Keeping Room/Homeschool Room/Work Room

Even though we have already done A LOT of work in here, it’s still a really long way from done. I’m still not sure what I’m calling it, but this is either the Homeschool Room or the Keeping Room. Or, maybe the Work Room – I really like Edie’s Work Room HERE but hers also has laundry, so this room might not be multi-use enough to justify that name. Anyway, this room houses (or will house) three Ikea Billy bookcases with most of our homeschool books, two smaller truly built-in bookcases (biographies on the left and history on the right), our desks/work area, and all of our arts and crafts supplies in an armoire. It’s like the “craft room” from our old house minus all the sewing stuff (which I’m keeping in the “basement sewing room” in this house). I did that because, when I’m sewing, I generally need to be alone — but I like to do arts and crafts WITH my family, so I didn’t want to keep the supplies somewhere remote with bad lighting (even though the basement in this house has surprisingly excellent lighting). And I like the supplies in an armoire because you can see everything with the doors open, yet you can easily close the doors and the room is clutter-free. I do think that art supplies are pretty and can be inspiring to look at, but I’m super sensitive to clutter and I need clean, cleared-off surfaces to concentrate/be creative. In addition to a place to keep our homeschool books and do some arts and crafts, I wanted this room to be a place where we could work on our Charlotte Mason notebooks (Book of Centuries, nature notebook, commonplace book, etc. . . . ) — basically the concept for this room as a “Keeping Room” is inspired from one of my favorite books – The Living Page: Keeping Notebooks with Charlotte Mason by Laurie Bestvater (not an affiliate link, but I REALLY REALLY REALLY recommend the book!). I don’t really want to call this a homeschool room because my brain conjures up images of “School at Home,” i.e. a room that tries to look like a classroom with visual overload (for me – some people like it) everywhere you look (for example, alphabet letters on the wall, gaudy bulletin boards, bright colors all over, plastic and/or melamine furniture, etc.). I need a functional space that looks and feels good because we have to actually want to spend time in here. Here’s what the room looks like now: P1050515   These are three of the bookcases from the old house, with three additional extension shelves that Kent had to cut down in order to clear the crown moulding. Now that was a project in itself because he replicated the complicated holes that he chopped off so that they connect with the same hardware are they did before (my husband is a genius!!!). It was Derm Dad’s idea to make the middle section extra tall so we’d have a place for the atlases and the globe – which I think worked out perfectly! In case anybody is interested in book organization, Starting at the bottom left hand shelf, we have the books for Year One (for the Ambleside Online Charlotte Mason curriculum), then above that we have some read-aloud books and some other books that are supposed to be good, but I haven’t read yet), then above that Year Two, then Year Three, Year Four and Year Five on the three shelves above that. Then some other great books on the skinny shelf above that and Year Six at the very top (which I can’t reach without a step-stool). In the middle, starting at the bottom, we have artist books (for Picture Study), then some field guides on the skinny shelf above that and Nature Study/Natural Science books above that. Then, with the wooden figure thing, we have the Shakespeare shelf and the poetry shelf above that. We have composer study above that and then the globe and atlases at the very top. In the bookshelf on the right, starting at the bottom, we have some random tall books (mostly picture books), then above that it’s multi-person biographies (I wish I had room to keep those with the regular biographies), then our nature shelf above that. Then, it’s Mom’s shelf, with homeschool planning books, teaching books, books with book lists, etc., and my own Charlotte Mason notebooks. Then we have handicrafts (a whole bunch of scouting books, a kids cookbook, some books on how to draw, sailing and knots, etc.), some science books (astronomy, inventions and how they work, weather, science experiments, etc.), and then some blank notebooks. Then, above that, I have foreign language (to the left) and geography (to the right). I’m still not sure what I’ll put in that short shelf, but I have books fro Year Seven and Year Eight at the very top. It’s hard to restrain myself, but I am trying not to buy any books for Ambleside Online Year Seven or older. I do like to buy the ones that I am personally interested in, though, so I have quite a few – and I’ve enjoyed reading them for my own enrichment. All the books on the Ambleside Online list are just such great books!! I want to own them all!!!  I have the high school books that I have purchased on the top shelves of the four bookshelves in the Living Room/Fireplace Room. There just wasn’t room for them in here. =( These bookcases are bolted to a 2×4 frame as a base and then Kent is making a baseboard of sorts out of 2x8s that he’s going to miter cut and I will prime and paint. The top of the 2×8 will line up perfectly just below the bottom shelf. Then he’s going to hang crown moulding (hopefully we can find a perfect match to the moulding that’s already in the room) at the top, so the bookcases will truly look built-in. We are also going to add vertical trim so you don’t see the seams between the shelves (just like we did at the old house).  I can’t wait because I know it’s going to look soooo good!. P1050514 Now, about the desk nook. It’s 114″ long! I went back and forth about whether I wanted a plank desk built in to the window nook (one floor down from the same nook in Adele’s room, which is now a window seat) or two drafting desks that adjust from horizontal surfaces (like a regular desk) to slightly elevated (for writing and calligraphy) to vertical (to use as an easel for painting). I really liked the drafting desk option and the drafting desks from World Market are solid wood and would have fit PERFECTLY in this little nook; but, ultimately, I decided to go with a built-in flat desk and just use foldable easels on top of the regular desk for tasks that require a different angle. I think the clincher for me was that even when I want an angled workspace, I also need a flat workspace to set other things on (like supplies and a cup of tea!). And, the built-in plank desk is more minimalist in this nook (which has such a low window that the desks have to go in front of quite a bit of glass – so less stuff going on under the table means less visual noise).  I got three “base” units from Ikea (one with drawers and two with open storage inside) and Derm Dad is building me a wood plank table top from 2x10s using his kreg jig. The wood color will be something like this: 6779e79ad78365d78a8d0a887a49ddea a29c8c834f41fff8cc8d2438a1e2791b Screen Shot 2014-04-08 at 7.55.49 PM with two DIY table-top adjustable angled work surfaces like this for calligraphy, painting, etc.: 0e542ce53223c70ee2048064d04a877d   I’m thinking about painting the white melamine Ikea bases in an oil-rubbed bronze color to make them look sort of like metal. Something like this, but only if I can figure out to make it look like metal rather than painted Ikea furniture: Screen Shot 2014-04-10 at 6.03.26 AM And I’m thinking of some sconces like this or this: 5b74def83fe0e1656c2e030c3d771ff4 3cb054948b7b8b0c999c663bb382487c Tomorrow, Derm Dad is driving an hour (I love that man!!) to pick up this armoire to replace that black shelf-o-craft-supplies: 01010_lP6fxpbqjrk_600x45000B0B_a5LdT03cR3l_600x450 It will go between the two windows, where there is a dresser right now. Sorry, I just realized I didn’t take a picture of that wall, but it’s the wall on the right. I think the armoire will be great because of the whole closed storage thing but also because the rest of the furniture in the room is from Ikea, so I think it needs something with a bit more depth/age/dimension (you know what I mean?) to balance it all out. The final wall (which I also didn’t take a picture of) has the two real built-ins on either side and then the walkway to the dining room in the middle. I’ll take a picture when this room is a bit more finished. And on the floor, I am going to use my FLOR tiles that were in the front room at the old house, and layer a light-toned hide rug on top (later, if I have the extra $$$). Then a few casual poufs or stools for sitting like this: 40a4888ae6a938e3d637f5eb63d75b2e or this: 4f92bb63f21eb6742b45478cd8b5615f And, I want to hang a magnetic strip on the inside of an armoire door for scissors and other metal implements (needle-nose pliers, grommet punch, etc.). Or maybe on the inside of the door to one of the desk bases. c4909758a51141a0b90257e8827df02e I don’t like how classroomy most whiteboards look, but I love the idea of writing on glass inside a frame with the back removed like this (in this room, the wreath is hung in front of the frame when it isn’t being used as a whiteboard): f6eb0caeead8f206a0c5c30c97579e68 And, probably the lowest priority but definitely something I want to do eventually is get a heavy-duty map roller and mount it on the ceiling in front of the wall’o’bookcases (painted white, obviously). 901a96c276cbc17d567dbd32aaa55eed   I’ve already made some big changes to this room. See them HERE and HERE. See the rest of our new house tour HERE.

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4 thoughts on “Keeping Room/Homeschool Room/Work Room

  1. Pingback: Our new Home [tour] – in progress! | The Pantry Book

  2. Hi Heather!
    Well, I didn’t take pics of the rest of the room because of all the piles! I’m not half as organized as I’d like to be =) Did you ever start with a Charlotte Mason co-op? or was it a reading group? I can’t remember. There is a CM co-op about 45 minutes away from us that I think we’re going to join for next year on Thursdays. I am so excited!!! Hopefully I will have figured how to leave the house (with two non-walkers) by the beginning of Fall. At least I have Adele, so she can stay with one while I carry the other one to/from the car. Maybe I’ll be able to have the baby in the baby carrier and then hold Everett on my hip – just to get to the car. I’m kinda freaked out about it – just seeing three carseats lined up. Me? a mom of three!!

  3. Pingback: Finished Schooling Room | The Pantry Book

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