Seeing how my husband and I both work from home and I homeschool - a school/office room really seems like a must. Now, my oldest is begging for her own room. She is maturing into a teen rather quickly and while I realize she can survive sharing a room with her sister, I also understand her desire to have some time and space of her own.
We have pondered a few things. Moving, of course, was at the top. We have tossed this idea around since we bought our RV almost 3 years ago - moving some place out of a subdivision where we can keep our RV with us. However, land is very expensive and we would need to get a fix-er-uper in order to get land. Honestly, we can't keep up with the projects of our current house, let alone a house that requires massive work.
A couple of weeks ago, we looked at a home in our neighborhood. It would fit us perfectly - 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a den - around 2680 square feet. While it seemed like a perfect solution, there were a few things that weren't perfect. For one, it was more expensive than our current house, so even if we sold this one, we would be buying something anywhere from 15,000 - 20,000 more. I'm not interested in taking on a bigger mortgage when we want extra money to camp. Second, we would loose a pool. Now, in the winter, that doesn't seem like such a big deal but as spring is approaching, the kids are already asking when they can swim. If we DID take on a bigger mortgage, it would be years, if ever, before we could add a pool. Third, we would give up our nice yard. The house was on a standard lot. Our house sits on about 1/2 acre, which is a decent lot for a subdivision. And Finally, we began to realize a harsh reality of the economy.....we probably can't qualify for a loan. Both of us have worked as contractors for the last few years. It will be a few years before we can have enough proof on income to move.
So we decided to refinance our current home. Interest rates are so low right now, we can actually do a 15 year loan. We are eligible for a VA Streamline loan, which means no income verification. Now, how to deal with our problem..... We decided to have my handy husband build a "school room / office" in our 3rd car garage. He can pretty much build the room himself with only the expense of materials. Then we are going to take our current school room (which is a den) and transform it into a bedroom for Delena. Now, this room has no closets, so I've been searching the web for ideas on how to deal with a no closet room. We are thinking something along the lines of beach/shabby chic. Still looking around for the perfect bedding set. We are going to paint the rooms and she is really excited. I feel relieved to know we have a solution. Its not perfect, because the new school room won't have a window in it but we aren't spending as much time in our school room as we once did. The kids are at a point now where they have to be in different rooms to work anyway.
And to make Taya somewhat happy to be getting her own room, she will be getting a new bedding set also. My friend from church gave us this awesome Pottery Barn Kids set for Taya. It has the matching curtains and lamp! Her room will be cute too and I'm super excited to get it done!!!
I will post before and after pictures as we work through the change. I guess that is part of having a house...always having a project. Now, if we could just someway solve the bathroom problem!!
And if anyone is interested, I have a post up at Laced With Grace today. You can read it here.
