We use our back door as our main door. It opens right into the kitchen and dining area. There is no closet there. We have a coat closet, but it's in the living room, which is too far to go to drop your stuff. By the back door we had a small rack with a shelf, but then we had kids, who keep having things like coats, shoes, backpacks, hats, gloves, umbrellas, sunscreen, etc.
Before kids: aww look how simple and cute!
As with most everything in the house, I looked around for something that had as much functionality as possible. I found a coat rack with a wire shelf that looked perfect: Wire Shelf With Coat Rack
I thought I could stack two of them on the wall, one for adults and one for kids. But because I'm short, I couldn't put the adult one too high, and there wasn't enough room for the bottom one. My husband spray-painted the rack turquoise, to match the yellow/turquoise theme of the kitchen. I happened to find a wire shoe rack for free on the side of the road, so I nabbed that and painted it turquoise too. I found a small IKEA coat rack at a thrift store, and screwed that in down low for the girls to put their coats.
The entire "closet". On top we have bins full of hats, gloves, sunscreen, umbrellas, rain ponchos, etc.
The small IKEA rack that holds the girls' things.
The shoe rack, which holds bins with the girls' shoes, and various bags and junk.
Up top, I got some wire S hooks to hang bags and scarves. Sunglasses and umbrellas hang here easily.
It's a small space. You could probably wall in a closet, or get a wardrobe or a covered garment rack. I like the openness of it because it makes it easy for the kids to put up their things and get them down again. It's functional! As our family grew...so did our coat rack.
Sorry folks, I told you that summer is a busy time. Now that school has started, we're back into a routine, and it's getting dark earlier, I can sit in front of a computer more.
A couple of weeks ago we went on our yearly family camp-out with my side of the family. My parents, their dog, my little brother and sister and their families, and us. My parents have a nice camping trailer that serves as home base, the cooking and gathering area. So we don't have to bring anything other than a sleep set-up, as they have everything we need, and the kids just run around playing together the whole time.
When child #1 was 18 months old, we did this camp-out, and she did not enjoy sleeping in a tent. She woke up with the sun. At 5:30. And would not go back to sleep. And would not sit quietly reading a book or playing. One morning in a fit of utter frustration I decided that if I couldn't be asleep, then we would go for a walk. We wound up hiking up this huge sand dune (we were on the Oregon coast), and by "hiking" I mean I was crawling on one hand and two knees, holding my toddler in my other arm, taking breaks every few feet. I felt like I was in some movie about a mother and daughter escaping across the desert sand, trying to reach the promised land. We got to the top and watched the sun rise over the forest and the dunes. It was gorgeous. I would never have seen that except for a whiny toddler. The next year, she slept just fine.
This year's camping adventures have been similar with child #2, aged 18 months (their birthdays are 12 days apart). After two one-night camp-outs earlier this summer, with #2 not sleeping well in the tent and husband and I running to the car with two screaming kids at 4 am trying not to wake up the whole campground, I had had enough. I decided that since we were going to wind up in the car anyway, we might as well sleep in the car in the first place.
Behold, the mini van camper! We have a 2002 Toyota Sienna, nothing fancy, and in fact a little smaller than newer mini vans. This actually worked out pretty well for us.
We named the van Beethoven! Because it turned into Camper Van Beethoven! Get it? Get it?*
After getting to the camp site, we unpacked our relatively few things (since we didn't need cooking supplies and not as much food as usual), and took the girls car seats out and put them on top of the car. We folded down the second and third row seats, blew up our queen size single layer air mattress, and threw that on top of those. There are gaps in-between the seats, but they aren't very big, and with the mattress on top and two people, it was just fine. That was mommy and daddy's bed.
For the girls, we pushed back the front seats as far as they would go, and then put this toddler fold-up cot over the seats. I made a hammock to go on top, because our backyard hammock broke. I cut an old sheet in half, folded over the long sides by a few inches, and sewed them up so there were tubes a couple inches wide. I put some ratchet ties through the tubes. With the front doors open, we wrapped the tie-downs around the roof of the car. The doors could easily close.
We tried it out at home first, the girls thought it was awesome:
There seemed a little too far down, so I cut off some more fabric and remade it before we left.
So here's the set-up:
Mom and Dad's bed, we didn't use the sliding doors, just the hatch.
Mommy waking up
Front "bunk beds"
Bottom bunk, kid #2, space to put kids suitcases. blanket draped across so pacifiers don't fall to the ground.
Top bunk, kid #1
We popped open the sunroof for ventilation, and put a couple of tarps over the top of the car to protect from the weather (although with everything closed it wouldn't matter) and cover the windows so it would be more dark. We just threw the tarps over the girls' car seats too.
The first night #2 wasn't very excited about it, so she wound up in bed with us, which was a bit crowded, but it was fine. Kid #1 slept great all night. Kid #2 had a few moments, and I was glad we didn't have to think about waking up the camp ground. I don't know that I would like to do it again, and I'm hoping next year #2 does as well as #1 did so we can be a nice cozy tent. But it's not that bad. Only short kids could do it in the front. Luckily we are all short kids.
We wondered how the back would do with taller people, so we threw my 6'2" brother and his wife in the back and shut the hatch. He said it was comfy!
Not everyone has reason to make up a different approach to a screen door, but our doors are slightly smaller than average. Options include getting a customized screen door (expensive), making our own (expensive and time-consuming), or getting one of those magnet ones (don't seem to hold up very well).
So after a bit of internetting around, I was inspired with a very easy, very cheap, completely temporary solution. Excellent for rentals and other temporary applications (trailer doors?).
Behold, the roll-up tension rod screen!
Where's the screen? Can you see it?
I bought some screen material by the foot at the hardware store, used my sewing machine to sew two hems on either end, and stuck some tension rods in either end. We happened to have some shower curtain-type rods leftover from some other household thing, and a couple of cafe curtain rods from the girls room when I used sheets for light-blocking window treatments (oh yeah I have to show you the cool light-blocking window treatments I made recently!). I suppose you could use some sort of glue if you don't have access to a sewing machine, or use safety pins if you're really desperate.
Top
Bottom
Crappily rolled up because I didn't have time.
Easy to roll up, and if you take 30 seconds longer than I did you'll make it so nice and small that you don't even notice it. My husband usually makes it look nice. I just don't have the patience. Or the arm extension.
You can leave the bottom rod unattached if you need to get in and out, just push it aside. We tend to keep both rods in place on the front door, which we use less often, and leave the bottom rod in the backdoor loose.
Here in Seattle we don't really have a problem with mosquitos, chiggers, ticks, no-see-ums and the like. We do get those big nasty flies that come in and buzz around your head. And moths in the evening. So this screen would not be the best for keeping out all critters. I suppose you could make two more pocket hems on the sides and use two more tension rods to get a good tight fit, but with all that work and expense, it might just be best to invest in a real door.
Oh look, I went to all that trouble to make these, and they have them for 20 bucks at Home Depot. Tension Rod Screen Door
Whatever. Because I already had the tension rods, the screen fabric only cost me about $14. So there, I saved money.
I have perpetually tight hamstrings. I think part of the problem is that I don't take very long strides in my house. If I planned well, I could take three long strides from the living room to the kitchen/back door, and that's only if there isn't a bunch of toys and other tripping hazards in the way. Otherwise, I take very few steps, and they aren't long. I was at my friend's five bedroom house the other day, and as I walked down the long hallway to the play room, I realized that I could really lengthen my stride, heh heh. Plus all the going up and down stairs. I guess I should start doing laps around house like my preschooler.
So we have a small bathroom. It has the three most important things: place to clean your hands, place to relieve yourself, place to clean your body. That's really all you need. Well, those things and the accoutrements that go with those things. Like towels.
When we bought the house, we found some nice nickel-finished towel holders. That was nice. But turns out they were a bit large for the space. The hand towel holder, especially, has been awkward, for me anyway. With my 5'2" frame in front of the sink, the towel hits me more or less in the face. And it sticks out a lot from the wall.
Trying to show you, the towel is in my face.
Side view--towel face.
Now that we have even smaller people trying to use the sink and the towel, I decided to just get the dang towel off the wall. So I got an over-the-cabinet-door-towel-holder-thingie.
Oh my goodness that towel looks really dirty but it isn't I promise!
So now the towel is out of the way. My face will be happy again when I finally get the old holder off the wall.
Stop trying to attack me stupid towel holder!
Sometimes, I like to stand on my kid's stool to brush my teeth and wash my hands. Just to see what it would be like to be eight inches taller. You know, 5'10".
Oh look I'm so tall!
In other towel-related news, we also replaced the other towel bar, which could only hold two towels. In Seattle, it's important to give towels room to breathe, so they don't get moldy. Also we don't have wall space for multiple towel bars. So I got a hook rack. Inspired by the hot pink nightlight and the hot pink in a small painting my grandma made, I decided to paint the hook rack hot pink, and then paint a shelf hot pink to put some knick-knacks on. Cutie cute.
Sorry for the radio silence, but I've been pumping out in-home projects as quick as I can, because now that spring is springing all over the place, the garden and outdoors are calling!
But I've got some great small-house projects to show you, so expect some new posts with fun ideas!
First up: I call this the Swiss Army Cabinet. We had a desk with the computer, office supplies, craft supplies, files, etc. It was messy. I didn't like looking at it. I had a brainstorm one day and decided to start looking for a cabinet that could contain the desk, with doors that shut, so I can just close the doors and not look at the mess. (Cause let's be realistic about keeping things clean and tidy all the time, amiright?) I am also known to sew things, but doing a sewing project means clearing off the dining table and setting up shop for an hour or two before cleaning everything up again and getting the table ready for a meal. Then putting it all back, cleaning it up, putting it back...
And then, one glorious day, I was walking down the aisles of St. Vincent de Paul, between the shelves of old vases and the rows of 80s entertainment centers, there it was, a huge, double-doored cabinet. Something about it whispered to my soul, "Yes, I am the one you are looking for."
It looks like this on the outside:
I added an iron and ironing board holder on the right. Storage on the top.
Open it up, and on the left you have the office side:
Pull-out platforms for keyboard and paper, cork board on the left.
On the right, hmm, what's on the right? Some drawers for office supplies...and...
A *table* that FOLDS DOWN, and a sewing center!!!
Get out the sewing machine baby!
I made a couple of mods: I found (at the very same thrift store no less!) a thread holder for all my spools of thread, I attached an IKEA goose neck light, and put a couple of clothes pins on the inside door so I can put a sewing pattern up to follow. A huge added bonus, there's a power strip inside the cabinet, so I can plug things in without dragging a cord across the floor and creating a tripping hazard.
With this treasure, I have compacted the luxury of whole room (maybe two if you're lucky enough to have BOTH an office and a sewing room), into about six to nine square feet of floor space, depending on how much of it I'm using.
And when I'm done for the moment, I can just wad everything thing up and slam the doors.
As all the real estate descriptions and reality home-buying shows tout, "entertaining" is a very important part of every day living; you can expect that everyone will love being entertained in your home. So the question when you have a small house is, how many friends can you smoosh into it?
When I was single and lived in my little apartment, I liked to have parties and get-togethers a lot. Luckily, everyone liked to cuddle:
Dinner is almost always buffet-style.
Small houses: good for games, not so much for dancing.
Sometimes people have to share chairs.
Now we have a house that is only slightly larger than that apartment, but we still like to cram people inside and have a good time. We pull out the kitchen table and put in the leaf and pull out some extra chairs. We have to carefully squeeze everyone in, but as soon as they're sitting, everyone can relax and enjoy dinner. Until someone has to use the bathroom, then it's musical chairs.
Cozy dinners here!
Thankfully we have the backyard for the summer...but still just one bathroom. Maybe we should rent a porta-potty for the summer?
Lots of room to circulate. (Yes, it's the same tablecloth!)
We may be short, we may be petite, we may be small of stature, but we are strong of lung and loud of voice. Especially the younger ones. Especially between the hours of 1 and 4 am. We have an infant here who thinks it's super fun to wake everyone up in the middle of the night.
It's a two bedroom house, and the girls' room is, shall we say, dainty. I have this dream of my daughters sharing a room all their growing up years, of becoming best buddies, of me walking by their room and hearing "Mom's coming, shh be quiet!" So far it's not working, they just make each other cry.
Five out of seven nights, the plot goes as follows: baby, HS, goes down around 7. She falls asleep easily, thwup thwup thwuping on her pacifier. Her big sister, B, goes down about half an hour later, usually after trying to wheedle out an extra story and/or song.
But then...
Around 2 am, we hear a cry. Suddenly startled out of a deep sleep, we lay in our comfy warm bed, holding our breath. Will she put herself back to sleep? A moment of silence, and then, a louder cry. "Where the heck are you guys?" We wait, not wanting to be too quick to attend her, so she doesn't get the idea that she can just call and we come running (yeah, I know you're laughing).
The crying intensifies, and the solo becomes a high-pitched, wailing duet. Two crying girlies. Two parents trying to hide. Finally, Tom gets up, takes B out to the couch, tucking her favorite blanket around her legs. And then we let the baby continue, if she wants. Sometimes she stops, sometimes she starts and stops. Mostly, we try to wait until 3 am or 30 minutes, whichever comes first. Then I feed her. Then she sleeps. We all sleep.
Until...
4 am. Maybe 5 am. More milk. Seriously? The worst is when she wakes up again at 6 am, because it's too close to regular wake up time, and if she happens to wake up B, then we're all up at 6 am. Oh joy.
A few months ago we did sleep training, because HS was waking up every two hours. We wound up with either Tom or I on the couch, and the other in our bed with B. After a week it would work...for about a week. Then she'd just keep waking up earlier, and earlier...These times, I kind of wish we had three bedrooms. Or an extra bedroom, so we could let the baby cry without bothering the big sis. Maybe we can convert the attic??
As much as I'd like to pare down my life to, say, three pairs of sensible shoes and two sweaters, I just can't seem to do it. So where to cram everything? Each and every bit of floor in our bedroom has a specific function. Let's take a tour!
Behind the door, we have a shoe rack, and a shoe/boot basket:
The space next to the shoe rack is the docking bay for the Roomba, and the spot for the pillar fan (we sleep with white noise in our house). Blow dryer hangs from a hook on the armoire, power strip has spots for other hair devices as needed.
To the left of the armoire, we have the dirty clothes baskets (why yes, I am sharing my dirty laundry with the world!). To make room for husband's shoes, we put a crate on the floor that he stuffs them in. An old clothes butler holds stuff that most people would throw on an upholstered chair in their room, like clothes that need hemming or mending.
Over on my side of the bed, the night stand, my footstool for reaching the top shelf in the closet, my gym bag on top of the footstool, the heating pad is stored behind the footstool, the closet space, and next to the chest of drawers, my extensive slipper collection (I have the world's coldest feet).
And over on the Mister's side of the bed, eh, not much, just enough to walk through, and some power cords for the Christmas lights in the window. And the spot for his awesome robot robe I made him for Christmas a couple years ago? At the end of the bed, on the bedpost.
The floor space under the bed is completely full as well, with clothes, pajamas, and wrapping paper and supplies.
After all, what's a bedroom really for? Sleeping and storing clothes and shoes. Got the bases covered!
.JPG)
