Being a stay-at-home/homeschooling mom has its perks. I get to spend more time with the kids and we learn things together. But I admit that there are times when I want to be by myself doing what I love to do: reading, writing, crocheting and other “me stuff.” I can do all these in the bedroom I share with my husband. Unfortunately, we are not the only occupants of our room. Since the kids don’t have a TV set in their room, they hangout in our room to watch their favorite shows, play, eat (grrr) and yes, even argue! With all of that “noise” I don’t get to enjoy my downtime.
I’ve been wanting to have a space of my own. Since we are temporarily staying in my father’s house, we have limited space. Although, I still have my clinic space and am preparing myself for my early retirement from Dentistry 😛 I thought of using two-thirds of that space for my personal space.
I needed to reclaim the clinic space as “my nook”. The so-called makeover began a few months back when I cleaned up and sorted the things I no longer need for my practice. I bought a slim, plastic drawer to house whatever dental materials I want to keep.
I cleaned up my small office desk and tried to make it pretty by using old jars to house my craft scissors, washi tapes and pens. Then I put up some of the kids drawings on the wall with some lovely passion cards.
Then I learned that a dear homeschooling mom-friend of mine was selling her homeschool items so I asked if she had an extra desk to sell. She showed me a photo of the desk and I liked it. I got it at a very friendly price, by the way. Though I have my office desk and another desk in the room, do I really need another one?
The existing desk or shall I say catch-all table in our room is an eyesore. It has a lot of compartments but the tendency is for everyone to fill in those small squares with just about anything. Not to mention that I share this desk with my husband too. So the table is always cluttered no matter how much my husband tidies it up.
So, when we picked up the second-hand desk of my friend, I was so excited to use it. However, I have no idea where to put it so it stayed untouched for a few days. Then, I read a blog post from my blogger-friend, The Happy WHAM. She shared what her hobby room looked like. It was a simple space, not too outlandish, very quaint and neat room…. sigh. And that post pushed me to end my reorganizing procrastination! See, read or follow blogs that will inspire you 🙂
That Wednesday was a whole day of throwing, sorting, rearranging and cleaning. Our eldest child, Coby was so kind to help me out that day. He did some minor carpentry work by attaching the back board on one of their bookshelves. He even prepared lunch that day because I was so focused on sorting and tidying up. I thanked him profusely for being such a great help and he said that he was as excited as I am to see the result of the work that we did.
We ended about 5:30 to 6 in the evening and surely I was too exhausted to cook. Husband arrived and was pleased with the result. He was also happy to have his own desk in our room. He had his own space too! So, he eagerly bought lechon manok for dinner for the tired laborers 🙂
One good result of this decluttering is that the kids are now reminded that “my nook” is my space. They can go in and out, they can study but they cannot play, eat or mess up my nook. That is what we call respect, right? Not only do we respect the person but we also respect other people’s space and things. I always remind that they need to ask permission if they want to use or borrow any of the my things or their Papa’s tools. And if they are to use it they have to put in back so there will be no clutter.
Now, the bookshelf that Coby repaired was placed also in my nook to house their homeschool books, materials and art supplies. There will be no more school stuff in their room. Even the arts and crafts materials are tucked somewhere in my nook. There is more order now (I hope) and they return their books back in the shelf instead of just leaving them on their beds. They are now forced to be organized as well haha!
So, let me show you how it looks now. It’s not much, no major makeover, just decluttering and reorganizing.
homeschool shelf and containers for crafts and yarns
Table bought second-hand from a friend 🙂
Two of my favorite things: That wooden baul from Mindanao was a wedding gift from my Papa. And that carved wooden magazine holder was a Christmas gift by my dear sister-in-law
Dental chair turned reading chair 🙂
I ditched the glass jars and opted for this plastic basket
This shelf used to house Dental books now my favorite books sit comfortably here
My no-touch magazines kept away from the kids and adults too hehe
I don’t want to get too attached to my nook. This is only a temporary set up as I am confident that the Lord will answer our prayer to have our own home in His time. While we are waiting, we just need to be thankful for what we have now. Looking forward to better and bigger things from our Great Provider!
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 NIV
What’s your favorite space in your home? Or maybe you have a special nook too? How does it look like? Hope you can share some photos with me too 🙂
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