It is no secret that space in our house is a problem. We live in an older home, with small rooms, and limited storage areas. Before we moved into the house, we put carpet into the large, open room upstairs and made it our playroom. We used the room a lot before we had Wi-Fi. When JSL was born (he is almost 4), we pretty much stopped using the room. It was just too difficult to maneuver both boys up the steep staircase. Rather than enjoy the space, we used it as a glorified storage area. Here is a photo of it not too long ago:

The boys are bigger now. They are able to climb stairs. More important than any of this, they need more play space – and I want my living room not to resemble a toy store. TechyDad and I have really been working on the room. This past weekend we kicked it into high gear.

When we were finished trying the summer clothing on the boys, we moved upstairs to see what we could do next. Suddenly, I suggested moving TechyDad’s old work from home desk to the other side of the room (basically the right corner area of the picture above). Oy! This was a lot more work than you would think. This desk is a monster. In the end we got it moved. Then I hauled toys to the stairs and TechyDad brought almost all of them up to the room. The boys went to visit with Nana and Papa for a while and we finished things up. The new toy wall is where the desk used to be. Here is the new toy area in the largely revamped playroom:

When the boys did not have school on Monday, we spent the entire day upstairs. The kids love the space and are doing really well with putting things back before taking something else out. Here are my happy kids enjoying a space that we should have been utilizing long before now:

The room still isn’t perfect over by the desk, but it is getting there. I would say it is 90% finished and very functional. Now we can check that mostly off the project list and work on something else.

So have you tackled a big problem lately? Please feel free to share in the comments below.