Designing Domesticity: playroom

Showing posts with label playroom. Show all posts

Out with the Old, In with the New

I don't know about you, but when the new year hits, I always feel an overwhelming urge to tidy, organize, purge and freshen our space. Maybe it has something to do with the influx of toys during the holiday season. Or just the influx of everything over the holidays.

Here's our playroom, just last week: mid decoration take down, fort building and toy palooza. And the toy closet, we so painstakingly installed shelves into for better organization, looking oh so organized.

Yes, this space is crying out for some help.

First up, quite a bit of purging. Mostly toys, some Christmas decorations that haven't been used for the last couple of years, and lots of other stuff that somehow found its way into the playroom.

Lost in the depths.

Out with the old, in with the new.

After the purge, the organizational bug really took hold. Of course, the cold weather and day of rain, helped kick us into gear. 6 months in the making…we finally got our shelving assembled and things settled into their new place. i.e., the attic.

Even the closet got a little lovin'.

With less toys, the kids can actually see what they have. And use it. What a novel concept.

The best part of all this purging and organizing is that you can finally see the new couch. Yes, we finally pulled the trigger and purchased the highly coveted sleeper sofa from Ikea. Sectional, sofa, double bed and built in storage - seriously, I could not have asked for more. The best news, even the biggest skeptics in the family are loving it!

I've already lost track of the number of family movie nights we've enjoyed all laying out on the sleeper sofa.

The lack of seating was definitely the biggest issue in this space, that and the total lack of organization. Well, not anymore!

Now we are all settling into this space, nicely.

P.S. We even managed to get a couple of things on the walls - another 6 months in the making project.

P.P.S. Check out my organizational post from last January, here, which also featured Ikea - it's a theme!

until next time,

Joining the Ranks

We are creeping in on the second week of January. I suppose I can't put it off any longer. It's time to get back to the business of blogging. Actually, I'm kind of excited and renewed after my week long break at the holidays. Thank you to everyone for bearing with me.

It seems as though everyones mother's brother's sister is starting off the new year with organizational posts. Far be it from me to buck that trend.

As you may have seen in my Goals post, I've been struggling with the endless toy clutter. It doesn't help that we choose to add toy storage in the main walkway from the kitchen, through the breakfast room, to the living room. And, of course, all the new toys that came with Christmas are only making matters worse.

So, in an effort to be happier in my own home, this happened. I'm hoping to join the ranks of Expedit lovers. So far so good. Loving the cubby style to organize toys and really loving that it comes with wall attachments. No need to worry about it toppling over. Extra bonus, my previously purchased PBK lined baskets fit.

More toys downstairs. Less toys upstairs. Now, this doesn't mean that I won't be picking up toys all day, but it does help matters a bit. Embracing the little things!

It had been ages since I strolled around Ikea. I took loads of pictures and plan on sharing them soon. Definitely some things on my wish list!

What about you - organizing in the new year?

linking in with:

Met Monday

until next time,

Play Date Anyone?

Ok, we made it. The playroom is finished - newly designed, organized and hopefully, fully functional.

Did I tell you I'm pretty happy this project is over?

I can't really explain it. Just happy to be done.

Chalkboard

Letter Art

Art Center

Who wants to play dress-up? We haven't hit the princess phase yet (yeah), which is just fine by me. So our version of dress-up is really just halloween costumes. She doesn't seem to mind. You know what they say, ignorance is bliss.

This guy is always ready to play. Even when I'm not, thankfully.

I picked up this kitchen at a local yard sale for $20. Best money spent. EVER! Do you know what these things usually retail for? Ridiculous. Why are kids toys so expensive? I mean, really.

Art Clips

We've come a long way, baby.

I think we're all pretty happy this isn't the view we see when we come downstairs anymore.

So, who wants to come play? We're booking dates now.

Linking in with:

Until next time,

LoN knock-off Art Clips

You're probably familiar with the Land of Nod and all their cute kids stuff. I love wondering around their shop in search of inspiration. The other day, I noticed these:

art clips, via

So cute, but seriously, $15 for some string and clips? I think we all know we can make that quite easily!

Start with a large headed nail.

Attach a cute cover, of your choice, with liquid nails. In this case, I used wooden stars that I picked up at Michael's and painted blue.

I've used three in a row, but I am sure you could make this as long/short as you would like.

Connect each star with yarn, knotting onto each nail.

Attach clips.

I mean, could it be any easier?

A great place to display art. Not to mention a makeshift drying rack for all those little works of art.

{Really into the sticker mosaics at the moment; thanks again Aunt P}

Next up is the final walk through. I'm not going to lie to you, I'm pretty happy this project is over. More fun to use the room than decorate it, I think.

Until next time,

Kids Art

The other day, while wondering around Michael's hoping for some playroom art inspiration, this idea came to me. Nothing revolutionary, but a fun project all the same.

It started with a pile of letters, that I sprayed with primer.

{Thankfully we had a couple of mild days last week so I could spray outside.}

Then I requested the help of one very excited little girl.

{By far the easiest part!}

This little activity managed to occupy a whole morning.

{Could be the best part!}

Check out that concentration.

A couple of coats later, we ended up with these.

{I accidentally picked up finger paint, so not exactly the look I was going for, but it works.}

Liquid nails makes quick work of adhering the letters to left over MDF, that I painted white, from the Chalkboard project.

I probably should of paid attention to what colors we were painting each letter, but I didn't.

{Once a three year old starts painting, you just go with it!}

She's so proud of her words; loves to "read" them every time we go to the playroom. And I love the memories associated with this little project.

One more little project coming your way and then it's time for the tour. Hope you'll stick around.

Linking in with:

Met Monday

A Simply Klassic Home

Until next time,

Art Center

In my last post, I shared our new chalkboard, which acts as a very kid friendly focal point in our playroom. I went on to say that I believe kids rooms can and should include good design. But alas, not all aspects of a kids space can be more than pure function. Which brings me to our art center.

A simple white shelving unit, brought in from our family room (which incidentally, is also in the basement just across from the playroom), filled with baskets containing all sorts of arts and crafts excitement.

Also moving to the playroom is the refurbished table and chairs, which she received as a Christmas gift last year.

Above a simple art display area.

You might also notice that we've added colored foam play tiles to the floor.

Cork squares from Target.

Don't you just love a 3 year olds smile - so natural!

Target also came through in the pinch with their $1 baskets for crayons, pencils, markers and stickers.

So there you have it. The art center, in all it's glory!

It doesn't take much to make a kid happy after all.

Surprisingly this playroom has come together pretty quickly. I've got a couple little bits left though, like: creating more art display, creating kid participation wall art and I'm even debating adding something to incorporate a bit of stage presence. We'll see..

Until next time,

A Very Kid Friendly Focal Point

A wall-spanning chalkboard has been in the plans for the new playroom for a long time.

Whenever we visit my parents in Cincinnati, we always go to a restaurant that has a gigantic chalkboard that my daughter loves to draw on. Perfect focal point for a playroom. Who says kids rooms can't incorporate a bit of design?

We determined a location on the back wall for our little installation; got our measurements and headed off to Lowe's. Actually, I decided to task Mr. DD with this little project, so he headed off to Lowe's, measurements in hand (3'x6').

One large piece of MDF and a couple pieces of trim later, the studs were found and the levels were taken. We're ready to do some actual work around here.

Here's an extremely flattering photo of me actually doing said work. What a rarity to get out from behind the camera. Honestly, you must think that Mr. DD does all the heavy lifting around here.

After one coat of primer and two coats of chalkboard paint (sanding between each coat) we were left with this. It's definitely calling out for a bit of trim, don't you think? Me too.