Finally! We have a dedicated space for all things creative. In our old apartment we had a buffet cabinet where we kept all the bits and pieces the kids needed for their creative endeavors, and it was perfect for our teeny space. Unfortunately, since moving into this house, we’ve had most of their things scattered about or, even worse, still boxed up in the basement.

Several weeks ago we bit the bullet, realizing that as a family we really needed a creative space, and sacrificed our office/extra guest room. It’s been one of our best decisions ever. Really. Pretty much any time of day you’ll be bound to find one or more of us in the room — aided by the fact that Tomas and I both telecommute and use this space during work hours.

I can’t tell you how pleased I am to have all my crafty books out, right where I can grab them for reference any time I want. The look on the kids’ faces is priceless when they ask for some random bit that they haven’t seen in eight months, and Mama knows exactly where to find it. Not to mention Tomas’ pleasure at having his drafting table free and clear of our stuff.

We still have a bit of organizing to do, and definitely need to get some art up on our bare walls (my ugly-but-functional family calendar doesn’t count), but I am so very happy.

All the new stuff is from Ikea. The table is two 78" long table-tops braced together. The legs are adjustable, which gives us the height we were looking for, but they are wobbly even though we braced the table to the wall, so we’ll need to replace them at some point. The stools were the cheapest ones available at Ikea at under $20 each. The Book shelf is the Lack which Tomas was especially keen to have because shelves are the same thickness as the frame which gives it a balanced look. I do have to admit it looks quite nice.

The funnest part of the project (for me, since all I had to do was observe & make sounds of approval), are the shelves Tomas built in our two inefficiently used closets. This was Tomas’ first attempt at making his own shelving and I love that he recruited the kids to paint them cheery colors.

Yes. I am so very happy with how this worked out

Since Tor has the rocket ship, and Bjørn got the tree, it was only fitting that Maggie, too, should get a painting by her bed. I tested it out, and I think this is going to be the best sight to wake up to every morning. From now on every day will be a sunny day

As promised yesterday

So now I know.

The next time I have an idea that I’ve let stew far too long in the corners of my imagination, and I want to make it a reality, all I need to do is blog it. Who knew?

After reading my post about the kids’ room, Tomas got to sketching, and sketching (some doodles not at all appropriate for any child’s room, btw). After Tor got up from his afternoon nap we bundled the troops into the car and headed to Home Depot where we picked up the brightest, and cheeriest Disney paints we could find (The red is called "Mickey’s pants". That makes me laugh every time I think about it). We also bought a rake, and now have HUGE piles of leaves from last Fall that I’m really not sure what to do with other than jump in ‘em, which I did. Hopefully, we won’t have too much wind between now and the moment I figure out how to dispose of them.

Today we set to painting. My job is to get the supplies together, lay down the protective paper and tape, and clean up. Um… and keep Tor out of the paints.

Tomas and the kids did all the painting and I think this rocket ship over Tor’s head-board is the start to a most magical room.

Next time I’ll show you the tree they painted. Oh, my… and what a tree it is!

I am a huge fan of the Paumes series of books, and this year ordered several more for Christmas (again! sweet joy!). My only disappointment came on hearing that the edition on Children’s rooms in Holland was out of stock, and out of print.

Now that we have a house to "make our own" as it were, I am desperate for design inspiration. I love design shows, and all things creative, but find myself at a complete loss when it comes to actually designing a space.

One thing we are thinking of is having Tomas paint a mural of sorts on the walls, or having vinyl decals made from his drawings. I especially like the bird pictured above from Children’s Rooms "London" — and love the idea of simple, but bold line drawings.

Here are a couple pictures of the kids’ room as it is now — what would you do to bring some punch and character it?