I happen to be one of those
people who thinks that everything in my home should have a “place”. The remote belongs on the coffee table, coats
belong in the closet, shoes belong in the basket, etc. You can call it OCD, obsessive, or “annoying”
(Ryan's term for it, ha), but I call it organized, and it makes my life 10x easier!
Before having a child,
keeping things organized was simple, but that changed two years ago when Rowen
was born.
When searching for a new house, a bigger garage was one of the
top, must-have items on Ryan’s list, but for me it was an extra bedroom or flex room.
In this room I envisioned a
space where Rowen could do crafts, store her toys, read, and just hang out. I wanted to create a space that she could
play in now, but would also grow with her as she gets older.
Before the playroom, toy
storage in our house looked like this.
Now, I know there is nothing wrong
with this, but it drove me absolutely crazy!
So last December I set out to do “project playroom”.
The room we chose for the project was the
front room on the main floor of our house.
It’s a great size and has a big window, which lets in a lot of natural
light.
The room is currently divided up into
what I call, “stations”. She has her “imagination station", where she can play pretend with her dolls, grocery cart, kitchen set,
etc.
Then there’s the "craft station" in the center
of the room, where she can color, do play-doh, paint, etc.
There is also the (for lack of a better
term) “sensory station”, where she has a magnetic/felt board (a DIY project) with a variety of magnets and felt pieces to play and learn with.
Aside from a dedicated place for Rowen to play. One of the biggest goals I had for this
room was a good organization system. Using
some inspirational ideas from Pinterest, I created a reading nook and storage bench all in one!
The bottom of the bench holds the cubes,
which house a lot of Rowen’s smaller, miscellaneous toys that are otherwise
hard to store. Things like blocks,
kitchen food, stuffed animals, and Little People accessories. My favorite
thing about this is that it is ground level – making it so easy for Rowen to
access!
The top of the bench serves as a reading
nook! I added a few pillows to help
brighten the area and give it a cozy, playful feeling.
The reading nook sits in-between two
shelving units. These shelves, one big
and one small, store the bigger toys that don’t fit inside the cubes, as well as her books, movies, games,
puzzles, coloring books and craft items.
As for the décor in the room, I hung bright
green curtains, and used some white picture frames to display some of the
recent artwork Rowen created at daycare - easy and inexpensive!
It’s been a slow process and I keep finding
ways to tweak it, but for now, I’m calling the playroom finished! I finally feel like there is organized chaos
going on in there, and I am so happy with the way it turned out!
Area Rug - Walmart
Table & Chairs - Ikea
Storage Benches - Target
Storage Cubes - Target
Large Book Shelf - Walmart
Small Book Shelf - Target
Pillow Fabric - Fabric.com
Curtains - Target
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