Family Rooms

When we lived in our old house (starter house for us), there wasn't any extra rooms.  We had our room, Alyssa's room, the bathroom, kitchen, laundry/furnace room, and the living/dining combo.

Now we have all that PLUS a basement!  Oh, and a whole third bedroom (where the laundry/furnace was in the old house is a bedroom in this house and that was relocated to the basement here...seriously, it is funny how very similar layout this house is with a mere addition of a second level)!

What can we do with all this extra space?  Well, we definitely can fill it....They usually call it a Family Room nowadays.  The upstairs living room is considered the 'formal living room' and the basement is a Rec or Family room.  Here is the kids' half:

Yes, that is just under half of the family room filled with kid things.

The couch that you can barely see is the invisible barrier signal that toys SHALL NOT PASS (says Momma every night just after picking up the half of the room not shown).  There is a tv for movies across from the couch and the other half of the room is currently emptied of boxes but not furnished.  I have such grand plans...Momma plans....

In the meantime, I love our kids' side.

Did you see our Ikea storage for crafting/coloring supplies?  The chalk/colors are in lockboxes in those pop-out drawers so there will be less chance of wall coloring rather than table or color books.  I love these things and they just look so fun!

Regardless of what a parent thinks of the kids' play areas...they always enjoy moving out of there whenever possible.  Toys are like invasive species that way...they hitchhike rides from unsuspecting toddlers.  Notice the lacing boards beginning the trek from one end of the room, along the couch, and eventually they'll make it across there to the unfurnished area.  Sneaky things, those toys.

I'm still thrilled to have this extra space to spread out to on rainy days like this week has been and is continuing to be.