At this point, my computer is in the dining room. Not terribly attractive, but oh so convenient. Close to the coffeepot, within hearing distance from the laundry room (so I can switch loads from washer to dryer) and with a nice view from the window.

Today I was cleaning in there again and found a whole bunch of stuff under the bed that belongs to my daughter. It was in one of those plastic rolling under-bed storage boxes and we'd both completely forgotten about it. I called to tell her and she said, Good, I'm having a yard sale and most of that stuff can go.

It's amazing how this stuff was SO IMPORTANT and HAD TO BE KEPT when she lived in my house, and how UNIMPORTANT and NEEDS TO BE DISPOSED OF now that she has a crowded little apartment!

JJ they sell stencil type thingy at most paint stores, not sure of the name here, but you can put it on a wall and paint your mural perfectly, kind of like a big stencil. I had done one in my home of a Roman Garden. It took awhile but was so relaxing, such fun, and beautiful when finished. I was told the people who bought our home kept the mural.

My spare room is my everything room. It's small, but it has a art desk, a keyboard, a futon and an office space (al in an 11 x 11 room). It's my home, away from home, in my home and no one is allowed to enter without permission. I LOVE it.
Ann

I hear you Ann ! My spare room is my recluse too. Love to just go in there and take a deep breath.

Chatty, In which room did you paint the mural? Sounds lovely; a Roman Garden. Do you have naked male statues in it too? That MUST have been fun to do.

Yeah, Dejavu, It never ceases to amaze me how our kids become so "practical." We must have done something right.

In my home you walked into the formal livingroom and it was on the wall on the big empty wall as you walked in. It was more like Tuscany with vines, flowers, broken stone walkways and clouds in a blue sky. NO naked men, no people at all, lots of butterflys and birds. I had white carpets in that room and powder blue velvet furniture so it complimented that room nicely....

Chatty, sounds beautiful. It must have broken your heart not to be able to take the mural with you.

daisy, what is a GS?

This is an interesting topic since all three of ours are out of the house and in college. We have three bedrooms still packed with their junk. They have to remain bedrooms for a few more years, but I wonder what we'll do with them when the time arrives. I like some of your ideas. Keep 'em coming.

JJ and TVC, I guess from the sounds of it, we should always have one decorated as a bedroom. I keep reading about boomerang kids.

All this talk about redoing spare rooms has given me itchy hands - everytime I walk by our smallest spare room, I think of all the things we could be doing with it. Right now it's a catchall space - summer clothes that I won't be wearing anymore, fall clothes that aren't needed quite yet, suitcases that are already starting to be packed with stuff for our trip to Cuba next February...it's a mess. Of course, if we did do anything with it, where else would we keep this mess?!!

Dotsie - GS is probably Grandson.

Well, we had our yard sale today. My two eldest daughters (both married) and me and my husband. Didn't really have that much to sell, but got rid of some junk and made $85.

The best part was the weather. Absolutely beautiful. Ernesto's remnants had come through here with some wind and rain, not enough to do damage, but enough to scour the sky clean. Gorgeous blue skies and moderate temperatures, which given that I live in NC, haven't seen moderate temperatures since mid-June.

I keep my off-season clothes in a storage room in the basement. It means carrying things up and downstairs twice a year, but worthwhile for more closet space upstairs. I don't know what we'd do without our basement.

LOL. We have a basement, but it's full to overflowing too. We have a sofa bed down here, along with the computer and three bookcases full of books (many of them Boomer books!) Then we also have the laundry room, freezer, extra fridge (we have lots of houseguests coming through here), and hubby's workshop.

I also have all the stuff from my old aunt's apartment, my parents' house and my Mom's apartment - dishes, furniture, knick-knacks - stored down here, waiting for my three nieces to grow up and get places of their own. I guess I'm the legacy-keeper.

Plus we have a large section for the stuff we buy for Cuba. We keep the clothes and large items in the basement, and the smaller, more fragile stuff upstairs in the spare room in the suitcase.

PLUS, hubby needs a full pantry at all times. He grew up poor and hungry, so the full pantry (and it overflows into other parts of the basement) is his "sacred cow". If we ever get quarantined in here for any reason, we'll be eating well for 3 months, if not more!

Wow, I can't believe we have all that in this tiny basement...and all the winter coats and boots too!!! Looking around, it doesn't look TOO crowded...

PS And I forgot to mention the 30+ boxes of my book sitting down here too?!