Playroom
My oldest is 6 years old and our playroom is finally finished! It’s perfectly-imperfect, with chipped paint and all, but we have so many memories in this sweet room! We moved into our current house almost 3 years ago. At the time, J was 3 and the twins were a couple weeks old. We threw everything into their respective rooms without much thought. Finally, I feel like I’m in a place where I can be more intentional about what we keep and where it goes.
My boys are very lucky and have a lot of family that likes to buy them gifts and we had a TON of toys, so much so that this pretty decent sized room was a huge closet to store all the things. We had a 16 cube kallax, with a big bin in each cubby, filled with toys. Even with all those toys, the boys were struggling to play on their own. I started by getting rid of their plastic play food in their kitchen (I started by storing them in the basement in case I regretted the decision). The boys INSTANTLY started playing with their kitchen again (!!!!!). When you think about it, it’s very hard to pretend to cook with whole hard plastic food. By using things like pompoms, small beads, and other small items, their creativity took off. Try it! :) That was just the inspiration I needed to keep it going. Next, I got rid of the pretend play tools. They miraculously started using their wooden blocks again by building and using other blocks as hammers, etc. I swapped out the 16 cube bookshelf for the 8 cube one and made everything accessible for little bodies. I also tried separating out things into smaller bins instead of the larger ones. I think we finally have a good mix!
We live in an old house and our playroom is an old converted porch, right off the living room, so we see it all the time. It drives me a little nutty when it’s messy, which is why we try to keep it clean.In real life, we do keep a mini trampoline in there (which the boys use DAILY) but I took it out for photos because it makes it look so much more cluttered.
First up are some photos from before we moved in and one during the move with our little loves.
The first thing we did was paint the walls, ceiling, and beams. We also switched out the outlets to THESE childproof outlets. Shortly after, we put on these radiator covers since the previous ones were not safe. A little pricey for a cover, but much less than replacing them and super easy to install. They also sell the radiator covers at lowes for less sometimes.
We do have the original French doors, but the boys were constantly slamming them so we had to take them down for safety.
I found this wooden table on Facebook marketplace for $10 — it’s so sturdy! Secondhand pieces are the best. In that basket is where the wooden blocks are stored. Since our house is old, the heating is crazy. This room has its own thermostat which is ancient and covered in paint. I painted one of those wooden bins that a Melissa and Doug toy came in to cover the thermostat. Every single dad that has come into our house takes if off and says not to do that, but it's been fine so far in this small room! There’s some ventilation.
It was a sad day when I moved the nursing chair out of the nursery, but it’s nice to have a home for it instead of giving it away. It still gets a lot of use reading books!
dollhouse // dollhouse furniture // hanging basket // fabric basket // farm blocks // blue basket
My boys love this sweet dollhouse and I love that it can be installed into the wall to free up some table space. We have some extra dollhouse pieces, so my husband drilled in a hook to the side for a basket for the extra pieces. Underneath, one basket stores some dressup clothes and puppets. The other holds farm blocks.
hoberman sphere // tissue holder
I like having the top of this mostly clear for more tablespace — there never seems to be enough surfaces for playing. I like to have a basket out of the current favotire / seasonal books.
Top row, left to right: Small cars and trucks in the blue bin, “guys” in the smaller basket // small animals, bigger animals, magnatiles // random stuff in the basket, “tablets” // paper, stickers, workbooks.
Bottom row, left to right: Random stuff // fisher price toys from Christmas // trains and tracks // big trucks.
stepping stones // nugget // octopus pillow // corkboard // wooden names //rug
The nugget!! We love this thing. It can be configured so many different ways; the boys have not stopped playing with it since they got it for Christmas.
I tried painting the plastic table and it’s already chipping! I may need to find something stronger. We painted the ceiling blue and the beams white.
This wall isn’t finished. I still need to get something for either side of the map (I’m thinking 2 square black and white photos on each side — maybe of the boys eating watermelon this summer?!) The map was inexpensive and my husband built a quick frame for it.
We store games in this cabinet and some random things in the drawers (odd sized puzzles, Lego manuals, lacing things, etc.)
pompom garland & hanging rainbow // light // barn // abacus // puzzle organizer // felt letter board // stacking rainbow // body magnet puzzle // you feel like sunshine // wire basket
These canvases are pictures of all the boys on their first birthday wearing the same outfits <3. In the right cabinet is where the arts and crafts are stored. We spray painted this inexpensive light navy blue for something a bit more fun in this space.
I really like this little room and think it will serve us well through the years. I have visions of it being a homework room a bit later, with one long desk along the window wall, with 3 seats (like the one pictured below). And with a daybed eventually (our guest bedrooms are on the third floor, so hard for older adults to go up and down).
But for now, I’ll enjoy it as-is. I love hearing my kids playing in the next room. It’s amazing to think of all the memories they will create in there! <3
**As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I may receive a small commission when you click a link and
make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. I appreciate your support!**