Tess05's Profile

@MELARLODI- yes yes and yes! I can totally agree with everything you posted. I have a five year old and I love doing what I want when I want.
If I want to eat the same foods all of the time (like fruits, salad, cheese and triscuits!) I can. If I want to turn on my music as loud as I want while I cook, clean, or just because I can and practice my zumba moves at the drop of a hat. I have the freedom to do house projects and do household chores when I want to do them. I can leave lights on and not have to worry that I am disturbing the other person at night. Oh and hit the snooze for an hour straight sometimes. :-)

Angela and Jake, thank you for the inspiration. I live in a Sears Home, built circa 1910's. It has a lot of the craftsman style. I refinished the original oak floors last summer. I plan on updating the kitchen and bath too. Thank you for providing pictures that lend themselves to showing off the importance of keeping the "original beauty" in a home and how to execute the rearrangement of furniture! I appreciate that you have allowed your children's spirit to shine through too. Many people it appears are too preoccupied with "covering up" that their children live in the same home. I am glad that you showcase them in parts of your home! You have given me hope for my little bungalow in Indiana.

My best advice, as a mother of a 5 year old daughter and as someone who likes to make my home feel comfortable and inviting, is I have let my furniture gel with the arts and crafts bungalow that I bought about a year ago. And after I took down the Christmas decorations a couple of weeks ago, I finally discovered a more suiting way to arrange my furniture. I have a narrow living room too. I put my sofa in front of the window. It faces the tv for now I have a tall book shelf with my books and soon I will be putting my daughter's books on a smaller bookshelf on the other side of the sofa. I have let her have her chairs, doll house, and other toys in the the living room too. Maybe try putting your sofa at an angle that invites people to walk through the living room.
But most of all, be patient too with yourself and your daughter. I let my daughter have her toys where she wants when she wants for the most part because she is only little once and eventually she will grow out of the fact that she wants her tent set up in my dinning room instead using it as a dinning room. I guess it's a good thing that I have an eat in kitchen and it's only her and me. :-)