Moving into our new schoolroom!!

I'm so excited that our new schoolroom is finally finished!!  Woohoo!  Last year, with Jude our only "official" homeschooler, the supplies sort of took over.  We had arts & crafts supplies all over the house.  Jude's books took over, and so did Damien's toys.  Keeping the dining room useable as a dining room was difficult.

I think the last straw was the comb binder that took up one of the sideboards. Neal asked if we could move things into the basement.  We do have a finished playroom that had a table and chairs, but I was hesitant to move things there for fear that Jude would be easily distracted.  We compromised and moved a few things around to accommodate a table and chairs in a separate, unfinished area for our workspace.  I boxed everything up, moved it down, and we started doing our lessons.

The clutter was no longer in the dining room.  Everything we needed was now in one space.  All good things, yes? Yes.  Except we were used to crafting.  There was no way to do painting or other crafts downstairs - we had no water for watercolors, and no way to clean up hands full of glitter glue.  It also meant running up and down the stairs mid-project to retrieve forgotten supplies.

I asked Neal if we could consider putting in a cabinet, sink, and countertop, so I'd have a place to wash messy hands and set paintbrushes to dry (without having to move them so I could make dinner).  The project just kept growing - we added a washer & dryer so I can do laundry between lessons.  A small bathroom showed up on the to-do list.  In came the studs and the piping and the drywall.

 Guess where the books went?  Uh huh, back in the dining room!

I am so excited that our new schoolroom is finally finished.  To be honest, I have to admit that even I would like the dining room back. I'm tired of tripping over five students' worth of work (with three official homeschoolers and two with summer assignments, there's a lot of stuff out), and am looking forward to having room to spread out.

And I thought it was was a mess before!  Thankfully, the weather has been mostly nice so we have worked outside - our deck has a large table plus a counter with chairs so everyone could spread out, and is next to the kitchen (so handy for clean up), but the clutter and piles are too much!

One fantastic thing is Neal and I got several date nights out of this.  Luke babysat for us for few times so we could go get supplies (and dinner) without having to drag everyone out.  Here are a few shots of my hubby loading up one of the carts and the truck.

This is one of my favorite in-progress pictures.  The contractor and electrician were working one day, and then Jude drove up and parked so he could "help."

My beloved sink and counter installed!   I was so excited once we had running water! Anything else (including staining the cabinetry) is bonus!

Finished!

Look in the corner -- I even have a "teacher's lounge" with a new Keurig.  It's a bit of a splurge, but I know that I get very easily distracted, so this will keep me from wandering upstairs and getting "lost" when I need a refill.

The only downside I can see right now -- we need to move back in.  We had the floor sealed and painted, but that meant moving everything out of the area.  The big stuff got shifted from one side of the room to the other, but the shelves...well...

So now all of this (and the stuff on the table upstairs!) needs to find a new home.  I'm wondering if we can count "organizing the schoolroom" as "Life Skills/Home Ec" for the week.  We started our school year a month ago, but I am so ready to get things set up!  Moving in -- that's my goal for this week!

PS. Add "Enter Meg's current giveaway!" to your to-do list!  

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