The Kids' Office

Everyone needs their own place to work, right?  When we first looked at this house, we fell in love with this little sunroom.  It does not have a traditional ceiling, structural wooden beams grace the ceiling.  It has a lot of bright windows.  There is a door to close it off (quiet anyone?) from the rest of the main living area.  It seemed like the perfect place for a playroom.  The kids quickly claimed it as their own.  Again, we have all hard tile floor, not too comfy for sitting on and playing.  We had brought these soft foam mats from the US, and they work perfectly.  It turns out they can be transformed into fields, or jungles, desserts and water.  Endless possibilities with a  4-year-old imagination.  Another all-important bookcase houses tons of books, puzzles and has a space to put away a few toys.  I don't think I've mentioned before how rare it is for Brazilian children to have a large collection of books.  Children's books here are very expensive, and I just get the feeling reading to your children is not promoted as heavily as it is in the States.  The few Brazilian households I've been in, I've seen very few, if any, children's books.  It's a very sad thing for me, as I've previously written about how very important books are to us.  I'm sure our collection is shocking to many, including our maid.  But I left behind precious few books when we came.  Almost all that we own are here.  Our shipment of household goods was largely books.

We used furniture budget to buy this little kiddie table.  This was one of our last purchases.  I looked and looked for a decent kids table, wishing I'd have figured out a way to make ours from home fit in the shipment, but there was nothing but incredibly flimsy plastic around.  In the end this table was special made to our specifications, and not really all that expensive.  Luckily, another expat family here on a long term assignment with all of their personal and household belongings arrived with more furniture then they could fit into their small house, and loaned us these adorable 4 chairs for our time here.  They are perfect.  This is the premier place for puzzles, candyland, coloring, go fish, tea parties, and much more.  I am so grateful for this small furniture that was made possible by a generous company and kind fellow Americans.


This room actually connects the front door to the main living area, and you can see here the stairs leading up to the bedrooms.  The owner attached a plastic mesh along the stairway to protect our little ones from falling.  It was something we requested, but he was very willing, concerned for the safety of our children.

Unfortunately due to it's ceiling and windows (which are, by the way, single pane and do not seal by any stretch of the imagination), and the front door, which shows daylight along the bottom and side, the room is not exactly temperature controlled.  On the coldest and hottest of days no one goes in here.  But kids are never nearly as bothered by temperature extremes as adults, and so they use it more often than we would expect.

I cannot imagine our house without this perfect little space.  It keeps kid clutter out from underfoot (sometimes) and allows us to separate kids for independent play.  And like everything, really, but especially everything here, it is a place for making memories.