Adding A Bit More Playful To The Playroom

After we got a large chunk of the playroom done last month, and living with it for a few weeks, I decided it needed a bit more color. It was a whole heck of a lot of beige-white-neutral, and not enough BANG! THIS is a playroom! I think a playroom should be playful, for goodness sake. It should look very clearly like a room for kids. Colorful, bright, cheery, fun. At the same time, it IS still my home and I also need it to look presentable and not like a box of Crayola barfed all over the place. There is a fine line I think, and I wanted to figure out a way to liven it up yet stay away from that border.

Enter area rug. The room has wall-to-wall beige carpeting that was here when we moved in, and it left the main play space in the middle of the room looking so bare and plain and boring. I wasn't sure how it would go, throwing an area rug on top of plush carpet, but I took the plunge. It just really needed it! I am very pleasantly surprised at the results. It doesn't bunch much at all, nor does it move all over the place. I am planning on buying the carpet pad for underneath it to completely eliminate the wrinkling, but it is minimal enough that I haven't run out to do it yet. Take a peek.





It really defines and grounds the space! Instead of just a sea of beige, it brings a swash of sunny yellow in to center the room a bit. I am really liking it a lot. I purchased it from Home Decorators Collection online. It is 100% hand woven wool and it is flat woven and reversible. Yes! Reversible! So, not only will it last FOREVER being that it is wool, it will also hold up to kids because if it gets too gunky and drabby, I can flip that baby right over. SCORE.

Not only is it perfect for kids, but it was a great deal. I snagged this 5x8 beauty on sale (HERE) and with a coupon for $125, normally $200. PLUS I got free shipping. I was nervous buying it because it looks very bright and saturated online. I figured though, it was a great price and I could always return it if I didn't love it. Thankfully, it arrived and it was the perfect shade of mustard. PHEW!

As you can see, I also added that turquoise mirror above the play kitchen. I'll post more on that tomorrow actually. I have a bit more to do on that wall, but for now, it adds a Narnia-esque feel to the space. Which is very cool.

I also added a matching turquoise lamp and white garden stool in between the leather chairs. That space really needed a jolt of color because of all the neutral and white. It still needs a bit more, something. I am thinking about doing fabric roller shades (right now they are plain white cruddy plastic ones), but I have yet to find the exact fabric I am looking for.

Anyways, yes. I found that great lamp at Target on clearance (it was the last one!) and the drum stool/side table I picked up at Home Goods for $40. I LOVE it, but it makes the lamp a smidge too short for the chairs, so I might switch things up a bit.





















I like how the turquoise pieces are opposite each other in the room. Coordinating, but not TOO matchy like if they were right next to each other.

I am happy with how things are coming together here. Very kid friendly, yet still grown up enough to be the first place people see when they walk in. I still have a couple little things I want to add to the wall with the mirror, to display the kids artwork and possibly a few books, but we'll see.

Among some of the other recent happenings, Steve switched out the ceiling fixture in the entry way for me. It was previously looking like this (this is before we moved in, clearly):

And here it is NOW:

It is a clean & simple, drum shade flush mount. Found HERE from Ikea. I love the texture, and at $29.99, you can't really go wrong. Steve was GENIUS and figured out a way to retro-fit it to the existing light fixture. So all we had to do was remove the glass on the old one and attach this one. No rewiring at all! Bonus.

So things are coming along well here. Adding bits and pieces all over the place. The nice weather the last week has had us focusing a bit on the exterior of the house, which has it's own to-do list. Tomorrow I'll be back to talk a bit more about the transformation of the mirror in the playroom. It went from hideous to cheerful for under $5!