You can't live in peace...you can't, your husband can't, and your kids can't...if you are keeping more things than you have room for. We all live with space constraints, and I can tell you from experience that the constant stress of too much stuff and no room put it, and no efficient means of living and working, is TERRIBLE for your relationships, your energy, your sense of accomplishment, and your health. I am still sorting and pitching from our move out of a big house into a small one two years ago. Trying to keep more than you can live with makes you feel poor, not rich. The thing that jumped out at me in your post was that your husband doesn't want your workroom in your bedroom. And assuming that your childrens' reasonable needs are met, nothing is more important to family life than the happiness of your relationship. So from the way you describe your house, it seems to me that perhaps your dining room would make the ideal office for you. If you can keep it organized and hide it away when your workday is over, then you can turn your attention to storage for the toys your children will keep...after you explain than nobody can live with more stuff than they have room for. Last idea...do you have the budget for a small storage locker somewhere? Can you ease the process of reducing the toy mess by making a game out of choosing this month's toys...only as many as you can put away every night...and storing the rest? Then once a month, you all go to the locker and pick out a different set for that month. Like going to the toy store, only without the spending? If your children are very young, twice a month might be better...or even once a week. I think if you make a whole-house, whole family project out of this, you will all gain a sense of control and accomplishment that will bring you closer, and make everything go better.

Went out and bought ladders today. Everything else is repurposed from the house. The “blocky desk” is a filing cabinet and it stays. I also got some cute vintage farm art for the walls, but will paint the room before hanging them. But thanks for the tips everyone!

I created a design for a similar layout, and putting washer & dryer in closet requires much plumbing and exhausting. The price doubled before it was completed, because the contractor didn't factor in all of that. It turned out beautiful. I don't know exactly how your layout compares. Your photo floor plan doesn't have dimensions, and it's a mirror image on line, so all the words are backward. If you can give me dimensions, I'll be happy to help you out. The room in my client's home was one open space that I turned into a bedroom and media room. It was adjacent to the bathroom. The bathroom closet was not used, and we just flipped it to open on the media room side with custom made shutter doors. Here are a couple of layouts, closet, shutter doors & initial rendering of whole room. This is the dimensioning of the washer/dryer cabinet. Rendering of the entire area. 2 doors you see; one is into the bedroom and the front one into the bath. To the left side of the bathroom door is the washer/dryer closet (it's hidden behind the entry wall. This is final construction of the W/D cabinet. One side the stacked W/D, left side door has shelving inside. Right hand side door slides into the cabinet case. Left side does the same.

I would paint the rail in the same shade that you use for the lower wall. In fact, I'd likely paint the walls both above and below, as well as the rail, all one color. You can vary the sheen between wall and rail or not. If you keep the same sheen the space will look more seamless, as in the pic below. Edit to add: something else to consider is that BM says that all their Affinity line shades work with each other. (there are 144 or so of them) BM also says that Navajo White works with Exhale, which is an Affinity color. So, at least in theory,any Affinity shade should pair nicely with your Navajo White.