“New” Rooms, part 100

 Thanks for the room suggestions!

We have pretty much maxed out all available space in this house (that seemed SO BIG when we moved in with 2 tiny boys and another on the way).

For reference, we live in a 5-bedroom, 3-bathroom, 2500-square-foot ranch with a finished walkout basement. And we probably will live here forever and ever because 5 kids in college, bananas housing market, etc etc etc.

Harry and Jack have shared a bedroom since Jack was born-- even when we had TWO UNUSED BEDROOMS in this house, but lately, they have been chafing at the constant togetherness. Roommates! Classmates! Colleagues! It was a lot.

They used to share the room that is Dorothy's currently, and baby Coop had Minnie's room. (and since he was still cooking when we moved in, Harry and Jack were technically roomies with THREE unused bedrooms!) Their bedroom downstairs was the guest room, and the 5th bedroom was a playroom (hence the vinyl floor).

Then! We had Dorothy, who moved into the nursery. Coop moved into Harry and Jack's room, and they moved to the guest room. (A slight upgrade when they outgrew their train table (LOL))

Then! We had Minnie, who took the nursery. Dorothy bumped Coop to the toy room, and that's where we've been for 3 years: Dorothy and Minnie up, the three boys down, the 3 little kids with their own rooms, and Harry and Jack sharing for FIFTEEN YEARS. We have had little interludes where D moved herself in with C, both in his upstairs room and in the former toy room, but she has always maintained her own room as well.

I LIKE the girls up/boys down split right now because the upstairs kid bath is also the guest bath, and it is easy to maintain as a little-kid-only zone. Harry and Jack are murder on a bathroom, and I love that theirs is tucked away. So, I was reluctant to move Dorothy and Minnie together and give a boy the other upstairs room. ESPECIALLY because the upstairs rooms are very small, so it made not as much sense for 2 kids to share one. Dorothy and Minnie COULD move downstairs to the former toy room, but Minnie is not really downstairs material yet-- but I could see this working down the road with the upstairs bedrooms for kids home on college breaks, etc.

ANYWAY.

Longer story long, we moved Coop and Jack together and gave Harry his mojo dojo casa room (thus named because we bought NOTHING NEW AT ALL for him and filed his closet with extra sheets and blankets in storage containers, took all of Jack's favorite stuff off the walls and covered the holes with flags and pennants, etc.)

We ONLY bought a rug, Command hooks, under-the-bed boxes, storage bins for sheets and blankets, some power strips, a lamp, throw pillows, one single storage bin for an old bookshelf, and voice activated LED bulbs for the new room-- under $250. I am THRILLED that it only took 48 hours to complete the switch and shocked by how much stuff we re-used. We need to think about a long term solution to the old bunk in Harry's room. Ideally, that room would be Jack's when Harry goes to college but would also be Harry's when he comes home. But the bunk bed has a low weight limit on top, so it has really outlived its usefulness. Maybe sturdier bunks? Maybe 2 twins and less other stuff in the room? Not sure yet and also not in a rush.

The new rooms:

Same bed he’s had since he was like 5! A chair from his grandparents’ old house in IL! IKEA Expedit shelves worth their weight in gold! Jack’s old desk AND his desk because eff it!

Coop and Jack:

Cross your fingers that this is the room arrangement everyone loves.