Playroom Decor Ideas

Yes, we have a playroom.  I do not really talk about it because it is a primary source of my own decorator shame right now.  I would love for it to be a beautiful, fun, and functional room, but it is just not.  It's just a playroom with a television (with cable hooked up), dilapidated Ikea white laminate shelves, my treadmill, the dog's crate and a lot of big plastic toys.  My kids actually do play down here and Elizabeth plays with her beloved Playmobil sets here regularly (away from her little brother's busy hands).

The sofa in the pictures?  Nope, not ours - on loan from some neighbors and they have now taken it back so it is just an empty room.  

 

 

 

I am going to avoid buying new furniture for this room as much as possible.  My current idea is to use our old living room couch in the basement and get new living room furniture.  I may also move our red leather chair from the living room down here as well.  I can put the couch along the same wall as the couch in the above pictures. 

The major project is for the hubby to build some new built-in bookshelves along the back wall where the white shelves are now.  I am thinking about a style similar to the others in the rest of our house.  (More about those here)  I think we'll have to pull the carpet back and have it re-stretched and installed when we're done.  Not a huge deal but just a pain. 

We will also sell the armoire and the television inside it.  Jim is already dreaming of the black Friday sales he is going to hit to get his new basement television. 

That is the current plan but I really want to hear about some of your great toy storage and play room ideas.  Sooooo....

Check back here tomorrow to join our first HOUSEography link up party!  Link back to your blog or website with your toy storage solutions and playroom decorating ideas.  See you tomorrow!

Open Toy Storage: Easy Access and Fast Clean-up

Many people always seem to be trying to hide their kids' toys - in the basement, in kids' rooms, in dedicated playrooms.  Unfortunately that doesn't really work well in real life, at least in my family's real life.  The toys always migrate to where the adults are because the kids want to be with the adults.  So, you have to make the toys work in your space and not worry about the gaudy plastic because that is generally part of most of our lives.  I've learned to live with it.  I think the secret is to keep them corralled in corners of the room.  Kids seem to like corners of rooms - probably because they are cozy and somewhat confined yet part of the action as well. 


In our family room, I created a toy corner mainly for my 16 month old, but which kids of all ages seem to gravitate towards.  (Why do 4.5 year-olds still love playing with baby toys?)   Here is how it looked last night which is pretty typical for this part of the house. 

My kids (like all others) can make a pretty massive mass in about 5 minutes. 

Although I considered using some closed storage for this stuff, I really wanted my son is to play with the toys and 1 year olds are unlikely to dive into cabinets and toy boxes on a regular basis without some adult assistance.  But, with our solution, my son heads to this corner on his own and entertains himself for at least fifteen minutes at a time (I can make a lot of meals in about 15 minutes!). He can grab all of his own toys and see what he is looking for or, more likely, play with whatever is on top.  Let's face it, there's a reason why baskets seem to be the go-to toy storage option right now. 

I try to keep the toys organized so that all of the vehicle toys are in one basket and everything else is in the other.  This makes clean-up easier surprisingly.  I also try to rotate the toys between his room, the basement, and the car but he definitely has his favorites which never leave the family room.  Although the majority of his books are on his huge built-in bookshelves in his room, the small book basket keeps a few books handy - particularly lift-the-flap books which are his current favorite. 

Another great thing about the open basket option is that clean-up is a breeze.  I timed my clean-up tonight to see how long it takes to put everything back in relatively neat form - including putting toys back together with all or most of their pieces.  7 minutes exactly.  Seriously. 

I know everyone has great toy storage tips so check back here tomorrow for a link up party (my first!) and get some more toy storage tips!  We would love to hear everything from wrangling infant toys to corralling video game consoles.

Amped Up Fall Decor: The Mantel Revisited

Yup, back at the mantel in the family room again.  I am also working on the living room mantel as well, but the family room is where we are spending most of our time right now.  Since it's now October, I feel okay about it being fall and I am no longer morning the loss of summer every morning (only every other). 

Here it is a few days ago (read that post here) -

And here it is now with some added pumpkinification!

The beauty of this is that I had everything on hand so not a single penny was spent.  Several of the same items as in the previous version but some added pumpkins and a plant given to us by our neighbors in memory of my grandmother.  I love its rust colored metal pot.   What a beautiful memory.

The orange glass pumpkins were a gift from my mom many years ago.  I still love them.  They are so simple and pretty.  The acorn is actually a candle in a metal box.  I rarely burn real candles but I love its shape.  The little bird just keeps coming back for more!

I love this decor because it will last me through Thanksgiving but I am thinking some additional Halloween fun will invade our house in the next couple of weeks so more fun to follow. 

Mini-Bar in a Minute

I am STILL working on updating my dining room decor.  I am doing it in bits and pieces when I find inspiration or inspiring pieces.  (For about this ongoing project, see the posts here, here, here, and here.)  We have a great little cabinet that we use for liquor but which probably start its life as a radio cabinet or something like that.  It's a beautiful piece, but most people never know it's the liquor cabinet.  Maybe that's not a bad a thing!

But, as part of the dining room updating process, I decided to create a little mini-bar there for a couple of bottles of whiskey and bourbon for when someone (hubby) wants a quick evening drink.  My goal was to spend little to no money on this project so I first shopped my house for the tray (slightly tarnished which I kind of like) and the liquor bottles, but I did not have appropriate short glasses.  My kitchen glasses are a little casual for the look I was going for - slightly elegant.  So, I hit up Goodwill and found five matching cut glass double old fashioneds for total of less than $3.00 for the set.  I almost passed them up because there were only 5, but then I realized one would inevitably get broken by a flying truck, baby doll, or ball so I would just consider one of them to be a back-up!  Once the glasses took a long overdue and much needed trip through the dishwasher, they were ready to roll.

Here's the result -

I think it really works with the space, and was well worth the $3 investment!  And that vase with the lid was a great HomeGoods find for $12.99 and the fall pumpkin vase filler was $4.99 at Ross Dress for Less.

My goal is to get the dining room finished up by Thanksgiving since we're going to have a crowd of family in town for the weekend - I want it to be warm and festive.  We are so excited!

Grout Shout Out

I finally called someone to do the tile backsplash in the kitchen.  I feel like this is a cop out.  I had dreams (and nightmares) about us tackling this project ourselves but it really comes down to time.  I would like to get this done before Thanksgiving, but the hubs has a really busy month at work coming up so I just know this will linger on, and on, and on.  I don't want grout dust in my stuffing!

Where did my drive for DIY projects go?  I guess I lost it somewhere between 2 kids and working 35 hours per week in my big girl job.

How do you find good people for jobs like this?  I usually just start asking friends, people on my local parent listserve, and then I always ask my real estate agent friends (I'm lucky to have several in the biz).  So now I have a list of 3 or 4 people who I can call. 

As I have said before, my heart is set on a white subway tile backsplash (read more about that here).  Although I had considered doing a pattern of some sort behind the stove, I have now decided to just keep it clean and simple.  I'll be less likely to grow tired of it and it will always be in style and classy.  We have our awesome pot-filler back there anyway so that would cover up a portion of any detail back there anyway.  Keep it simple stupid.  (Woops, not supposed to say "stupid" anymore.)

Now I am down to choosing the grout color.  I am debating between white and gray.  I have ruled out black because I think it looks too geometric and schoolhouse somehow.  Don't ask.  It's just me.  This picture convinced me that I made the right decision on that.

Home Design Find

This question seems to be pretty widely discussed on Apartment Therapy and GardenWeb.

Here are some samples to peruse before you "vote".  I tried to find some pictures with white cabinets and black counter tops.  I'll listen but I won't necessarily do what you say!

WHITE

via GardenWeb

Close-up of the above kitchen

GRAY

Although the counters are not black like mine, this is a good comparison. 

Grout: Tec, Dove Gray - via GardenWeb

Close-up of the above kitchen

This is a gorgeous kitchen - love that oversized tile but I am wimp and will stick with the classic. 

via GardenWeb

So white or gray?!!  Tell me what you think.  Feel free to post links to your own subway tile but tell me the grout name.  Thanks!

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