Thinking Outside the Jones's Box

We are a larger than average family in a smaller than average house.  Therefore, conventional practices and cultural standards simply don't usually work for us.

Living in a rather small house, the bedrooms are not very big at all.  Daughter's bedroom is the smallest of all.  When we moved her out of the boys' room and into her room, we shoved a twin size bed along the wall, leaving just enough room for a side table, a narrow shelving unit and her dresser with a narrow walkway between the windows and her bed.  I had it in my head that she needed a twin size bed.

Consequently, the poor girl had little to no floor space for playing and moving about.  Too big for a toddler bed and too small for a twin and no floor space, the bed turned into a catch all and at night everything would avalanche to the floor.

I tried so many efforts to keep that room clean, but it just wasn't working.  Worse still, her toys and things would pour into the living room as she sought out space to play.  I was beside myself, and so was she.  The joy of having her own room was turning into an every day frustration.

Finally, I decided to stop trying to live up to conventional practices of giving her "real" furnishings, a real twin bed and whatever idealism was attached to it and pulled it out of her room, mattress and all.  Instead, I decided to revisit the cobbed-together daybed idea I used in there before she was born.

I grabbed a bunch of totes from storage that I knew we wouldn't be opening any time soon and thanked God I saved the platform from the old daybed and pulled it from the shed.  I added hubby's old feather ticking and an unused down comforter for a mattress and voila!  A charming bed AND floor space!

Here's it is in the picture before I put the bedding on.  Twin fits, though it needs extra tucking, which is no big deal.  It holds the ticking and comforter in proper place.

The smile on my daughter's face said it all.  She LOVES her new room and her new bed.  She calls it her "box bed."  Better yet, she's keeping it tidy!

The Tiny House Movement provides me with ideas for fitting all of us in such a small house, but better still, it provides me with the freedom from the conventional.  It's OK that my daughter doesn't have a traditional twin bed.  It's OK to make do with what you have and create something different.  It's OK that we live in a small house and it's OK if we STAY in this small house.

Micro is GOOD!  That's not to say Macro is bad, but there's nothing wrong with letting the Jones's be the Jones's and letting the Scott's be the Scott's.