My whole house has been turned on end as we prepare to welcome my youngest daughter’s best friend into our home to live with us during their senior year.

It would have been easy to install her into my oldest daughter’s room since she’d moved out for school last August and hadn’t returned. But her life took a tumble and she moved back in just about the time we decided to add the young lady to our lives.

Never fret, I had a plan B. I moved my oldest daughter to my youngest daughter’s room, moved my office/craft stuff to my oldest daughter’s room and moved my youngest and her friend to the computer/craft room. It’s the largest room in the house, a kind of “great” room, and it made sense to have them share one large room instead of a small room.

Also, with my youngest’s continued hobby of sewing costumes, she was pushing my office/craft area further and further out anyway. I was constantly rearranging my stuff to fit her ever growing craft.

I have to admit, I’m thrilled to have my office space back. It’s where it was originally before my youngest was born. I always knew it would again be my office space one day. I like having it in the main part of the house rather than in the more disconnected “great” room.

So we’ve been living with chaos for a couple weeks now; there is a lot to downsize in order to fit my office/computer/craft stuff into a much smaller room. My first step was to find one large desk that would fit the room rather than the several small pieces I had in my former space.

I say COMMIT TO THE FURNITURE, as I found one year when I committed to a huge couch for our family room instead of the small couch with a couple chairs and their ottomans. The space completely opened up, and as I suspected, so did my new office space when I found a very large, L-shaped desk. It was a chore getting it into the room, but it works beautifully.

My excitement over my new space was dashed when I put our futon couch into the room. It didn’t fit, it was way too huge, even though I measured and I was sure it would. So I found an adorable, little couch/cot ensemble as a seating option and guest bed. It remains to be seen whether it will work as a guest bed, but it’s so cute in there I don’t even care.

One use for the computer/office/craft room that I had only briefly ruminated over was my husband’s evening activity. He surfs the internet for cars, car parts and other such manly items while he watches TV.

Now picture this: the house is a literal shambles with my office things stacked up the walls and littering the floor of the office and hallway, the dining and living rooms are full of my daughters’ bedroom items they were still figuring out how to fit into their new rooms, as well as more of my office things.

What do you think my husband was concerned about?

The TV. He was worried how our old TV did not fit into the new office space. So, amidst the piles of books, boxes and debris, my husband bought a smaller TV (yet larger than the kitchen TV we already own) and installed it in the new office before I even had the internet reconnected or before the cable guy had even come to wire the room.

The house still looks like a hurricane went through, but in my husband’s world, all is well.

Gretchen Leigh is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Covington. You can read more of her writing and her daily blog on her website livingwithgleigh.com or on Facebook at “Living with Gleigh.” Her column is available every week atmaplevalleyreporter.com under the Lifestyles section.