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With quarantine, Ukrainian winter and Corona vacation we have been spending most of our time at home. Thankfully our apartment in Kyiv is amazing. I love spending time with it. It is warm and cozy and has beautiful views of a park right behind and a hill that looks over a super cool part of Kyiv called Podil.

Our apartment is two floors and has six bedrooms. Lots of space to spread out, right? But the majority of the time all the kids are in the main room. They drag toys from the playroom, books from the bookcases, food from the kitchen and hang out here. I think it’s a good thing that they want to be with us, even if it means I am forever dragging toys back to the playroom.

The rugs in this room Randy picked up when he was in Pakistan and my only regret is he didn’t get more. They are beautiful and make the room so much brighter. The lamp is from Ikea, the original one there was silver with pink jewels hanging down and not our style, an improvement I would say. The walls are my usual go to of light grey, because you can’t go wrong with light grey. The best part for me is the artwork, collected from all over!

Randy picked up this in Pakistan as well. If only I could go there and shop for a week! Would be amazing.

Did you know that we have a fishtank? It is the first thing you see right when you walk in! The kids LOVE this tank, even though we lost Batman, our black sucker fish a few months back.

Flowers make the house even better for me!

A tablecloth, flowers and candles makes me the happiest!

Off the living room is a balcony, that when the summer months started we started to use more and more, usually for a morning coffee or a sundowner.

With this view it’s a pretty nice spot to hang out.

The other side of this room has a wall of bookcases that I was worried about filling, but fill them I did.

Through that door in the bookcase is the formal dining room that we never use. We always eat in the kitchen area where it is comfier and if people come over we move this big table out to the living room so we are not cramped in this little, wallpapered room. This room has now become our classroom and has been a lifesaver. The boys have a space to do schoolwork which is nearby the main room where everyone wants to be and has enough space for all of us!

There are two bedrooms on the first floor. One became the playroom, which is where the toys live, but are not played with ironically. The toys are moved out to the living room so we can all be close. But at least they have a cute home.

SO.MANY.TOYS….I spend a good portion of my life organizing toys….and we are still left here. I could have cleaned for you before pictures, but I was too busy organizing…

Next to the playroom is our guest room, which is affectionately called Grandma’s room since she was our one and only guest pre-Covid. It now doubles as my office because with Covid all the visits we had lined up were canceled. We actually had a visitor planned every month of 2020 way back in March….this would have been a comfy spot for you all. (except for that weird metal thing in the corner, I still have no idea what that is).

Then we head upstairs, where there is this comfy landing with all the kids books are and another awesome rug from Pakistan. This rug was actually one that Randy said we shouldn’t get (in his defense we had already bought a few). My friend Haley wanted it, so we bought it for her but then we just couldn’t get it to Manila, so in the end we kept it and I was definitely not upset about it. It actually ended up being my favorite rug. (Picture taken during potty training, when Miral was mostly undressed during this time period).

The kids don’t read here as much as I thought they would, but I still love this spot. I love kids books so much. I am a little worried what I will do when my kids are grown up and I have to explain to visitors why I still horde them…I guess that same will apply to stuffed animals and baby blankets.

Next up is the office. It has changed a bit since this. Now it has a big new desk that Randy got for his 40th birthday.

Ta-da. It also has a cool new print we bought here of Taras Shevchenko, a famous Ukrainian poet.

Across the hall are the kids rooms. Malcolm and Miral have been sharing mostly successfully. You might ask why they share when we have three extra room. Sometimes there are some battles at 6 am but mostly they provide each other with support and love in the early morning hours when the rest of us want to be left alone and I think sharing a room makes kids closer. I love their room, it’s sunny and bright and I know it is probably the last time I can get away with decorating a kids room entirely the way I want.

Next door is Adam’s room. After a tiny room shared with Malcolm in Virginia, he wanted his own space and needed it. I love his room too. It’s small but cozy and all his. Full of his books and his treasures and a cool poster he picked out in Sri Lanka.

This posted Randy and I bought in Russia back when Adam was 7 months. Since he was there when we bought it I figured it belonged in his room (well, that and I wasn’t sure if Ukrainians would find it offensive in the living room)

Then there is our room. I always want my room to be cozy and someplace I want to snuggle and never leave. This room meets all my goals. We have a beautiful view out the windows and a comfy bed, grey walls and my favorite piece of art that we own. It’s called Sail Away and is a painting of the sea in Cornwall.