Flexible Space
Stash kids’ books in the dining room. Keeping a selection of children’s books (and perhaps some drawing paper) in the dining room can help antsy kids stick it out a little longer at the dinner table. And between mealtimes, if the dining room gets more use as a playspace, storing a few favorite books and games here will make cleanup time quicker and easier.
Move the study area elsewhere. Bunnell says she’s seen a trend toward clients wanting to pool resources by creating a shared study area close to the kids’ rooms instead of individual desks inside each bedroom. “We’ve made lofts, hallway niches and corners of family rooms into dedicated homework stations for laptops, printers and school projects,” she says.
One key feature in their planning was the space shown here, a kid-centric area on the ground floor that includes a large, flexible space where the children can study, do crafts and practice musical instruments.
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