New Family Study

 

Happy Monday everyone!  Today I am sharing with you my absolute FAVORITE room in our new home.  There are a few reasons I love this room, and one of them is that is actually turned out better than my Pinterest board...how often can you say that?! ;)

 

When we started looking for plans for our new home I knew I wanted a floor plan with a formal living room.  I also knew I would be taking that formal living room, and turning it into a family study :)  I envisioned a room where the kids could keep their homework organized, where I could do the bills while they played with Lego's or loom bands, and where we could do crafts and read stories together centered on our weekly themes.  I give you, our Family Study!

 



 

The best parts of this room are the built-ins we had added in by our amazing cabinet guy.  I especially love the countertop we used for our homework station, it wipes off like a dream so I don't have to worry if the kids get marker or crayon everywhere.  I also like that we were able to do a desk and shelving where the closet would have been, it freed up a lot of space while still giving me the perfect area for all my "paper".

 

To get the most out of this room we put a bookshelf on its side underneath the big windows, and filled the cubbies with all of our childrens books.  I also pretty much bought out all of Ikea, and I LOVE the Fintorp organization system for all of our supplies like pencils, markers and crayons.  Its great to have them right at the kids eye levels so they can grab whatever they need, and its super simple to for them to keep clean and organized too :)  I placed three magazine holders on the counter for each child to keep their homework and important papers in as well.  And that huge map on the wall...isn't it awesome?!  I was so lucky to find someone that made that beauty on a Facebook yard sale page...it the perfect statement piece for our study.

 

I knew I wanted part of the décor in our room to remind the kids of all the things we want to strive for in our family, so I whipped up this printable for FREE on Picmonkey and then I simply had Walmart print it out as an 16x20 poster.  All together the whole thing was about $15...not too shabby!

 

This part of the room has more Ikea furniture :)  I love all the drawers and FINALLY having space for all our craft supplies.  My vision was a room where the supplies were accessible for the kids so they could use their creativity...but not SO accessible that my baby destroyed everything constantly ;)  So far it has been the perfect mix!  Oh....and do you see that chair?  I bought it 10 years ago for my first babies nursery, and it was an ugly light, sage green color.  I mean, it was super cute 10 years ago, but now...not so much!  My crazy talented sis-in-law and her friend discovered THE coolest trick.  You simply mix 4 capfuls of Rit fabric dye with 3 cups of hot water and use a spray bottle to completely soak your chair.  Then let it dry out in the sun and you have a completely new chair!  It's a great way to re-purpose an old piece, especially if it has great function but just not so cute anymore.

 

Finally we have the other side of the room!  In the closet we have that awesome built in, and that is where I keep all my bills, important paper, and a family calendar.  I love having my own space that the kids don't mess with, but that is still right there with them.  MORE Ikea storage for our Lego's...we just used chalkboard labels to label each bin and its been a great way to keep this little expensive things organized ;)  Finally, I got a $10 corkboard at Walmart and painted a few stripes on it just to add a little more color to the room.  We hang up papers from school or crafts that we have been working on that week for all to see and enjoy!

 

So there you have it, our Family Study!  Everything else in the house still feels like a work in progress, but it sure is a lot of fun making it feel like home.  Thanks so much for checking out our post and have a fantastic Monday!