How to Create a Mom Cave With Little or No Space
Every mom deserves a nook to call her own. Here are some out-of-the-box solutions to create a mom cave with little or no space.
CanCan Mom’s creative routines and schedules make motherhood easier and more fun. Interact with love and laughter more often than impatience by incorporating my unique Quick Steps into your daily family life!
-CanCan Mom, Cheryl L. Butler
In Pursuit of the Mom Cave
While raising my eight kids, there were ten people living in less than 2,500 square feet.
When the kids wanted privacy, they retreated to their (sometimes shared) bedrooms. My husband has his own den (small as it was — lucky ba#$^()^$#!) or the bathroom for his escapes. Even our dog could sneak away and hide under the dining room table, for heaven’s sake.
If the four-legged member of our family could have a spot to find some respite, so should the woman who feeds the dog — and everyone else. Am I right?
The Search is On
I decided it was necessary to find my own quiet retreat. It’s time our house had a Mom Cave. With a new purpose, I quickly began searching our home for the perfect place I could escape to. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to uncover a dusty corner that no one else had yet laid claim to, but, always the optimist, I wouldn’t give up until I found someplace to call my own.
I only got as far as the linen closet when the first in-fighting of the day began. “Mom — why do you let Annie go in our room? She spilled all our nail polish!” And then, “Who stole the rest of the Reese’s Puffs?” Sigh!
Distracted but not discouraged, I kept to the task, hunting for any little space I could transform into my very own badly-needed hideout.
–CanCan Mom, Cheryl L. Butler
The grumbling in the background continued, which only made me more determined to locate any remotely possible nook in our place.
The primary bedroom was the logical choice. However, with our king-sized bed already in there, how could I possibly fit my well-deserved mom comforts, too? I mean, the typical Man Cave is well equipped with a wet bar, a couple of comfy recliners, a pool table, dart boards, a home-theatre system, a mini fridge, a stuffed bear head mounted above the flat screen, and a coffee table strewn with a plethora of TV remotes, and a little silver bell to ring for service as needed.
Nah, the bedroom is definitely not going to work. There’s only room for a bell, and I know someone will end up just taking it.
Thinking outside the box, I am drawn to the idea of the asymmetrical closet under our stairs, but wait, we lost that to the big floods last March. Next, there’s the oversized walk-in closet in our mudroom, oh, I forgot, we never did add that when we did our renovations. Maybe the shed in the backyard? Absolutely not — the Spanish tile still hasn’t been laid yet.
Then again, there’s always my car.
Wait! Now I’m on to something — a mobile Mom Cave! I could just hop in and drive to a quiet little refuge like the grocery store or the kids’ baseball practices. Oh wait — I do that on a weekly basis anyway.
Creatively Meeting the Challenge
The pursuit of my very own Mom Cave was more challenging than I had originally thought. Still, the possibility of someday having an exclusive sanctuary where I could simply sneak away for even ten minutes to enjoy some peace and quiet or wolf down an entire bag of potato chips with nobody watching is exhilarating enough to keep me searching.
For now, I will resort to the Mom Cave that is available to me at a moment’s notice—my God-given mind.
No matter how many snow days or other uncontrollable moments come my way, I can always escape to the great upstairs and temporarily drift away on thoughts and feelings that are exclusively mine.
It might not have a mini fridge and a 60-inch flatscreen, but if I keep my wits about me and my thoughts intact, no one will ever be able to take my mindset away from me.
Do you have a special hideaway in your home that you call your mom cave? Share your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below.
