If you have a bonus room in your home, chances are that you have 42 Things in Your Bonus Room! Hard to believe, but when you start looking around and separating them into categories, no matter how you use your bonus room, it’s sure to have 42 things or more.
In the United States, a bonus room is an extra room in a house with no defined purpose, usually one without a closet. Many homes across America have attics, basements or even rooms with high pitched ceilings left unfinished or minimally finished. This allows the homeowner to use that room in numerous ways. Some ideas that come to mind are:
- extra bedroom (build in a closet or use an armoire for clothing storage)
- home office, library, study
- crafts or hobby room
- playroom for the kids
- home gym
- music room
- home theater
- man cave
And, in some homes, the basements run the full length of the house allowing for partitioning the basement into multiple rooms, each with its own function.
In Southern California, where I live, it is unusual for a home to have a basement. I’m sure it’s because of building codes and construction regulations due to earthquake. In addition, most newer homes don’t have an attic space in which you can stand upright. So, when I visit my relatives in New York or my friends in the South, I’m in awe of these spaces and the creative ways they are used.
If you are a new reader to my blog, welcome! If you are a regular reader, welcome back! I do lists of 42 for household inventory purposes. I’m working on a whole house inventory of my home and decided I’d share it along the way. I’m doing this because we lost our home in a wildfire in 2007 and we weren’t prepared. To read the series I wrote about the fire, our loss and rebuild, start with this post: Any Way the Wind Blows.
Doing a whole house inventory for a catastrophic loss is quite an undertaking. It took me 9 months of working nights and weekends. So, even though chances are slim that “lightening strikes twice” in our situation, I’ve decided to be proactive and create one now, especially because I can actually see the things that we own! When I created our household inventory list for our insurance company, I had to do it from memory because we had very few photos of the contents of our house.
Anyway, here are the 42 things in your bonus room:
- Window shades, blinds, shutters
- Draperies, rods, brackets, valances
- Lamps: floor, table, hanging, wall
- Plants, plant containers, vases
- Art work, posters, prints
- Photos, frames, photo albums
- Decorative objects, knick-knacks
- Desk and/or work table
- Chairs, recliners, chaise
- Hutch, open storage, cubbies
- Bookshelves, decorative ledges
- Books, magazines, bookends
- Storage boxes, baskets, trays
- Sofa, sectional, love seat, sofa bed
- End tables, game table, coffee table
- Pillows, bolsters, poofs, bean bags
- Blankets, throws
- Bar, stools, bar equipment/supplies
- Mini refrigerator, microwave
- Dishes, glassware, utensils
- Coffee maker, popcorn machine, drink dispenser, ice cream maker, other specialty small appliances, waste basket
- Food and beverages
- Canisters, storage jars
- Napkins, paper towels, dish towels
- Beds, bunk beds, ladders, trundle
- Dressers, cabinets, armoire
- Pool table, foosball table, etc.
- Benches, trunks, ottomans
- Ceiling fan(s), track lighting
- Rugs
- Clock: desk, wall, floor
- Arts, crafts and hobby supplies
- Toys, games, telescope
- Musical and sports equipment
- DVDs, CDs
- Home gym and fitness equipment
- Pegboard, corkboard, chalkboard
- Wall hooks, wall hook racks
- Fireplace equipment
- Extension cords, power strips
- Telephone, answering machine
- Electronics: computer, printer, television, stereo, DVD player, remote controls, speakers, electronic games, etc.
And, here’s your FREE printable checklist to add to your household inventory binder: TS4T Checklist – 42 Things in Your Bonus Room.
Tootles,
Other lists of 42 (for a complete list of available household inventory lists, visit Archives – By Category):
42 Things in Your Laundry Room
42 Necessities in Your Baby’s Layette
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