Congrats on the reno. What is the bumpout area near the basement stairs? Can that be used for a nice drop zone for kids stuff?

You have just tons of storage in the family room with all the built ins. Are they being used effectively?

Are you having storage problems in the kitchen as well? Just trying to identify some of your needs in order to provide specific and constructive advice :)

Where is the laundry room, didn't quite understand what you meant about that...

Are you in the northeast?

P.S. You guys have done a lot of work and it looks great. I think the downstairs can become very functional with just a few tweaks, so don't despair. You sound exhausted!

First, filter the light from the front and back doors with some kind of light filtering shades.

Your storage issues can be resolved by taking advantage of that large alcove area just off the kitchen and the area under the stairs. Some basic closet shelving or cabinets and doors to hide the storage in those areas would go a long way.

I see that both the front living room and back family room are being used as play rooms with the kids stuff everywhere. I would make the front room a dedicated playroom and add some kind of table and desk for home work and to play games and a couple of kid friendly chairs for them to relax or read? Then the back family room can be dedicated to the music and media. OR you could filp that and use the front for media/music and the back room can be the play zone?

Adding better storage next to the front door in place of the very small table would also help.

Start by making a list of the activities that take place, and group them according to whether you want them to be in the same room. TV watching, adult music, children's music, board games etc. Then try to group them to see which should go in the front room, and which in the back room. Once you've decided, the storage should go with the activity.

Which door gets the most muddy/snowy foot traffic? If it's the front door, your mid-house closet will be good for coats but not for boots and you'll need separate boot storage there. Or can you train your family to enter the house by the garage door?

When it comes time to replace your carpets, consider a moppable hard floor instead, with a rug for on-the-floor play. It will save you some annoyances.

You might find this book interesting. She talks about the functions that you want to get out of various parts of your house. Good food for thought. The book might be available at your public library. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156158827X/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=156158827X&linkCode=as2&tag=notsobighouse-20

You have a lot of open storage, which can make a room look very busy. Here's an ingenious way of hiding some of it without the expense of getting doors for each section. https://www.danslelakehouse.com/2011/11/my-artful-ikea-expedit-hack.html

I like the idea of fabric curtains, threaded onto tension rods. If you don't sew, iron-on hemming tape can be used to make the curtains the right size. https://www.bhg.com/rooms/living-room/room-arranging/multipurpose-living-room/?slideId=slide_c7d2ea4f-71f2-4434-b59a-306bdf6eda89#slide_c7d2ea4f-71f2-4434-b59a-306bdf6eda89

Or just tack fabric over the shelving as she did here. http://mrskellysklass.blogspot.com/2013/08/my-new-k-classroom-big-reveal.html

Thank you, mimimomy and Jamie.

mimimomy - Yes - thank you it was a heck of a lot of work! It's a relief to be finished - I'm expecting our 4th baby now so I am grateful to have stopped swinging hammers and spreading plaster :D Now, that bumpout area is the former washer/dryer alcove. We re-plumbed and moved the washer/dryer upstairs into the master suite closet. Very handy! The bumpout as you mentioned is what we are thinking of using as a closet. We thought we'd fit it with doors and trim to make it look like a piece of furniture...a blue armoire/wardrobe (Link to image of blue wardrobe). What do you think? With a lighter color on the wall and the blue of the closet, would it serve to make the space more attractive and functional? Would you use it for anything else? Also, we're in the central plains! Very chilly.

Jamie Ludwig - Very good suggestions about the light filtering shades and so simple - that's definitely something I can do. Aand.. you're right, I am guilty of letting the children spread out! I stay home with our children and my husband travels for work during the week, so every room is in constant use and toys make their way across the house...seemingly on their own at times. Most days, the house is in order only at 2 times - early morning and late evening :D Oy. I think it is harder, as you say, to keep everything in it's place when there aren't yet defined functions for the different places.

I'm trying to think practically as well as aesthetically, so I reckon that since we have a number of bulky toys that require room to use them, maybe it would be better to put them in the rear room where there is more space to spread out. So, if we used the front room for media & music, then that would leave the big space to be arranged in the back. I would like to see it as more room and less gymnasium, which would be a challenge. We have a white leather L-shaped couch that we could use in that room and move the other furniture up front.

We do have a good bit of shelving and cupboard space - I will have to get down to brass tacks and get baskets and put things away.

partim - wonderful advice, thank you. I like the idea of listing out and grouping the various activities. It seems like it would be quite efficient. The carpet is probably our biggest regret. It was a last minute change of mind. If we were doing it all over again, we'd have kept the moppable hard floors we'd originally picked out! Most visitors come in the front door - so I'll have to address boot storage there. I'm not sure what would work in a small space like that. It would be nice to have something that looked vaguely styled and worked well. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. We come in through the garage most of the time, so the mid storage will work for our own needs.

The laundry nook you show seems like the only real “mudroom” type spot you have. It won’t be easy but I recommend you place everything in built in millwork you create there.

Does your garage have direct access to the garden without using the garage door? If so, make that the only access to the garden for playing children. Guests only use the front door, family uses the mudroom. This will keep your foyer cleaner. Though you’ll still have to clean that mudroom “space” regularly because it is very high traffic - both on house access and inside. Perhaps taking boots off inside the garage may have to be a solution?

As far as light in your kitchen: unfortunately all your solutions will have to involve either expanding more windows in your current dining space, or demolishing walls between your kitchen and extension. Both of which don’t seem to be sensible or possible. Another solution could be a skylight if there’s no second floor over the kitchen or dining space next door.

I’d move your TV to the front room to give it more use and to also allow for the back living room to be more for the family. Guests won’t mind being in a room that also happens to have a TV as well.

Steven - thanks for your tips. I agree that the only mudroom option looks to be the old laundry nook. I think that will work for us. My husband wanted to build out an open boot stand with coat hooks and the like in that space, but I think I'd prefer doors to put clutter out of sight. I think that problem is solved now. ...Something my husband has also said he'd like on that wall is a beautiful and bright wallpaper, to cheer the area up a bit. I think that could be quite nice. Maybe that would go a ways towards solving the dungeon problem.. There is a 2nd floor above, which would make the installation of a solar tube more of a challenge than we'd like to take on now, although it would have been sensible about a year ago.

Guests do use the front door, so we'll have to figure out some useful, attractive (hopefully!) and small solution for boots and keys, that sort of thing. Any suggestions?

There is access to the back garden through a small rear door in the garage. The only bit that bothers me about the children using that route is that there is no view of that side of the property from the house...other than standing on a chair and peering through the high windows of the rear extension and although the littles are quite well behaved in most respects, when the cat is away... Bothersome. I don't really know what to do about that except put on my shoes and join them outside!

I thought I'd pay a few photos of the work we've done on the house over this summer. It's been a busy one, with the arrival of our 4th child and extended visits from relatives. all in, a good number of things have changed for the better, especially in the kitchen and family room, where we addressed the light issues we'd had before. let me know what you think please. as always, ignore the mess..☺️

we added built cabinetry and a faux fireplace in the family roomand replaced the old eyebrow windows, as we called them, with better sized windows for the space. these new windows also open, which provides a wonderfully fresh cross breeze through the house. It also solved the problem of not having a view of the side yard, where the children prefer to play and she'd more light into the garage entry.

we put in a pass-through window from the kitchen into the dining room. as you can see in the photo, this job is not quite finished and neither is the dining room, but it's coming along surely.

we are quite happy with the alterations!

I should also have explained the big blue wardrobe. That is what we did with the big empty space at the garage entrance. The left hand side is cleaning and appliance storage, the middle is for coats and the right hand side is for shoes in cubbies with boots on pegs below. It has made a huge difference in the tidiness of our home!

looks like my photos posted upside down. I can't say why and apologise if they stay that way. no idea how to fix that!

A glimpse inside the wardrobe and a view of the pass-through, under construction.