Marshalls Abroad

Life our zagreb home

Our Zagreb Home: Kids’ Craft Room

The thing about renting and moving every 1-3 years, as other military families know well, is that it always provides a new opportunity and challenge to turn a house into a home. We may not get to make any changes to it or even paint (we always want to!!) but we do get to make each space our own. It’s something I love doing with every move.

This landing on top of the mudroom and side entrance is the most modern part of our house, which is not our taste.. so it awkwardly sat untouched and unloved for the first few months, until John Shea started showing interest in coloring and painting (often on our slipcovers or duvet…) I wanted to give him and Gracie a place to be creative (and give my tiny European washing machine a break!) and be intentional about encouraging that. Little kids have such a wonderful way of reminding you that simplicity is always better. Their imaginations don’t need much, mostly just open spaces for them to freely roam and play. So I kept it simple and all unbreakable. There’s a ton of natural light and we’re in here multiple times a day. I no longer pass by this spot and cringe at the unused space and empty boxes. Now when we get home and come up the stairs, it’s the first place John Shea & Grace excitedly run to. It’s cute, fun, and is blessing my kids which is exactly what I was going for.

If you also move a lot, or have unused space in your home because it’s awkward or isn’t your taste, I encourage you to give it purpose and make it your own! You may just come to love it, as we have.


Comments

  2. Megan says

    You've done a wonderful job with the space and especially love that they can play and create in such a sun bathed spot- how lovely! As expats, we're in a rental too and I find the challenge of making a home without being able to make too many changes an exercise in patience! It's been about a year, but we're getting there! Would love to see more peaks into your space like this!

  8. Ya Ma says

    I really like your blog. I think you create great content and I hope you keep doing it. Your parenting style is admirable. However, the gender role stuff with your kids…why?

    "It turned out a little on the girly side, but John Shea wakes up wanting to sword fight with his Dadda before spending time in here, plays all day in the dirt and won't go to sleep unless he has his John Deer dump truck and front loader with him, so I'm not worried;)"

    This is sad.

    • Amanda Marshall says

      Thank you for your kind words!

      To answer your question… I am a Christian. I believe in God's Word and care more about it than anything the world could ever say. I believe God created gender roles (Genesis 1:27) and even though popular culture tries to make it all relative and act as if they don't exist, they do. A man may decide one day he wants to be a woman, but even with surgeries, at the end of the day, he's still a male. Men and women, boys and girls, are created differently by God for beautiful purposes. You may think that's sad, but I believe it's both right and beautiful. This isn't to say that to be male I expect my son to be macho, in fact, in Scripture God gives us many examples of tender and sensitive males, but that is different from femininity. I want my son to have a range of qualities, but at the end of the day, he is a male, and I want him to know that.

      Thank you again for your comment, and for being willing to share your opinion even though it differs from my own. I appreciate it and appreciate you reading!

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