Playtime

These cuties are still loving their 'new' playroom! Sometimes making something old new again is all you need to make it exciting!

 My sweet girls having a tea party, love it!

 Maggie spent a fair amount of birthday and Christmas money to get more furniture for her doll house so the girls are all about it! During the playroom re-org, I moved the doll house into Allie's room and now it's the place to be.

 Love that cutie Bo Baker!

Playroom Updates

Last month we gave the kids' playroom a long over-do makeover. We happened upon an awesome play table for the space, did some painting, re-arranged furniture and organized the room. It's so much better! Previously we had a few fabric cubes and a couple big tubs for toys. They were colorful and cute, but not super functional. The little toys always ended up in the big tubs and we couldn't find them; on several occasions I spent hours upon hours, even whole days re-organizing the toys in there.

So when I say this table is a God-send, it really is! There's multiple cubbies under the play table, as part of the foundation that perfectly fit those fabric bins. So we bought several and I got to work organizing. Now between the table and Will's old chest, even in the entertainment center where movies used to be, we have toys. Everything has a clearly defined space and it's so much easier keeping the room clean!!

Anyway, in addition to buying the bins and using existing furniture for storage, the fun part of this post is the decor updates! As I mentioned, I wanted a fun, colorful playroom for the kids and the yellow paint was a great start.

I found some great fabric at JoAnn's and sewed some little curtains, they go well with the wall color, the couch and are still fun and playful, I love them!

Will's old chest is holding lots of toys on the shelves that weren't already housing books, plus puzzles in the drawers below. It's great!  There's still some big toys on the floor but everything has its place.
We added floating shelves for Will's completed Lego builds-- this should keep little hands from getting them-- he also can store them atop the entertainment center. And the girls have a little area for their dollies. My Aunt Rose, who's my Godmother, gave me this crib when I was around Maggie's age, so I love that I've been able to pass it to my girls. And they enjoy putting their baby dolls in here. :)

Now to the decor pieces! I wanted a clock for the playroom but couldn't find one I thought fit- not big enough or mostly just not colorful or playful enough for a kids room. They all looked like adult clocks, lol. So I decided to make my own. I've always wanted to try my hand at crayon art so I thought why not convert that to a clock? Grabbed a canvas and clock kit from Hobby Lobby and got to work!

I also wanted a personal touch so I created these little pieces with the kids' birthdays and where they lived in AL & TN, except Allie who was born in TN. Then I traced their hands, cut out and added; I also did Allie's foot to fill the space where AL was for the others. I had some wood pieces in the garage my dad gave me so I painted them and glued on their art pieces. I had all the materials on hand so this project was free!

Lastly, I added a picture frame that I bought a couple years ago on clearance at Hobby Lobby (told you I've been wanting to do this for awhile). I bought the two big canvas art pictures at Home Goods, where I had a store credit that paid for most of those and made the 'B is for Blessings' sign with on-hand materials as well. All in all this was a pretty inexpensive project. Below is Jake's frame that was in his nursery before he moved in with Will and Allie took his room. I haven't had a place to put it so decided to hang it here in the hallway. Maybe one day I'll add photos of everyone but for now this is fine. 

Playroom Makeover

One of the first rooms we wanted to tackle when we moved in was the playroom. Not because there's anything wrong with it, the room is nice, big, open, lots of light. We were just excited to have an area for the kids and all their toys that was separate from our area.

However, we just never could decide what to do. We had grand plans that ranged from building a loft or jungle-gym type structure to building and installing cabinets and counters but couldn't stick with one thing. Though the room is big, the space still didn't lend enough room for everything-- we want to keep the TV (in its current stand) plus couch bed, which the kids lovingly call the "big bed" and request to sleep in often.

Soooo, as 2015 was drawing to a close, I told Daniel we just needed to pick a plan b/c it's been 3 years. We were leaning toward a scaled down version of built-in cabinets-- basically getting some storage pieces and upgrading when the kids got older. Then my mom told me a family friend was selling her son's play table. The only concern was its size, at 6ft x 4ft, I wasn't sure it would fit, but I did the measurements and found it would work! By the time we inquired, she was so ready to see it gone, she told us we could have the table as long as we hauled it off ourselves!

Getting started on the paint

 I wanted the room to bright and colorful like a playroom should be! 

So we went with yellow and love it

 Deciding how everything will be arranged

The kids love it! I want to get some window coverings and more decor but pleased with how it's turned out so far. Thanks for the table, Ruthie, it's perfect!! I've just started organizing, but the extra storage under the table is already a huge help.