The Love Shack: Part 4

I started our house tour by showing you Blanche's room, our room, and the garden. So now I wanted to finish by showing you the downstairs of our town home. Being the person I am, there are already things that have been moved around in Blanche's room. But either way, I wanted to the finish house tour.

When you walk back down the stairs, you see the first picture. When I actually took a picture of our living room, and then looked at it, I was like wow, are we crazy bohemians? Well, thats kind of the look I was going for, but it seems like we have a LOT of books and pictures. Plus plants. Which I love. The only downside to having tons of books everywhere is that it makes me wish I actually had time to sit in those cute vintage chairs and read one. When Andrew and I rearranged the living room this way, I loved the little reading area. I envisioned Andrew and I sitting in those chairs with our coffee on the table, and reading a rainy day away. That may happen in about ten years.

I also have added little areas of interesting things for Blanche. You may notice jars of pom poms or animal figures hiding around the house. I also brought her bookshelf down from her room and put some of her books and some interesting things to look at. Its great for her to know she too has a space in each room. I like that she has books where Andrew and I do too. So she knows to pull those out for story time. And we do get to sit in those vintage chairs! I also have tried to do more natural toys, and interesting objects for her to look at, along with a plant in her area too (out of reach of course). I really do love a lot of the ideas behind montessori inspired homes, so I used some of those philosophies to inspire special "Blanche spaces" in the home.

As you can see, we use our computer for videos but do not have a television. I really enjoy this. I always laugh when I think back to an episode of Up All Night when Maya Rudolph tells someone sarcastically how "brave" they are for not owning a television. We don't really do it to be brave. Honestly there's just not enough on tv that Andrew and I find worth paying for. So we watch occasional online shows and movies on the computer. Plus Blanche has a little dvd player for her shows too. I find that it makes our home more peaceful. I love not having a television always on and blaring.

Then you take about four steps and you have entered the dining room/extended play room/pantry/kitchen! Its funny how not having a lot of space makes you creative. Its also funny/ironic that "not having a lot of space" is way more square footage than most of the world. Either way, I feel thankful for what we do have, but like most, have dreams of a bigger back yard or adding an art/ craft room.

We decided when we rearranged our living room, that Blanche's kitchen should go downstairs and into the kitchen area. I enjoy the way our home is set up now for Blanche. It seems there is plenty to do whether we are upstairs or downstairs. Its also been nice for the times when we are still eating dinner and Blanche says "dooaanee" that she has a little area to cook us food or feed her baby while Andrew and I finish our meal. It has been amazing to see her little mind take off as she has grown and started to do more and more imaginary play.

Andrew has done a lot of moving and shuffling in our kitchen, and I told him that the next time we move, he gets to organize and design the kitchen himself. When we moved in I had a certain way I wanted things, but now that he is the one who cooks most of the time, I think he gets to decide. I took a picture of his "bread making" space as well. I am going to have him do either the next post or the one after that. Andrew is amazing at making breads. I want him to talk a little bit about this winter hobby he has started. Its wonderful; we don't eat store bought bread anymore. So good.

And last but not least, we have an espresso machine hiding in our laundry closet! This makes the weekends extra special  ; )