorn salt varieties. Something that never occurred to me before the day, not all kids like popcorn. I would have had a backup up of chips and pretzels if I could do it again. There was also plenty of mini waters with all that salty food. We set up every seating option we could think of, so everyone could have a cozy spot. For a take home treat we sent popcorn, candy, and popcorn bucket’s. ( Clear Bags .

The Townhouse

I had always lived in rentals my adult life. I married young and my husband at the time was in the military. Never knowing if we were going to be sent somewhere new, the commitment of buying a house didn’t seem worth it. When my current husband relocated to his hometown, we followed. Initially we moved into the basement apartment of his mother’s house. We were very lucky for this opportunity. It allowed us to save money, which allowed us to have our youngest son. 1 year in, we knew we needed more space. Our oldest children shared a bedroom. When our son turned 7, that’s when we knew we had to start looking for a home. We looked and looked and looked. We were not in the position financially to buy or build (the dream) our forever home. We just needed that third bedroom, and enough room for a hopeful baby. The townhouse felt right. It was just enough space. A perfect first home until we figured out exactly what we wanted. It was the newest of all the properties we visited, move

Master of None Bedroom

Have you heard the phrase? Jack of all trades, master of none. That is this Master Bedroom—the space in the house for my husband and me. When you’re living in just enough space, you make use of every inch. However, as you can see, we were not using it best. This music, craft, TV, and sleep space, complete with a late-night baby bottle station, really needed some help, considering how much time we spend here. The main problem is in our hobby space. If you use the bedroom for working (even work you enjoy), it’s essential to keep it contained. You want to be able to put it away so that when it is time for bed, you can shut your brain off. (Or at least try). We had great bones. This desk I already owned was full of surface space. It allowed me to have my sewing machine set up all the time, with plenty of room for my cutter, computer, and a surface to paint when I tucked my laptop away. ( Ameriwood Home Dakota L-Shaped Desk ). Tucking my bulky Brother cutter in the corner made the space f

Little Redo: Art Space

When we asked our youngest daughter what she would choose to make the house more enjoyable, she said she would redo her Art Space. We have a landing space at the top of the steps. The desk had been deemed the homework space, but our daughter and her Art slowly took over. Considering that no one does their homework in this spot, Ira’s art space was born. Our kids hang out in the landing space, so we try to have them reset it once a week. Everything returns to its proper home, along with dusting and vacuuming. If they stay on top of it, it never gets too bad. I took a trip to Target and the Dollar Tree. I was open to whatever they had available but knew I needed some small and paper-size bins. She made this super cute sign that I used as inspiration for a larger sign I made for the wall. I first pulled everything from the area, got rid of what we didn’t need, and then put it back in its new home. Plastic cups in long bins keep the crayons separated by color family. Copic markers st

Shared Bedroom and Personal Space

Our three older children are only a little over a year apart, so they wanted to share a bedroom (even when space allowed them not to). Then we got to the age where it was clear our son needed his own room. The need coincidentally coincided with a time when we did not have a room. That's when we bought our townhouse. The girls still shared a room. A few years in, when we asked what each child would like to make the house more enjoyable for them, our oldest daughter said her own room. We were unable to accommodate this request. However, when I asked why, she said she wanted a place to have some time for herself. That was a request I could make work. We started with cleaning the girl's room. Clothes were first. We did this Marie Kondo style by pulling everything out and putting the items on our kitchen table so the girls could understand the volume of what they had. Until now, the girls shared clothes as they were the same size and interested in the same style. My oldest daughter

Little Redo: Son's Room

After living in our townhome for almost 3 years, we discussed if we wanted something with more room, or to invest in our current home. We opted to invest. When it was time to work on the kids' rooms, we asked them to pick any one thing for their space. Our oldest son, 10 at the time, requested a desk. He said he would like a space to sit other than his bed, to draw, and to do homework. We looked together on Amazon. He wanted something minimal, but with an upper shelf. It was up to me to think through the coordination, such as size, and a way to hide cords. We decided on the VIPEK Computer Desk 42 Inch Study Writing Desk PC Laptop Table for Home Office, School Student Desk with Hutch & Storage Shelves, Corner Table for Small Space Bedroom, Easy Assemble, Oak . This desk no longer is available, but if we had to pick now, we would do the Aquzee Computer Desk with Hutch & Bookshelf, Home Office Desk with Space Saving Design, Metal Legs Industrial Table with Upper Storage Shel