The Resolution - Month 2 - Room 2

It’s the end of February and we have stuck to our resolution for another month!  This month we worked on the front living room area.*

Before

This area had been mostly unused since we moved in.  We put the pool table and Foosball table in here as the informal start to a game room.  But if you had been to our old house you would know that the pool table was more often used as a storage table than used for playing pool.  This continued on into the new house where it again was mostly used for storage and sometimes displaying General Mills samples.

Last month we finally decided to get rid of the pool table.  Its new home is at Doug’s house about a mile away where it is getting played on much more regularly.  The Foosball table was also moved.  Once again it resides on the back patio of the house.  This time I’m hoping the weather cover I made for it will actually protect it from the elements. 

Good luck in your new home!

Now we were free to create a space that would actually be used.  We decided to turn it into a play area for Ryan.  Ryan is such a big part of our lives now he deserves a dedicated area downstairs.  This gives him a large space to play and to keep all his toys.  It also serves the purpose of ridding the other rooms in the house of extra baby clutter.  We are slowly transforming our main living room area back into a grown-up space by moving all the miscellaneous toys into the front room. 

After

All the toys, neatly organized on the shelves.  (Ryan must not be around)

The cleaning task in this room was a little more involved than last month because of the huge, gorgeous, bay window.  Pamela painstakingly scrubbed each individual blind slat by hand.  She wasn't kidding when she said we would do a DEEP cleaning. 

So Many Blinds

We brought down the love seat from our old sofa set that was sitting in the upstairs bonus room (the last remaining undefined room now).  The rest of the furniture and accessories come from our old friend IKEA. 

All real IKEA items - not an exaggeration

Now we use this room all the time when we’re hanging out and playing with Ryan.  I’ll miss the pool table but this way is much better.  Perhaps when Ryan is older we can re-introduce a pool table and turn this area back into a game room.

* I’m never really sure what to call this room though.  We have been calling the big room near the kitchen with the fireplace and TV our living room.  This room could also be considered a “living room” but to avoid confusion it always needs an identifier like front living room or east living room.  I think incorporating extra room terms like Den and Rec Room could help clear things up.  I have an idea of how to rename these rooms to make sense but I would appreciate some input:

A)  Call it the Rec Room or Play Room; that’s clearly what it is.

B)  Call it a Den; it’s sunken down a step, like any good den.

C)  Call it the Living Room (no identifier); the room near the kitchen is more of a Family Room or Great Room anyway.

D)  Call it the Front Room; it’s in the front of the house, no need to deal with fancy room names.