Reader Letter and a Play Gym Update

On the playgym by Modern Nest Photography

I received this sweet email from a reader and I wanted to share with her permission here. The way she took key lessons for the site and applied them to her space is really inspiring and I’m so happy to hear it is working for them!

“We recently moved in January from a 5 bedroom house to a 500 square foot one bedroom with my toddler and dog. In the 6 months between buying the house and moving, I read YOUR ENTIRE blog and it was my favourite thing on the whole internet!!!
It helped me calm fears and feel so excited to move to our new place. The top things I implemented that have been game changers are:

-giving him the only bedroom (the best choice!!)

-installing a wall bed for myself in our living room 

-getting rid of our coffee table and just having one big sofa in the living room with a bunch of open space in the middle for him to run around in

-bins everywhere for organizing, and just generally lots of toy/item editing that made me feel like I was ready to move, and now have a system I implement effectively. 

Our new home feels like a perfect fit for our family, it is functional and beautiful and we both love it! So thank you thank you thank you for all you've written and shared, the home tours of other families who love small space living, and the many tips that never feel judgemental and instead feel accessible. I love your site and I am so grateful to you!!

Now that we've been here almost 6 months and I feel like we've really nailed the space design, I want to add a swedish ladder (imagining a very similar one to yours), and I am wondering if you still recommend yours a year later? Has it been consistently used by your kids? 

Thank you so much kind reader for this email. It truly made my week. And to answer publicly about the Swedish ladder/play gym in case others are curious. I would say, I wish we had bought it sooner, closer to 3 years old. So I think you are at the perfect age. I would say with any toy in the home it eventually loses favour. Mae still swings on it but I wouldn't say it holds their attention as long as it once did. It is a hit when they have friends over and when it's bedtime or time to leave the house. I was on a kick for a bit of trying to do more than one chin up but even I've fallen off of that.  I also find it more useful in the winter when it’s harder to get outside to get some energy out. The kids are turning 10 and 7 this summer so hope that helps with knowing how long the gym is useful.

I don't regret getting it but wonder if just hanging rings that switch out for a swing would have been more versatile? If you were to get one make sure you install it well so you can resell it after.  Because we cut ours down to accommodate our ceilings I don't feel it's re-sellable.  Here is the original post about adding the playgym to their shared room.