Thursday, September 4, 2008

Decorating the Monastery

So our living room is definitely wearing its new makeover well and we have settled back into our schooling space nicely. The kids do table work and couch work just like they did before but the addition of the maps on the walls and the art display adds a new feel to the space. Husband says it reminds him of an old newsroom, but I think that's just the clacking of the typewriter on the desk. That old thing has been getting a daily workout since we had it fixed up.

The book cubbies are working perfectly with the only problem being overcrowding but that's not a problem I mind! We also moved the hurricane tracking chart under the bar area which means that it is being looked at more frequently. (I think my son was actually disappointed that he didn't get to track Gustav into our area. He had visions of pretending to be Jim Cantore with his safety goggles on in the back yard.)

I am finding that there is a balance to be found in a large space like this. How much is too much? It is hard to make a large area feel cozy like a smaller space without it quickly becoming cluttered. I don't take a minimalist approach to decorating, but I am being careful what goes up so that I don't go overboard. So far, we like what we see.

10 comments:

  1. I love those cubbies... but hurricane Beatrice would smack into them at a catagory 10. Maybe I'll try them next year when "No" might mean "No" instead of "Try later, when no one is looking."

    I love your clean, organized look. Is that wire to hang your posters, or string? Great idea.

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  2. I totally understand! Those cubbies would have to go on a book shelf if we ever had another little one toddling around.

    I used a ball of twine I found in the garage and some tiny clothespins from the craft store. One side is anchored with a nail on the top of the door trim and the other side is looped around one of those Command Adhesive hooks.

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  3. I love getting a peek at your "monastery". Thanks for sharing it with us.

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  4. Where did you get the cubbies? They are a great and colorful addition - maybe then I could get rid of bookshelves and have more wall space for hanging things...
    The space looks so lovely and pleasant to be in during the day - calm and orderly, just like thinking and learning ought to be!
    Lisa I

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  5. Lisa,
    Those are from Target. They are the fabric drawers that they sell to fit inside their cubes in the organization section. They have a pretty good selection of color too!

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  6. Charlotte! I love your classroom.. now I am inspired to add twine in our classroom! We are forever crafting!

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  7. We do our work all over the house, because we just don't have an extra room for schooling. But, if we did, I would love something like this!

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  8. Looks like a comfortable space, Charlotte. Nice job!

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  9. It looks so great!

    Last weekend I hung up a strand of twine and hung some recent artwork with tiny clothes pins above the doors in our school room too!!! :) I'm loving it!

    I love the book cubbies too... We are in need of something to contain all of the library books we are checking out, and something like that might work great! Thanks for the idea!

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  10. Love your space also. I hadn't clicked through from reader for awhile so I wanted to say I love your new blog design also! Very dramatic.

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts and yourself!