A few years ago, one of our older boys asked if he could have some friends over to make pizzas and watch a movie. I want my boys to be socially well-adjusted, and I totally want them to hang out at our house with their friends. It's something their dad and I always wanted. So I said yes. He had his friends over, they had a great time, and the rest of the family spent the evening, hungry, hiding out in the hallway because it hadn't occurred to me that we would need a place to eat and sit while the party was occupying our living room and kitchen. Our little bitty living room and our little bitty kitchen.
Having more than one living area was one of the main reasons we moved to a bigger house (plus the minor detail that we had run out of bedrooms). Our new-to-us home has three living spaces: a living room that we live in, a family room that we live in (and eat in at our extra-long table), and a recreation room where we store leftover things. We keep random things down there, like the substantial 1970's end tables that look like treasure chests; old drapery hardware that we took down over a year ago when we repainted; a pool table we love playing with but mostly set things on; a collection of baby gates we don't use since the twins figured out how to combine their strength and knock them over; and a large cabinet made of particle board we found in a basement closet. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a picture-poem of our rec room's loveliness.
The rec room is an L-shape, with one skinny wing to the west, and the larger leg heading north. Here, in the West Wing, we have the green couch we inherited with the house, sun-faded along the front edges of the cushions. It is sturdy and firm, so we'd just need to recover it (and replace one of the feet so it doesn't rip the carpet every time we move it). Next to the couch is the pile of bed pillows I found hiding here and there, and the particle-board cabinet.
At the end of the West Wing sit the treasure-chest end tables that I think my (far-distant in the future) grandchildren would find enchanting, and the big TV with a hole in the screen which happened when Eddie threw the remote during an altercation.
<In my best tour-guide voice> Looking to the east, we see the futon we keep for overnight guests, the pool and Foosball tables, and the sectional sofa which I love, but unfortunately is not mine. We are storing it for my little brother. I regret that we can't fully appreciate the copper-colored metal window blinds or the square holes in the ceiling where the lights are supposed to go.
Here is another view of the North Wing, where we can see the sliding door which leads to the patio, through the miniature room housing a second-hand exercise machine. The blue and green balls on the floor are loving reminder that little children, as well as big boys, live here.
I like our rec room, especially when it is tidied like it has been for the past few days. But I think it needs a little bit of sprucing up. I'm not complaining - it looks better that it did when we moved in!
I think I'll head over to the fabric store to get some draperies when the little ones take a nap. That's a good start.
