Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The Boy They Kept In the Closet

I started to label this post “Coming Out of the Closet”, but didn’t need *those* kinds of internet rumors floating around about my son, that’s for sure! So I re-titled the post, although after reading the title again, we’ll probably have Children’s Services calling us any day. Mainly, I just wanted to share with you some photos of Kellen’s room, aka The Old Storage Closet.

No lie, this is the room the previous owners used for storage. Rubbermaid bins, paint cans, holiday decorations, etc. We looked around at the camping equipment, mattresses, ice chests and cardboard boxes, and thought, “Hey, we could put a kid in here!” And so we did. I mean, when you buy a house that only has two bedrooms, and there are five people in your family, a little creativity is in order. Even if the bedrooms are the size of Alaska.

We left the storage shelves attached to the walls and Kellen uses those as his “closet”. There’s plenty of room for his bed, bookshelf, stuffed animals, toys, and lots and lots of space in the middle for him to play. If he WOULD play upstairs, that is, which he won’t anymore, because apparently the kids were channel surfing the other day and ran across the movie “Chucky, or whatever the hell that movie is with that demonic little doll, and now none of them will go upstairs. Ever. For anything. Something tells me I’ll be learning to program the remote and block certain channels and certain shows in the near future, unless I enjoy sleeping with all three kids in my room (which I do not, just for the record) or enjoy making thirty-seven trips a day up the stairs with the kids because they are too frightened to go by themselves (repeat …. Do not enjoy.)


So anyway, here are some photos of Kellen’s closet bedroom.






What I find interesting is that door at the other end of Kellen’s room? That’s a door to another storage closet. One that separates the closet-closet from the storage space in the attic. Just how many dead bodies did they think we were planning to keep up here, anyway?

And before you feel too sorry for Kellen, having to stay in a closet, for goodness’ sake, let me point out that his “closet”, while not only bigger than my first apartment, is also directly connected to the upstairs living area/game room.






So he has immediate access to the sofas, television, dvd, vcr, Wii, karaoke machine, games, books, and treadmill. And we have an air hockey table, but can’t fit it up the damn stairs. I mean, all he needs is a mini fridge and it would be nicer than my freshman dorm room at college!

In all seriousness, we do plan on having some remodeling work done. We want to close up the wall between his room and the game room and put a door or double door between them, so he can have his privacy as he gets older. We want to close in the shelving units and make a “real” closet for him to use, replace the carpet, and {thinking big} we’d love to add in a 3/4 bathroom for his personal use. As it is now, he has to walk through the game room, across the hall, and through the girls’ bedroom to use the bathroom there. Once the girl’s rooms are separated (why yes, that is my face, with flashing dollar signs for eyeballs, considering all the work we want to do) it will be harder for him to use their restroom, and it seems a little cruel to tell him he has to hold it until he can get downstairs in the middle of the night.

But, until we win the lottery, he’ll be trudging across the upstairs to potty. And sleeping in a closet.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, I have been reading your story here and on Kendries site and find it just amazing. You have such a way with telling us your stories with humor and love. I was wondering if you would put up more pics of the new house. I hear lots about it but can't picture it, so far only your sons room and a couch. LOL Enjoy your site tremendously! Keep it up!

Anonymous said...

I was prepared to feel sorry for him and go find John Cusack to see if he might want another boy, but now that I've seen pics I think he has a pretty good deal, except maybe for the bathroom situation. But heck, we all have our crosses to bear!

Dixie, the one in CA

Anonymous said...

Closet? Seriously? His "closet room" is a big as our master bedroom.

Hey, you know when you own a house, the day you don't have any more projects left to do is the day you put it on the market.

Marie
www.caringbridge.org/visit/marielle

Anonymous said...

You know he is going to use that "My parents made me sleep in a closet" line far, far in the future!!!

Meg from Ga

Anonymous said...

Hi, I was just reading your post about Kellens room and told my kids that he was living in the closet. They both started to feel very sorry for him and wondered how his room could possibly be in the closet. When they both looked at the pictures they both decided that they what to live in a closet!!
Sara from MN -- Where school is canceled for 40 below windchills!!

Unknown said...

All the rooms seem huge! Maybe you can draw a rough floor plan of the upstairs...like now and then what your lotto winnings will afford..
I think you can swing a guest room in there somewhere too.

Kelly said...

I would say that he has it pretty good in his "closet". I'm just jealous of all the storage options in your new house! A closet that large...with another closet attached....leading to another storage area? WTH??

Anonymous said...

Ok, his "storage closet/bedroom" is bigger than all thre of our bedrooms together! lol!

Anonymous said...

Gosh, I sure am glad that I don't have to vacuum/clean YOUR house....what's the entire square footage, anyway??!! It looks GINORMOUS!!!

Alisa said...

Geesh, his room is almost as large as my house. Add in the game room and it's probably the same size.
Poor kid.

Anonymous said...

This is the strangest layout I have ever seen....but so wonderful, because the possibilities are endless, yahoo! The best part will be losing all the 'white', which adds to the cavernous feeling. I am wondering, where does that door from the games room lead?? This house is such a mystery!! Very excited for you and to see your new house transform into your 'home' :-)

Anonymous said...

I have 3 children with 2 bedrooms to share. Of course the princess gets her own room and the boys share. When they were about 12 and 14 and didn't fit, the younger son made an 'unofficial' move to the couch in our den. 'Unofficial' meaning most of his clothes were in the bedroom (look under the couch for the rest.) So when he got a room in the basement he was thrilled - even if he has to come upstairs to the bathroom.

Anonymous said...

I had to comment,we just moved into a 6 bedroom wait 7 bedroom house we have 7 kids 6 living at home and guess where my son was put in a closet no just listen it does have a window :) we told him the people who lived here before us used it as a closet but it was really built as a room.So see your doing good your son at least knows he lives in a closet mine well we lied to him...
Take Care,Jennifer
www.caringbridge.org/visit/hannahpadgett

Anonymous said...

I have to comment on the puppy that you SHOULD go back and adopt. He's adorable! When we bought our house with an unfenced yard, we thought we should put one in for our 2 year old. He never wandered out of the yard, nor did our wild daughter. She would just stand at the end of the driveway and introduce herself to people walking by. We got a beagle who didn't try to run away but would get so busy sniffing that she would leave the yard. We put a stake in the yard and tied a rope to it. When she needed to go out, we roped her up. Granted, she was a lazy slug and never ran anywhere so she didn't mind the rope. It sure made poop patrol a lot easier though! She did break the rope once and we found her in the neighbor's kitchen enjoying a nice bone with the neighbor beagle.
Get the puppy, he's got Escoe written all over him!
Sheila-Minnesota

Anonymous said...

Kellen's room/closet is plenty big and there's plenty of room there for an eventual bathroom. Plus I didn't know there was a tv area upstairs, plus the girl's HUGE room and closet... so what is on the main floor. I can't imagine how big this house is! Oh and your pantry was huge too - woah. You got a nice big house enjoy it and take your time with the fixing up, it will all happen eventually.

celestial opus said...

Wow. This house is huge! I can't even begin to imagine what the master bedroom is like.

Seems like the upstairs was originaly built like other people do 'finished' basements. Basic, but change to the user. But this is based on pics across the internet.