Open House: Children’s Bedrooms

I’m participating in the Open House hosted by the 4 Moms, 35 Kids. Throughout the month of August, they are giving a glimpse into their homes and how they manage things for their larger-than-average families. So far, we have joined with them and given you a tour of our outside yard and entry, the kitchen and dining room, and our main living areas.

This week is the final stop in our tour (no, wait – I just learned there will be more!) as we take a peek into the children’s bedrooms.  Let’s go down the hallway from the living room and through what used to be closets.  We were very blessed by my parents who not only remodeled our home, but added 3 bedrooms and a bathroom.  That section has become known as “the girls’ wing” – the entry to it is swagged with this beautiful canopy we got for free from a “grab bag”.  The canopy is not only lovely, it also hides a few things in the hallway.

After a left turn and a walk down a long hallway, we come to the little girls’ room.  Here Sarah pretends a storage trunk is a bed, and yes, that is a sheet hanging off of a curtain rod hook.  We’ve mangled bent two curtain rods beyond repair from the curtain being pulled, mostly accidentally.  I’ve considered using rebar…  This room is still somewhat bare, as I’m teaching the little girls more responsibility in caring for their room.  We have some wall decorations ready to go in here soon.

We allow a few playthings in here – the favorites of which are dolls.  Elizabeth (8) and Esther (7) share this dresser, which came from a thrift store.

My husband made this shelf for the little girls shoes.  We will probably use it as a bookshelf soon, since the shoes are getting bigger!

I got this great bed from Craigslist – Elizabeth and Esther share the top bunk, while Miriam and Sarah share the bottom bed. In the “winter” we will drape comforters over the beds, but in summer we use just a fitted sheet.  Each girl has their own blanket.

Let’s go right next door to the older girls’ room – the main themes in here are horses (Tabitha) and puppies (Deborah).  The girls do the majority of decorating and organizing in here.

All the furniture shown here was free.  Many of the “horsey” things, including the big horse picture on the wall, came from my grandmother’s home.

I’ve labeled a few things in here just for fun.  I forgot that there is a bb gun leaning up next to the fishing poles.

Tabitha loves her writing desk in a cozy corner of her room.  The desk is actually a really old rolling computer printer cabinet.

This is how the closet usually looks – the girls’ dresses are actually tucked on either side of the closet.  The baskets for dirty clothes are on the floor next to the wooden horse stable.  The bookshelf is another one made by my husband.  When our kitchen was remodeled, two of the hickory doors on the new cabinets were slightly marred.  The manufacturer replaced them and didn’t want the old doors back!  So we used them for the sides of this sturdy shelf.

Here is the room where our 3 boys sleep.  Nate and Sam think it’s pretty awesome that they are in the same room where they were born.  (We’ve had 6 children born in this house.)  We have plans to build a triple bunk bed unit in here, but for now all this free furniture, and a cool army cot, works very well.  As I’ve been writing these Open House posts, I’m once again in awe of how God has provided for our family through the years.  Each piece of furniture has a unique story behind it of how God met our needs in unexpected ways.

I love how our boys have their own style of decorating.

The “antique” collection is made up of all sorts of things the boys have found on nature walks – in and out of our yard.

Thanks for joining us as we’ve toured our home!  It’s been very enjoyable for me, as I hope it has been for you.

Aaaand…I learned this morning when I linked this post to the 4 moms that they have quietly extended the series.  So that means I’ll be working on getting our master bedroom ready for pictures, and we’ll just see where we go from there…

Be sure to visit all of the 4 Moms, 35 Kids to see their living areas:

• Smockity Frocks
• The Common Room
• Life in a Shoe
• Raising Olives