Once upon a time there was a front room…

It was much like any other front room, with furniture, curtains, carpet, bookshelves…everything you would expect to see there. But there was only one problem. Nobody ever used it. The actual “family room” is in the back of the house, so this room was always more “for looks”.  It has had quite a few different uses, but for the past several years it has been known as the Puppet Room.You may remember this picture from “A Pinterest Project With a Purpose”. It is an example of the many Sunday School props that need to be stored somewhere after the lesson is over. Those two places are my house and my friend Kathy’s garage.

 Angels on a Stick

I promised to explain the “Angels on a Stick” in “What’s in a Garage?”. So here it is… In 2009 we needed an angel choir and we didn’t have enough puppets or people to pull it off…so we made two sets of  “Angels on a Stick”. They popped up with the main angel puppet and sang a Christmas carol. Then much later we came up with “Angelfish on a Stick” for an undersea presentation.

Corn on the Cob!

One of our “puppet class” hallmarks is the corn on the cob! In August 2011 we did a farm skit which included REAL corn on the cob as well as my “realistic” handmade ones! (Look carefully at the cornfield photo and you will see what I mean.)

Mr. Mozarelli

My garage is home to these boxes, where we keep Mr. and Mrs. Mozarelli. They are two-person puppets, where one arm is worked by each person. In these photos from 2008, you can see Mr. Mozarelli in action. (It is kind of important that the people working the puppet don’t both use the same hand!)

Wait, there’s more…

Okay I’m showing you all this so you can get a feel for the sheer volume of “puppet stuff” Kathy and I share between us. Who would have thought that my front room and Kathy’s garage would play such an important part in the work of the Lord?

Trying to find the “perfect situation”…

The puppet poles have been stored all kinds of different ways. You know that they are now in the garage. (Click here for more info!) Here you see them in one of the early Puppet Room arrangements. I was pretty proud of myself for using the hat rack for the stick horse as well as hats and tote bags. Finally this summer I decided to try even more ways to store the puppet stuff. I got a dresser at my neighbor’s yard sale in an effort to eliminate some of the puppet room clutter. Below is a sort of “before and after.”

Then came the day when (Foster and) I decided to totally redo everything…

Right now….

Now the Puppet Room also doubles as Foster’s playroom. The litter box is behind the curtain in the back corner. Foster loves to be inside his “cat condo”, either sleeping or looking out the front window. You can see his white laundry basket “tunnel”, his favorite wooden chair, my exercise trampoline with a catnip mouse on it, his cardboard box, and his collection of catnip mice and whiffle balls. It still needs work, but for now I’d say it’s a “win-win” situation!

I’m the two on the left!

2021 Update: The Puppet Room is now the “Vintage/Family History Room. You can read about that transformation here: