I love my house

I really do. Our house is very small. It is 1302 sq. ft. And with two boys it seems smaller than that some days. But I love it. We sold a larger house on a very small lot in order to buy this smaller house on a much larger lot. When we first came to look at this house I thought for sure there was a mistake in the pricing, I thought it should not have been within our budget because of it's desirable location and the size of the lot, but it was. The location was to good to be true, the yard was exactly what I was looking for, and I had told our realtor that I didn't really care what the house looked like as long as it had a big yard and was within one of three particular public school boundaries. We saw the house on a Friday evening, within 6 hours of it being listed, and had a full price offer in by 7 am the next morning. We were the second offer, the first was contingent on the sale of their other home, so we slipped in because our house was already sold! God wanted us to be here. We have a big yard for our boys to play in, our house is on a flag lot so we have a very long driveway which is perfect for bike, skateboard and scooter riding. We are in the boundaries for a fabulous elementary school, and we have the most amazing neighbors that shower my children with love and affection. So, unless my husband gets a job out of the area (like perhaps the Port Orchard area?) I feel like this is the house I want to live in for a very long time. I do not have a desire to have a much bigger house, but we can and probably will add about 500sq ft. on to this house in the near future.

That said, I do feel like there is some things that I would like to do to make the space in our house more useful, organized, and homey. So here are a few of my dreams...........

This is the pantry I have:

This is the pantry I wish I had!

This is the office, in what is supposed to be my dining room, I have:

This is the office, in what is supposed to be my dining room, that I wish I had!

This is the kids creative area, in what is supposed to be my dining room, that I have:

This is the kids creative corner, in what is supposed to be my dining room, that I wish I had!

So do any of my blogger friends have any advice on how to achieve these dreams without breaking the bank? Oh yeah, and did I mention that I am decorating challenged?