We talk a lot about homesteading and homeschooling, but don’t usually say much about the eponymous Dollhouse. Lately, with winter limiting our outdoor activities we’ve been spending more time indoors.  Which has been a constant reminder of why we’ve nicknamed it a “dollhouse.” Five people in 950 square feet can get a bit…cozy.  But we’ve recently made some changes that have had us all feeling a little better about our space!

We started by switching the bedrooms.  The boys have moved into the larger bedroom, and we’ve managed to fit ourselves into the smaller one. In the process, we replaced the trundle that Luke was using with a loft bed to better utilize the limited floor space we have. Next, we moved all their toys downstairs and put it in a little ‘nook’ that we have off of the living room. And lastly, we put the desk in the corner of the kitchen where the dairy fridge was and have relegated that to a spot in the mudroom.

It’s really all the same stuff, just rearranged to maximize use of the space and to make everything more convenient. The boys used to drag their toys from their room to the downstairs, making a mess of both the downstairs and their room. Now, their room has remained mostly clean aside from some stray laundry.

The toys are still a mess downstairs, but their shelves and containers are easier to access which makes cleanup much faster and easier than before. Having the desk in the kitchen has made a definite dent in the amount of papers that get piled on the counter, and switching rooms means that we will have space for a bassinet next to our bed come June. Thank goodness babies themselves don’t take up too much space!