Playroom Updates

This post is WAY overdue. I'm not even really sure how to catch you up to speed without making this a really long post, but I am going to try.

Back in November, our playroom looked like this.

I had just painted the walls and was about to add the stripes. I was also really close to having the room done. You can check out my original To Do List HERE.

This is the playroom as of yesterday.

It's still not done, but we are getting really close. I completed everything on the original list (except figuring out where to hang my boys' art work), and then added to it.

- I painted stripes on this wall.
- We built a tank stand and added a 40 gallon African Cichlid tank.
- I moved the tall bookcases to the boys' bedrooms. The room was starting to feel really heavy.
- We are in the process of adding more shelving in the closet to hold the stuff that was on the tall bookcases.
- I updated the gallery wall over the love seat and make pillow covers for ZERO money.
- I added a rug.
- I built and stained shelves for Cade's Lego Creations.
- I moved the kid kitchen to the other side of the love seat and added a reading nook. (Crib mattress and Pillows)
- The boys asked for a Mine Craft poster, so I hung one on the wall.
- We passed the train table on to another little boy, and built a new coffee table.

I think that gets you all caught up.

My biggest dilemma right now is what to put on the striped wall. Looking at this picture it looks like it really needs something, but in person it doesn't feel that way to me. I don't want to just add to it for the sake of a pretty picture. Does that make sense? I enjoy decorating, making our home pretty and functional, and sharing it with everyone. I just don't want to over due it because it reads better in a picture. This really is our home. We live and play here. It's not a magazine. HaHa.... not that any part of our home is magazine worthy, but you know what I mean. I may add something on this wall that we can use to display kid art. Any suggestions?

The rest of my to do list.

- Decide how to finish the coffee table. (paint, stain, paint/stain combo?)
- Finish stuffing the rest of the pillows I made.
- Build and Paint shelves for inside the closet.
- Possibly add a different media/shelf unit for under the television to store media components, dvds, and video games. (not pictured)

We are sooooo close!

Hopefully I can decide on a game plan for the table and get it done this week.

I am sharing this post at these Link-up parties.

Mini Makeover Challenge

Today I am guest posting at Cultivate Create. The challenge was to make over an area in my home without spending any money! Head on over to Cultivate Create to see what I did.

I'm linking this post to:
What You Wish Wednesday

Let Your Light Shine - Free Printable

It's Friday! That means it's time for a free printable. Let Your Light Shine - I made this for the gallery wall in the playroom.

*All printables are for personal use only. Right click on the image to save to your computer, and then print wherever you have your pictures printed. This one prints best as an 8 x 10 or smaller.

The Playroom

The playroom project has been one of those projects that has been started and then pushed aside, and never finished.

This is what the playroom looked like in April of 2012 when the room was just a place to play and store all of our toys. My to do list at this point was very simple. (You can see the full original post here.)

-define the color palette 

-paint walls (must decide on a color)

-make curtains

-find a rug

-finish the kid art display

 

I did make curtains, but that was about as far as I made it on this list. I just kept adding to it.

 

I REALLY liked the short bookcases with the gallery wall above, but I found that we needed more storage in this room, mainly for school supplies. We like to have friends come over to play, and that means that sometimes this room is full of kids. I knew that for that reason I would need to add taller bookcases for our school books and art supplies so that they weren't easily accessible. About the same time that we got taller bookcases, we also added a love seat and small TV.

I don't have any pictures of this phase, because it was never very easy on the eyes. Fast forward to last week.

My husband got a new TV for the living room and it made the most sense to move the other tv into the playroom. A 32" flat-screen would be a major upgrade from the 13" 25 year old TV that was currently in the playroom.

This was the kick in the pants I needed to finally paint the room. I knew that we didn't want to mount a TV

 on the wall and then take it down so that I could paint. That's just more work.

I still wasn't really sure what I wanted so I went to Lowe's to check out the oops selection. I knew that the 3 main walls would be painted a light gray (that I already had), and the wall that originally had the short bookcases and gallery wall would be painted with stripes. I wanted white and ???? maybe navy or green, or? In the oops section there was a quart of navy blue chalkboard paint and a quart of dark gray paint. Decision made. White and dark gray stripes on the wall and navy chalkboard paint on the closet doors. I don't recommend this approach to everyone, but it really helped me to make a decision. I still had to buy white paint (that turned out to be light gray, but I don't think I can stomach painting that wall again). 

 

 

 

My current to do list looks like this:

 

-fill in on the nail holes and prep wall for paint

-paint the walls gray

-paint one wall white

-paint dark gray stripes

-paint closet doors

-update some of the art in the gallery wall

-rehang the gallery wall

-mount the tv on wall

-cut, sand, and stain new shelves for above the kid kitchen (these will hold Cade's Lego creations and keep them out of reach of little hands)

-install shelves above kid kitchen

-reorganize toys and schools stuff

- relabel all of the bins to match what is in them

-figure out a solution for hanging kid art (they were taping their masterpieces to the closet doors)

-get a clear globe and higher wattage light bulbs for ceiling fan to hopefully make the room a little brighter

-maybe add beanbags or floor cushions for playing video games (I don't plan to add a rug)

-make pillows for love seat

-remove random TVs

 

What have you been working on lately? Any painting?

The Playroom Art

Last week I showed you a peek into our playroom. It's a fun room, still slightly beige, but progress is being made. I knew when it came to the art for the walls we needed some color. I also wanted to work with the pile of frames/canvases that I had on hand that weren't being used. Nothing "went" together, but I new that with a little spray paint and creativity it would all come together.

The first thing I did was take 2 canvases, I don't remember what was on them originally, painted over them with some craft paint and added some vinyl numbers (cut by a friend).

This beauty was my next victim.  The art was all wrong, but the frame was nice and large. A little spray paint on the frame AND mat, and I had a great frame to put some paint chips in for a nice dose of color.

More frames that were originally black or brown received a new life in the form of white spray paint. I also painted the mats for more color. The one on the top left is proudly displaying more colorful paint chips. The train photo is one that we picked up a few months back at a train show we took the boys to. The PLAY was typed into word and printed out. Easy enough. The cute little raccoon is from modtots. I won it a year ago in a giveaway that Decor Chick hosted. He is super cute.

The elephant hand print was inspired by this pin, originally from here. I wanted to included something that was made by each of my boys, so Henry did the hand print. The frame was originally black and I painted it with spray paint and then craft paint. The other picture is a piece of Cade's art. He dictated and a story to me (before he could read or write) to type out and he drew a picture to go with it. It has been a fav ever since. The frame and mat were of course panted by me.

You really can take a bunch of mismatched nothings and create something quite cute. It just takes a some time and patience.

Ok, now, what color would YOU paint the playroom? I'm all ears.



Linking up to these Blog Parties

A Bowl Full of Lemons - Tatertots and Jello - Positely Splendid - Delightful Order - It's Overflowing - The Shabby Nest

The Playroom

It is safe to say that I won't have any pics of project teal until next week. The good news is that I have been working on plenty of other projects around here.

Let's talk about our playroom. I have had the hardest time deciding on and sticking to a color palette for this room. The original plan was navy and green. Then orange was added per Cade's request. Then I started working on the storage and we had some red bins so now we have a little red. I did the art work and also added in a little bit of aqua. I can't seem to decide on a wall color or find a rug that I like for what I am willing to pay. We have some work to do. :)

Yes, I have been a little indecisive, but there are still some good things going on in this room. First let's take a look at where it started.

before

This picture was taken 2 weeks after we moved into our house (1 year, 2.5 months ago). The tile floors had just been finished, and I just kind of put everything around the room. We chose not to paint the room initially because it had just been painted before we moved in and I really had no clue where I wanted to go with this room. The rug was a spare from my parents' garage that wasn't being used so we brought it in to give the boys a soft surface to play on. The corners of the room that aren't pictured have  a sewing/office/craft corner for me next to the closet and an elliptical machine. It is a large room, but it is serving many of functions.

The closet contains some of the bulky toys, but I really wanted some storage in the room for the small items that they play with on a regular basis.We already had a bunch of the fabric drawers and I really like them so I wanted something that would hold them. The ClosetMaid shelving units were more that I wanted to spend, but I remembered bookmarking a post where DaNita used some of the inexpensive shelves from Walmart and made them work to hold the fabric bins. Score! I was able to purchase 3 bookcases for about $50. 

after

My husband put the shelves together while I pulled all of the bins out of the closet to get them ready for their new homes. I reorganized a few of them and pulled out some of the other items what would fit well on the shelves. I know that my kids play with their things more when they are easily accessible, so I'm okay with having their things out. I just want them to look neat and be easy for them to clean up.

There are a lot less tears when it's time to clean up. I still need to label all of the bins, but I wanted to be sure that everything was working well before I did all of that.

The small shelves at the top have worked out really well. They are perfect for some of the odd toys like the electric drums and magnadoodle. They are also just the right size for photo boxes, so I may add a few of those for some of the toys that have really small pieces at some point.

This is the only side of the room that is close to being finished, but it's a big room so I'm taking it one section at a time. 

Lots of progress has been made, but there is still plenty to do.

Playroom To Do List

-define the color palette 

-paint walls (must decide on a color)

-make curtains

-find a rug

-finish the kid art display

I plan to tell you all about the gallery of art in a separate post, so if you have any specific questions about any of it, feel free to ask.

Linking up to these Blog Parties
A Bowl Full of Lemons - Tatertots and Jello - Positely Splendid - Delightful Order - It's Overflowing - The Shabby Nest