A place to PLAY!

Moving on to the next room of the house, is our play room. This room is in the front of the house, to your left when you first enter the front door. This room is the most closed off, and we hope to open it up a bit more soon. Remember the wall on the other side of the stairs I was talking about? Well removing that wall will open this space up to the entry. It will really make the first floor as a whole, much more cohesive in flow. Once you step into the dining area of the kitchen, the floor plan is very open. Flowing from dining area, to kitchen, to family room. The entry and two front rooms (this room and the formal dining room), are much more closed off. My last blog post kicked Steve into high gear and he is really motivated to get moving on starting that project! So that will be soon.

Back to the play room though. This room is of course, still in progress. We have most of it done though, after a week spent mostly putting it together. Just a few small things and I think we'll be good to go for a while. Which is great because the kids and I spend the majority of our day in this space. It is nice to have it brighter and more organized. It felt more like a shoe box previously. The walls were dark, the window and trim were dark, walls were blank...blah! Now it actually feels like a room. Imagine that!

Here are some before photos. Again, not great. This one is from the previous owners, before they painted it a hideous blue in between our two viewings. Don't you just love the organ?? Oh and of course the too-small "art". Yikes. 

Then, after our first tour of the place, they "upgraded" to this really terrible shade of blue. It was DARK and flat and really made you feel boxed into that room. This photo is really awful and zoomed in.

Here are a couple shots while we (Steve) were painting it. I told you Steve loves spackle, right? I wasn't kidding. These were taken at night on the iphone, so sorry about that.

 I can't tell you what a difference just painting the trim and window made! It really makes you appreciate white semi-gloss when you are painting over flat blue.

And here is our room now. The paint is a beige-gray. During the day it looks more beige, in the evening it looks more gray. I figured I'd stick with neutral walls in here because of all the colorful toys & accessories. It definitely has that playful look to it though, overall.

My white 96" drapes are from Ikea and we hung them nice and high and wide on the window. I also have white roller shades installed for privacy in the evening. The couch we had (and even though I don't love it, I can't justify buying a new one for a playroom that kids will PLAY in). The leather chairs are from Target. As is the ottoman and the lamp filled with lemons. The green, brown, and yellow/gray pillows are from Target and the other 3 I made. The table in between the chairs is from Ikea.

This is the wall that we want to open. Once we do that, we will obviously have to rearrange the room a bit. You can see the front door on the right, to give you an idea of the floor plan. The 3 shelving units (which we bolted together and to the wall) are from Target ($90 for all 3 pieces!). The chalkboard is the other one I made. That less-than-ideal torch lamp is from Target back when we first got married. I don't love it, but we need light on that side of the room and that is the only thing that fits. I'm on the look out for a better replacement. The letter 'E' my bestie Jane made for me as a housewarming gift.

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This is what you see when you first walk into the house. On your left of course. You can see the sliver of gray-green entry on the left of the photo. The ladder we have had (it was left at our first house when we moved in. It is anchored to the wall).

The tripod lamp (which I LOVE) is from Target (are you noticing a theme here yet?). The canvas artwork I made. The play kitchen we made a few years ago and the kids table is from Ikea. The wall above the kitchen is empty for now but I have a big huge, awesome mirror to put there once I can spray paint it the fabulous turquoise color I bought for it. It will be super playful and also reflect sunlight from the window which will be directly across from it.

The side tables are a work in progress. I want to replace the feet with blocks (like the rest of the furniture) and also replace the pulls. They were originally part of a desk that was Steve's grandparents. Oh, I love that clear lamp! It is from Target and I haven't decided whether I like it empty or with the lemons. It is such a pretty tear drop glass base. 

The canvas "artwork", I made. Let me tell you. This was all so simple and quick. The one that took the longest was the flower. I made that with scrapbook paper and Mod-Podge. It took me FOREVER to figure out papers that looked good together and how to arrange them. I love the one little yellow petal, which is hard to see, but in the photo above you can see it a bit more clearly. The rest took about 30 minutes a piece, which I did over several days during nap.

The two black ones I painted with the chalkboard paint and then softened a bit by rubbing chalk all over them and wiping it mostly off. The striped one I made by painting over masking tape. The chevron print and the flower print, I used the entryway paint, to tie the spaces together a bit.

The chevron one, I printed and cut a stencil of sorts for. I used a mother of pearl acrylic craft paint for that, as well as for the birdie. It is nice because, depending on your angle, the paint looks white or silver. Very pretty. The birdie canvas, I painted yellow with acrylic craft paint and then white washed with some white paint mixed with a bit of water. Then I printed a birdie off of an image I liked, cut it out, and stenciled it. The quote I stenciled.

Overall, I love them! I had a 5 pack of canvases that were on sale for SEVEN dollars. Yes, you heard that right. Seven. So in total, including the 2 craft paints & foam brushes, all 5 pieces were under $10. They are each 16x20, so they cover a good amount of the wall when put together.

Here is the second chalkboard I made. It is a bit smudged up at the moment. Kid prints and such. I just quickly scribbled a cute Dr. Seuss quote that I really like on it with my chalkboard marker. I want to spend a little more time on it at some point. But for now, I like it.

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go!"

So that's it so far. It has come a LONG way! Left on our to do list for this room:

-Open up the wall
-Spray paint the mirror I have for the empty wall above the kids kitchen space (waiting for some warmer weather)
-Revamp the side tables (the one on the right of the couch looks lower because I took the feet off already)
-Add bamboo shades to the window
-Shampoo the carpet. I have had the machine in my garage for weeks now. Must get on that! The carpet isn't terrible, but it will definitely look nicer once I get it freshened up.

Ahhh. So nice to have a space where the kids can play that is organized well for them and looks nice for me! They love having their toys on the shelving unit because they can see it all and it is easier to clean up. My favorite part of the room is my lighting. What do YOU like best? Any recommendations??
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