I Had A Dream...

Somehow this dream inspired me to rethink the way I am using certain spaces in our house. Right there in the middle of the night I started thinking about literally moving things and reorganizing. (Good thing for Mom she's in Colorado, or I may have asked for her help!)

We bought a tri-level house with my home daycare in mind. I use the lower level for the daycare. It's got it's own entrance down the back stairs, a nice big family room, a bedroom and powder room. So the daycare part of the house is completely separate from our living area. The children are only allowed on the main floor to accompany me to the kitchen. Our living room and dining rooms are off limits. The upper level has three bedrooms, always our private domain.

Originally our plan was to each snag one of the extra bedrooms as "our own space". Scott was going to turn his into the music room, and mine was going to be an exercise room/home office/craft room. You know, so we could have space to pursue our passions without worrying about messes or things being in the way of our living spaces. Sounds like a grand plan, doesn't it?

The thing is, we've lived in this house for thirteen years...and these lofty rooms have never happened. In fact, I call them the "walk in closets". Depressing, ain't it?

Well, thanks to my inspirational dream, all that changes - NOW!

Today I enlisted the help of my daycare kids to go through box after box of stuff...I called it our treasure hunt. Hopefully I taught them a little about organization...Everything that came out of a box was categorized and placed in a pile, box or bag with like items. We even have a box for things I can't categorize yet...the "? box," I guess...

I think ultimately that is where the plan died in the first place. These rooms were meant to be the places to keep the things that had no other place to be in the house; but instead of organizing it that way from the beginning, everything got dumped in there without a place to go. Over the years, these rooms have just become the dumping ground for other items that don't have a home either.

The way this project makes sense to me is that I will start with very generally giving everything a place...even if that place is a bag or a box. Once everything is in some place, then I will conquer making a space within the house for the things themselves. I already started with gift-wrapping supplies today. I removed them from the room completely and found them a spacious new home in the utility room. My dream has inspired me to think outside the box...or is it inside the box but outside the room?

So that is my mission...to little by little make progress toward creating the room of my dreams. Yes, I have even given myself permission to take my time, and really get it right this time....

Maybe this rhythm will help me work at a productive pace...



I actually can see this room happening - becoming a reality -for the first time! I am very encouraged by both my progress today, and my continued interest in the project. I already have a battle plan for tomorrow...

I hope the kids enjoy learning the ins and outs of office supplies...