One thing I realized is that my house, while feeling large to me, is small for the number of people in it. A lot of these families have 2500 sq' w/ 4 or 5 bedrooms. My mom has also remarked on the amount of clutter, it was a bit overwhelming for her while she was visiting last spring. A lot of the LF homeschool, probably half public school & it makes a difference in how you view a house.
I grew up in a home that was decorated to be a refuge from work & a place to come home to for relaxation. But...that doesn't apply to my adult reality. I leave the house generally only 2 days a week & almost never more than 4 hours. There's no place to come to & generally no relaxation. I work where I live. I can sit down but I'm always on call to jump up again.
I live in a cannery, dairy, bakery, butchery & garden center rolled in one. That's just the kitchen & doesn't even count making breakfast, lunch, supper & snacks. The occasional chicken pokes it's head in looking for a handout & it's a miracle there's never been a dropping on the floor.
I live in an elementary school. The artwork isn't very tasteful or coordinated & it's EVERYWHERE. It creeps along the wall spreading its Crayola fingers further in more rows depending on subject & age as the school year progresses. There are charts & bookshelves. I rotate the books out by subject & grade; everyone gets 1 drawer for their daily work & supplies. I detest cluttered shelves. But this is the most occupied room in the house, the smallest & the one w/ the most and largest pieces of furniture so it's the main room I seasonally decorate. This adds to the cluttered/cozy feeling. This is the one room I actually would alter as our table won't fit when we'll need to (Lord willing) add a leaf in the table to fit us all. I'd like to knock the little half wall down to make a larger dining nook as opposed to a small formal space. This wall, Q-T.
I live in a machine shop. There are several cabinets that house Mikes tools & projects. He actually hates clutter worse than I do & has a shed he's put most of it in, but there are still 3 cabinets in the house. We use everything we have but a lot of it is seasonal. There's no getting rid of it w/ the option to replace it when we feel like it.
BUT w/ all of that said, I decided I like my house. It is cluttered & noisy. What I like best is that it's a place of productivity. Every day something different is being produced for the future, be that a jar of pop corn from the garden or a character quality in a child. Funnily enough, sometimes the one will help to make the other. No one gets their own room or has their own space (except Victor... for now. Mwahhahah.) I have 6 pairs of muck boots by the back door that grow in number & size every year. They drop dirt underneath their stair steps & I don't get it swept up as often as needed. But I like seeing them, all the small shoes on top getting larger as they go down.
After all of that ruminating ending in contentment, the one thing that I would like from the LF board though is the Nissan NV. We'll have maxed out the minivan & it wouldn't be so bad except that the back row isn't growing in leg room. We're hoping to get a mom bus next year. I'll thankfully accept anything we find w/ 12 seats & $40,000 is way out of our budget. But it looks so cool! If I Pinterested, this would go.
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