Our New Home Library: Making Room for Creative Pursuits

In 2017 we enclosed our back patio to create a home library where we could homeschool our children. It has been such a blessing in so many ways, but it's time for a change.

My youngest is nearing the end of her high school education, which means I’m nearing the end of my homeschooling career—or at least homeschooling my own children. This has brought up some identity issues for me as I transition into a new stage of life. 

Over the last couple of years, I’ve really enjoyed championing my daughters as they discover their creative talents. They are both gifted artists in many ways. Crafting, creating, and painting bring considerable messes with them! So I wanted to carve out a dedicated space in our home for these pursuits. 

From Craft Room to Home Library

We already had a crafting corner in our bonus room, but as I worked to turn that whole room into a creator studio, I ran into the problem of lighting. The bonus room doesn’t have the glorious natural lighting that the library did, so my puzzler brain worked to find a solution. 

As we shift from a homeschooling family to a creative entrepreneurial family, our needs for our space have also shifted. Therefore, we decided to swap the library for the creator studio, and it turned out so well! 

The new home library space works so wonderfully! I will show you the other room transformation soon, but for now, here’s my new home library!

Adding new life in a space without spending a lot of money

I've found over the years that rearranging what you have can be a satisfying way to bring new life to a space without spending a lot of money. I was so amazed that all of the bookshelves fit in the smaller room so perfectly.

My dad and my sister collected Coca-Cola memorabilia, so I pulled that back out to decorate my reading room. Adding their collections to the space makes it feel like they're a part of the new space.

My shopping list for the space:

• New ceiling fan - I knew I wanted to replace the ceiling fan because when we put it up 18 years ago, it was meant to go over a long dining table. My nephew, that is now 6'4", would hit his head on it! Since this room is the coldest room in the house, it didn't need a big fan, so we opted for the low-profile one, and I love it!
• Additional lighting - Since this room is naturally dark, I wanted to supplement the lighting in the room to give comfortable light for finding books and reading for long periods of time. 🥰 I found these cute little lamps that just filled the room perfectly.
• And a new coffee table - but I didn't want to pay for one! We had these little crates from IKEA that were in our living room, so my husband put them together with some scrap wood from his shop and made this cute coffee table! All he purchased was the top piece and he stained it to match. The small profile works well in a narrow room!

Multi-purpose opportunities

Since we often host family gatherings, I always want to make sure that our space can accommodate guests as well. The sleeper sofa still quickly turns this home library back into a guest space with plenty of room to move around.

This space maintains enough of our homeschooling environment as we finish out with our last child but also gives us opportunities to grow into a new season. I look forward to sharing our new creator space with you soon!

Betsy

Betsy Strauss is an unexpected homeschooler, mother of three, who is in a relationship with a sweet man for life. She loves reading books, drinking coffee, and learning anything with her kids.