A Space to Play

When preparing for our whirlwind house hunting trip here in Georgia, Evan and I came up with a short list of must-haves for our new home. My contribution to our list was a playroom! The house we ended up buying was the second one we looked at (of 25 total!) and to be honest, as soon as I saw the potential to use this room as a play space I was sold. I just knew this would work well for our family. The playroom is upstairs and adjacent to both boys' bedrooms (a lot of homes we looked at had play/rec rooms in the basement, but I didn't want our kids a whole flight of stairs away while I was cooking or busy with other things in the main part of the house). Our playroom also has a small office adjacent, which I have claimed as my mom space. My mom room is currently a hot mess of boxes, but eventually I envision space for my computer and scrapbook supplies. The playroom is also right around the corner from the laundry room and I'm finding that I can be upstairs and within ear shot while the boys play, but still get a few things done...laundry, e-mail, cleaning, etc. I can pop in and join them in their play for a bit and then keep busy upstairs with all of my mom jobs :)
However, our playroom was in need of a major makeover (on a budget!). The entire room, ceiling and all, was painted mint-chip green. It also had zero storage. I wish I had a "before" picture, but we had a painter paint the interior while we were still in California so you're just getting to see the "after"! We started with painting the room a warm, neutral tan (the same color we used for most of the living areas). Next, we added some simple storage cubbies from IKEA. At $69 a piece (and I bought 4) they were a really affordable way to organize toys. I also had Evan hang some simple hooks from Home Depot for dress up clothes. Once these items were in place we just started sorting and grouping toys using a variety of bins and tubs from the boys' previous bedrooms. I am really happy with how the room came together and best of all, it gets a ton of use everyday!

Here's a shot of the left side of the room (sorry for the poor picture quality- I am relying on my iphone until I find the regular camera). Julie treated the boys to the circus tent in the corner (from Ikea). It has become a favorite spot to look at books. We were so excited to inherit this train table from my cousins after their son outgrew it. It also works great for large floor puzzles.

And here's the right side of the room. We have our playhouse area in the top corner (play kitchen, baby bed, BBQ, and dress-up).

Theboys really like to play dress-up and I love these low hooks where they can access the costumes themselves. The navy blue box below holds all of our dress-up accessories...which with little boys means handcuffs, binoculars, and firefighting axes!

More dress-up

Play kitchen area

Now that we are starting to feel a little more settled, I can't wait to share the rest of the house (but I do need to find the camera!).