Designing Playspaces: Our Playroom

When S was younger (under 3) we lived in a tiny little two story 900-ish square foot house.  It wouldn't have been quite so bad if we weren't living in Seattle (loooong winter/rainy seasons) and weren't at home all day - but we were!  And so it really felt quite cramped.  When we were finally ready to buy a new (and bigger!) house, I wanted to be able to have some play areas that were dedicated playspaces for S and me (and soon-to-be baby X) to spend our days in.  The moment I saw our house, I knew it was the one for us!  The downstairs had a bedroom, home gym, and family room.  When I saw them, I envisioned converting the bedroom into a Reading Room, the home gym room into an Art Room, and the family room into our playroom.

Here's what the playroom used to look like before we moved in:

This was the straight-on view.

This was the view to the left.

It's not bad, but not super kid-friendly.  Luckily I had a committed work crew in my husband, mom, and dad.  I was about 20 weeks pregnant with X and I was DETERMINED to get the playroom of my dreams set up.  :)

I really wanted the room to be more inviting.  The dark walls just didn't seem very cheerful, and since this was a basement, the natural light wasn't as nice as upstairs.  We decided to brighten the walls with an off-white paint with a light blue accent wall along the back of the playroom.  I am also a HUGE fan of decals.  They are a nice way to add little bursts of color to walls very easily (and they're totally removable - bonus!).  I think they are SO much easier than painting things by hand.  The wood floor was pretty, but also not really kid play friendly.  Sitting on a wood floor for an extended time hurts!  I looked into getting some area rugs, but phew those are expensive.  It was much more cost-effective for us to install carpet.

In thinking of the general layout of the room, we tried to group similar toys/activities.  S has a cooking nook, a building area, and a more open movement/gross motor play area.  My mom, who was instrumental in helping me lay everything out, warned me that the biggest mistake people make with a large room is laying everything against the walls.  We made an effort to break the room up into sections by using a couch and one of S's toy shelves and it really does make a difference!

Finally, a playroom is floor space, for sure, but there's also wall space and ceiling space you can use!  In addition to decals, we also have sensory boards, Discovery Bottle display shelves, and a rockwall on our walls.  We have a pirate ship and swinging rings hanging from our celings.  Make sure that you consider all the ways you could use your space!

As I go through and show the set up of the various areas, I'll try to name/link to any pictured things that might be of interest.  If I miss anything that you're curious about, let me know and I'm happy to tell you what it is!

The first order of business was new paint, new carpets, and removing the broken fireplace insert.  I had a custom magnet board built to cover the fireplace opening, but you can use a metal car drip pan mounted on a wall to make a magnet board for much less.  We spray painted the metal black so that it made the magnets stand out more.

Pictured:

Custom Magnet Board

Melissa and Doug Animal Magnets 

Melissa and Doug Magnetic Alphabet 

Melissa and Doug Magnetic Pattern Blocks 

TOMY Magnetic Gears Toy

S loved the rings at the local gymnastics open play gym and these rings were only $22!   To hang something from your ceiling is remarkably easy.  Find and drill into a joist in the ceiling to mount it (we used our weight to test the strength, which I would recommend doing to make sure you didn't miss the joist somehow) and voila!  S also has a swing in her bedroom because, again, it was just so easy and having a swing inside is so much fun.

Pictured:

Sensory Boards

Discovery Bottles

Dream Big Poster

Hanging Rings and Bar

6 inch Circle Polka Dot Decals

For Christmas this year, the kids put this amazing HABA Pirate Ship on their wishlist for their grandparents.  They are super lucky because their grandma got it for them!  It is seriously the coolest thing ever.  It is very pricey, granted, but it holds up to 170 pounds - and easily accommodates 2-3 children (we've even had four in at once!).  It is a HABA toy, so as non-toxic as can be, with incredibly durable construction.  It is easily one of the favorite things in our house.

Pictured:

HABA Ship's See-Saw 

Green Ikea Tunnel

Tek Nek Legend Spring Horse (apparently no longer available)

For toy storage, I went with white Ikea Expedit shelving units to brighten up the room.  On the other side of this is S's little kitchen/cooking area.  I found these storage bins at the Land of Nod - they were so pretty with the rainbow colors and the light shining through, I thought they'd be a perfect way to add some more color.  You can also catch a glimpse of our indoor ficus tree on the left.  It's so fun to have a little tree inside.  :)

Pictured:

White Ikea Expedit Shelving

Land of Nod Top Box Storage Collection

The continuation of our toy storage is on the opposite side of the room against the back wall.  I really believe that presentation is everything for little kids.  You could have a giant bin of really cool toys, but somehow it seems to appeal more to them if the toys are displayed.  I have also found this to be the case with books, which I'll talk about more in my post on our Reading Room.  Anyway, toys that lent themselves to being stored in containers are in the clear colored containers (minatures, giant floor puzzle pieces, marble run pieces, etc) and we have some of our larger toys on display over here.  I also have our "push toys" to the right.

We also have a small trampoline because those things are just plain awesome.  If you don't have one - this is a fabulous way to have kids burn off energy in the winter.  It even folds up compactly, so we were able to have this one at our last tiny house.

Pictured:

Giraffe Mom and Baby Wall Decal

Alex Little Jumpers Trampoline

Circle Mirrors

Don't Forget To Be Awesome Print

This is S's little cooking nook.  Though she has a grocery cart full of cute pretend food, she still prefers to cook with colored buttons or colored pompoms the most (although sometimes she'll add a piece of pretend produce to it).  Here she's taking a taste of her famous pompom soup.

Pictured:

Kidkraft Retro Pink Kitchen and Refrigerator

Blabla Trixie Knit Baby Doll

Melissa and Doug Shopping Cart with Fruits and Vegetables

Melissa and Doug Pots and Kitchen Accessories

For Christmas this year, one of S's two presents from us was this indoor rock wall (you'll see the second present in the Art Room post).  We built it ourselves with lots of my Dad's help.  It's another project that is easier than you think.  It is built out of a single sheet of plywood.  We mounted the plywood on several lengths of lumber; the lengths of lumber were in turn drilled in several spots to studs in the wall.  For more information on designing your own rock wall, you can look here.

Pictured:

Custom Rockwall with 

Rocky Mountain Kids' Climbing Holds

I wanted S to have a Lego table, but didn't like any of the premade tables I was finding online.  My original plan was to make a Lego table with Ikea kids' furniture - I'd planned to paint the furniture to match my color scheme - but the Ikea furniture is TINY.  It felt like it would already be too small for S at the age of 3.  Also, once I'd factored in the cost of the primer, different colored paints I wanted for chairs, and a gloss coat to protect the paint - it was actually pretty costly (not to mention time-consuming).  I scoured the internet and found these tables and chairs and fell in love.  The chair colors they offer actually match almost perfectly what I had in mind.  They are also designed for older children, so X and S will be able to use them for quite some time.  At 3, S's legs still dangle a bit, but she doesn't mind one bit.  I had planned on gluing the baseplates to the tabletop, but S likes to carry her buildings down to the floor sometimes, or bake Lego "cookies" in the oven, so we've left them loose.  And I keep this awesome brightly colored bucket full of Legos right at the base of the table for easy access.  

Pictured:

White Kidkraft table
KidKraft Avalon Chairs
Lego baseplates
TubTrug 

Lego Duplos  

In addition to the shelving we have, I love the bucket system for storing our building supplies.  :)

Pictured:

TubTrugs 

Brilliant Builders  (our go-to gift for preschoolers)

Straw Building Set 

B Bristle Block Stackadoos 

Lego Duplos 

Miscellaneous Wooden Blocks

Dollar Store Buckets with Rope Handles

We love our playroom so very much!  We are very lucky that we have a big house and that we can afford to add all these awesome things to it.  Hopefully I've given some ideas/inspiration to those of you that are creating playspaces for your children.

For those of you who are interested, you can find the post on our favorite toys here.

Reading Room tour post here.
Art Room tour post here.
Backyard tour starts here.

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Please always supervise your infant/child at play.  Please stay within arms reach and never leave infants/children unattended.