Hello to Our New Kitchen Chairs

I know the topic of kitchen chairs isn’t terribly thrilling. I’m just so excited I have to share… In an unrelated note: the best part of my kitchen is the freaking awesome art I commissioned from our five year old. To see THAT please scroll down.

For over a decade we’ve been making do, sitting each day at the kitchen table on rickety wooden folding chairs that my parents generously passed on to us. Did you catch that? A DECADE! My butt hurts just thinking about it.

Hello to our new kitchen chairs

We’ve been meaning to get new chairs for a while now. The catch being that they’re crazy expensive.

(I’ve been talking about buying secondhand, mismatched sturdy wooden chairs and painting them a single color since moving to California seven years ago, but has that happened? No! I have too many other projects I’d rather tackle… so back to our quest to buy new chairs.)

The chairs David and I both liked were waaaaay beyond our budget (at $250 each). These metal chairs were comfortable too, but were also pricey.

Hello to our new kitchen chairs

Then we found these less expensive metal beauties that are similar in size to the folding chairs we already own (so we knew they’d fit at our kitchen table). Plus they’re really sturdy. I’m not going to lie: the fact that they won’t fold up on our guests sitting on them was a major selling point.

We ordered four originally and love them so much we ordered two more.

Chic, metal, comfortable, and ours.

Hello to our new kitchen chairs

Goodbye, rickety folding chairs. We’ll see you at Thanksgiving. Or the next time we have lots of friends over. Finally we can use them occasionally, instead of every day, just as they should be used.

Our meals just got so much more (safe and) comfortable.

The kids are sitting in their Stokke Tripp Trapp Highchairs that we LOVE and generously received as gifts from friends.

Easy (and Cheap!) Kids Art Display

In setting up our new homeschooling space, I wanted to create an easily accessible place to hang art and classroom materials without a lot of fuss and on a strict budget.

Easy (and Cheap!) Kids Art Display

Inspired by this pin, I decided to set two small nails in the wall about two feet apart, with upholstery thread pulled tightly between them. (For extra long displays I used three nails to create two segments to hang from.)

Easy (and Cheap!) Kids Art Display

Then using wooden clothespins (good for developing hand dexterity in little kids too!), we hung artwork (including those sweet American flags), our independent reading log for June, handwriting alphabet (for reference), map of China, illustration of moon phases, and more.

Easy (and Cheap!) Kids Art Display

This little homeschooling space is starting to come together.

Two Homeschooling Spaces

When my cousin (who had been living with us) moved to San Francisco we found ourselves with an extra room.

Homeschooling room before

The grownups immediately thought “an office JUST FOR US!” (Okay, and a guest room too.)

Homeschooling room before

But we’ve discovered a better use for it.

Our daughter calls it the “other homeschooling room” but it’s really a work space for the whole family. (And we’ll probably call it The Homeschool Room in the long run.)

A place to blog and work from home, yes, but also a place to write stories, scrapbook, draw, sew, play, and read.

Family working on projects

(I love the indirect light that pours through that giant window all day.)

We have bins of toys and stacks of educational games and activities.

Smiling baby

The “old” homeschooling room will be where we make art and do messy science projects. (We now call it the Art Room.)

Evidently we’re no longer a little one room schoolhouse.

Now to get some art on the walls and find time to decorate and cozy up the space. We have plans.

Homeschooling Room Progress Report

We’re making tremendous headway in the unpacking and organizing of the homeschooling room!

Not too long ago it looked like this:

Homeschool room in progress
Homeschool room in progress

halfway unpacked and completely unusable.

A few weeks ago we had made some more progress so I shared these photos on Instagram:

Homeschool room in progress

We’ve unpacked or moved most of those clear boxes, bags, and bins in to the garage. The stacks of art still need to be hung throughout the house. I only have several more boxes to unpack, and then we can really begin to use this space!

Here are some more snippets from around the room, with many more photos to be shared soon:

Desk space in the Homeschool room
Trays of magnets in the Homeschool room
Math and science activities in the Homeschool room preview
Sea shells and magnifying glass in the Homeschool room
Lunar Phase Calendar in the Homeschool room

I feel giddy with excitement over the learning and fun we have ahead of us in this space.

Preparing for Baby

We’ve washed the organic baby clothes, unpacked the wooden toys and favorite board books, set up the diaper changing station, loaded up the diaper bag, and installed the infant car seat. We feel ready for the arrival of our little boy.

Preparing for baby: moses basket with book and baby toy
Preparing for baby: practicing strapping her baby doll into the infant car seatPreparing for baby: setting up a diaper changing station
Preparing for baby: organic newborn clothes
Preparing for baby: books and toys

That being said, this mama is still hoping to get more done before he arrives. (There’s nothing like a fast approached, yet unknown deadline to kick me into action.) I’m really digging these nesting instincts. Why can’t I be this productive all the time?! No, REALLY?! I still have a homeschooling room to unpack and organize.

At least I blogged twice this weekend. (Oh, how I miss you guys!) Big check off that to-do list!