Dobby: “Dobby knows the perfect place, sir! Dobby heard tell of it from the other house-elves when he came to Hogwarts, sir. It is known by us as the Come and Go Room, sir, or else as the Room of Requirement!”
Harry Potter: “Why?”
Dobby: “Because it is a room that a person can only enter when they have real need of it. Sometimes it is there, and sometimes it is not, but when it appears, it is always equipped for the seeker’s needs.”
— Dobby telling Harry Potter about the Room of Requirement

We have a little room in our house, between the kitchen and the back door, that is almost more of a large hallway. It has a door to the back hall near the bathroom and the stairs, a door into the kitchen, and a door out to the patio. There are no windows, but the patio door has a glass pane in it.

It is our Come and Go Room, and it has been equipped for many “seekers’ needs” over the years.

When we first moved in, it was a bedroom. Our oldest had just started university when we moved to a smaller house, and she got the little half-room since she wouldn’t be living there full time. We closed off the door to the back hall, put up a curtain rod to make a little closet, and arranged her queen-size bed, dresser and bookshelf  so there was just room to scoot around the bed.

When she wasn’t home, her room was the guest room. All the other rooms were full, with the boys in the largest upstairs room, and the other girls in the three bedrooms downstairs.

Soon, a nephew needed a place to stay, so the Come and Go Room became his home. He stayed with us for a few months until he got settled, found a job and some friends to room with, and moved out. I remember him sitting on the bed, strumming his guitar, and chatting with me as I made dinner.

After he left, my sister came to visit and ended up staying and living with us to escape an abusive home situation. She brought my two nieces and two nephews and her golden retriever for a nine-month stay. We bunked the nephews in with the the boys, and put my sister and two nieces in the Come and Go Room, this time blocking the door to the kitchen with a double-on-the-bottom, twin-on-the-top bunk bed, putting an armoire on the opposite wall and a chair in the corner.

We have one bathroom upstairs, so shower times were tightly scheduled in the morning to accommodate nine people sharing it. My sister and I took turns cooking for the twelve people crowded around the dining room table for dinner each night. The frustrations of living so tightly packed wore on us all–whether because of my nephew’s legos all over the living room, or the nervous dog peeing on the floor–but I have fond memories of the time spent with my sister, co-mothering our broods.

My sister and her family got their feet on the ground and moved out, and I was overdue for some peace and quiet. All three doors were opened, out came the bed and armoire, and in it’s place, we put in a small daybed and added built-in bookshelves. Now, it was the library and occasional guest room for one.

I had a quiet room, but not much quiet time, so it ended up becoming a locker room for our athlete son. Football gear and millions of little black pellets from the artificial-turf field covered the floor. At least it was close to the washer and dryer so I could keep up with the stinky uniforms and socks.

My husband decided to start a consulting business and needed a home office. With kids still in the bedrooms, the natural place was the Come and Go Room. The daybed was exchanged for a large desk and office chair, and he set up shop. The doors were not blocked, but they were closed during the work day. I would sneak in occasionally with a question or to let the dog out into the back yard.

The business grew, and my husband left his home office for an office-building office. The room changed again, back to a guest room, but this time we put in a couch that made into a bed and added a little desk. The big desk moved downstairs to the Hobbit Room (a tale for another day), so I could spread out my scrapbooking materials down there.

Another nephew, in the Bay Area for a summer internship, made his home in the Come and Go Room then. He endured the traffic of people coming and going through his room for summertime activities in the backyard. He left in the fall for school, and our dinnertime discussions immediately took a less scholarly tone.

With some open space again, sports began to take over, and the room held rugby gear, bikes, and eventually,  books, backpacks and anything else my son didn’t carry to his room, now located downstairs.  (More on all this moving around here.)

Recently, one of my daughters came home and wanted to make the room downstairs more of a comfortable, inviting gathering spot. This required getting the big desk out. So, we swapped the desk for the upstairs couch, and the Come and Go Room is back to being an office. It was good timing, because my husband started working at home every Friday.

This is a good set-up. It’s a pleasant room, close the kitchen and the coffee pot. I have started using it to work on my writing, except on Friday. Maybe it will stay this way for awhile–until someone needs it for something else.