We moved into our little house over a year ago and it has been a slow process getting everything organized. We had all this momentum when we first moved in, but then life took over again and things just got shifted to the back burner. Does that ever happen to you?
Now that Starr Lily is big enough to play by herself and needs a dedicated play/learn area, we reconfigured the downstairs living room into her playroom. The mister wasn’t always happy with this plan since he’s always wanted his man cave, but for now I’ve convinced him this is necessary, ha ha! After months of going back and forth on what to do with this room, he finally agreed to let me change it up. Now that he has seen how awesome and useful the room is, he loves it!
When we first moved in, the house was ALL beige. The door hinges and banister were all painted the same beige, some windows were painted shut, and most of the flooring was boring beige carpet.
We were so happy to find out that there were gorgeous wood floors under the carpet, except it wasn’t downstairs. It turns out, downstairs still had asbestos tiles from 1969 when the house was built! Scary, right!?
yikes
I did some research and realized if you don’t go breaking up the tiles and inhaling the stuff, you can just leave it alone. We knew we wanted to cover it up and went with a light bamboo pattern laminate floating floor that worked out great! There were lots of flooring options at lumber liquidators, but we went with this one primarily for it’s thickness (12mm) and it had a pad attached as well. My dad flew up to help us install it, and along with a special visit from my little brother, the three guys pounded out the entire basement in just one weekend.
We also wanted to brighten up the room with some green paint and this is when the hubs and I realized we must never compromise on color. Morgan wanted a cooler, bluer green, I wanted a bolder, yellower green, but we settled somewhere in the middle with Sherwin Williams’ recycled grass. It is a lovely green, but we’re both slightly disappointed with it. Good thing paint is easy to change and we’ll eventually paint a new color.
And then, nothing. We didn’t update that room for a while. It had couches and we used it, but the room didn’t really have a purpose. Then a few weeks ago Morgan put in the crown molding! He’s been wanting to add some to every room in the house and it looks great!
love it! feel free to send him to install crown molding in our house, too!
(Would you like a mini tutorial on what he did? I think we might be able to work something out.)
I went on a Pinterest search to get some inspiration and bought some ikea shelving to organize all of Starr Lily’s toys. First we put up the book shelves. I’d seen examples using picture frame ledges as book shelves but when I saw it at my friend’s house I knew it would be perfect!
I absolutely love these shelves…makes me want to read.
I love that Starr Lily can choose her books and put them back when she’s done, but there are a couple of hazards. One of our friends (quite masterfully) climbed up the shelves! And if there are too many books on a shelf they sometimes topple over. The dress up area will go in this corner behind the door too. I just need to find the right hooks to hang her little outfits.
Then I used the floating shelves to hold her Montessori-esque works. I placed a few shelves down at Starr Lily’s height and one higher where I keep the paint and play dough and other goodies she’d love to get her little hands into. The bins were a great find at target a while back and help keep the mess contained. (More on the tray work soon!) The art easel and table make it feel a little more school-ish here, but there is lots of space to shift things around if she just wants to work on the floor.
aw, mama….can’t believe you won’t let her have the scissors and paint!
Starr Lily has lots of toys. I often wish this room had a closet so I could store some away, but it doesn’t, so using baskets was the solution. I stole this idea from I Heart Organizing and love that she did all the research into finding the best baskets to fit the expedit ikea shelves! I have some trains, some puzzles, some play silks, etc and it is kept nice and tidy! I’d like to eventually label the baskets to know what’s in each one.
so organized!
On the other expedit shelf is the doll house, (a sweet craigslist find) and a few toys that I change up occasionally.
The toy kitchen is here too and thankfully it has its own storage for all her kitchen toys. This was also a Craigslist find, and for only $50 I can deal with it not being perfect. Finally is the sitting area. We can hangout while my little one plays or we can snuggle up with a good book!
Great idea to divide up the room with the shelves!! Morgan can just call this side his man cave.
It’s not quite finished. I want to put up some family pictures and above the doll house make an art display area, but so far we’re using it daily and loving it!
Sometimes the list of improvements just keeps getting longer and longer but I like that we’re putting time and love into our little place. How did you organize your playroom?
deriving mommyhood 