The Dream Playroom

I can't believe it, but after nearly 2 years in our house I can officially say that the playroom is complete! A lot of hard work and planning (and blood, sweat and tears) went into finally finishing up. There are several components to the room which have already been featured in a post, so I'll spare you the repetition 😉 a few things are new though, so I'll showcase those as well. So, finally... It's time to find out what's hiding behind this door... 

First things first... This whole project kind of kicked off last fall when we received a fully-functional, though worn-out, train table. Of course, I don't have any "before" shots, but after a good scrub down with Goof Off and a $4 roll of colorful polka-dot contact paper I had a lovely "new" table for the girls! 

You can see the dress-up closet wardrobe in the background.I wanted to keep with the general color scheme, and lucked out with this contact paper. As excited as I was, my ever-practical hubs reminded me that the playroom was already overflowing with things and there really wasn't any room for this. In my head, this directly translated to: "We should really completely change up the playroom so we can fit more things in it". I decided that we needed more efficient storage solutions and wanted to really free up the floor space. Plus, the dress-up closet was so awesome that it totally deserved a lovely room to go with it. I took a few "Before" pictures for motivation. The stark white walls, messy storage tubs, bulky bookshelf, and toy-covered floor all had to go! 

You see what I mean? It's a hot mess. Even when it was cleaned up, it was still ugly and boring. The first thing I decided to do was ditch the storage buckets you can see under the window, and replace it with a cute, trendy, cube storage unit. This way the contents will be hidden, and we can get a variety of colorful and fun fabric storage cubes. The old storage bucket moved to the hall and became the perfect thing to organize all of the girls' shoes. 

Ahhhh, that's MUCH better. So for the sake of time, we opted to just purchase a 9-cube square unit from Amazon. Sure, we could have built our own, but the Closetmaid organizer is well-made and reasonably priced so we ordered it. 2 days later it arrived, and I enlisted some child labor to go ahead and assemble it

She was very excited to get to use her tool set she got for Christmas. Every girl needs a pink hammer, right? Exactly. So once the unit was put together, we stashed it in the garage until we painted. We bought a variety of fabric cubes from Amazon and Target. I'm all about kids' rooms being fun and playful, so we chose bright and fun prints, which you'll see in the finished room. 

The next order of business was clearing up floor space and organizing. I wanted to utilize the wall space and add something equally decorative and functional. I went to the wood pile and poked around for a bit before deciding what to do. We had some spare 1x6, 1x4, and 1x3 boards hanging around, so I drew up a quick sketch of what I had in mind...

The plan was to build 2 shelves at 3' each. The 1x6 would be the back, with the 1x4 serving as the shelf. The 1x3's would go around the top of the shelf to hold flat objects like board puzzles, drawing pads, magna-doodles etc. below the shelf I wanted to attach hooks for hanging anything with a handle, and bags of toys. I purchased drawstring mesh "produce bags" from Amazon so toys could be visible and the bags were easy to fill and close. With my plans ready, I went to the saw.

Ahhhh, nothing like some late-night power tools! And of course, safety first. Once I had my cuts done, I used wood glue and a nail gun to put everything together, and used clamps to hold it all in place while it dried. 

I let these sit overnight before I removed the clamps. 

The next day they were nice and dry and secure. Time to paint! I opted for the light pink that I used in the closet, as I knew that wouldn't be a color I was using on the wall. I did this upstairs so I could watch TV with the hubs. 

I let them dry overnight and the next day I was ready to add the hooks! I ordered a set of 10 small metal hooks from (you guessed it) Amazon. First I got the shelves set up on some work horses 

I love these collapsible work horses. The hubs picked them up at Lowe's and they're a great way to create more work space without taking up the floor. So now  I use the tape measure to mark off where I want the hooks. I'm using 5 hooks per shelf, and the shelves are 36" long, so I mark off every 6" to make perfectly centered and evenly spaced hooks. 

They're kind of hard to see, but I made the lines just long enough that I can see them through the screw holes of the hooks. Now I need to mark the screw holes. I placed the hooks and marked the holes, making a full circle mark to ensure I drilled perfectly in the center. We don't want crooked hooks.

Once the holes were marked, it was time to pre-drill. This is an important step! Using a bit slightly smaller than the screws, I drilled holes into the wood. This is why I marked the entire circle earlier instead of just screwing them in. Pre-drilling prevents the wood from splitting when you put the screws in, and helps ensure a nice straight path. Once the holes are pre-drilled, you'll have this:

Now it's easy to put your hooks on! On a random note, I'm totally going to plug an awesome little product. When hubs bought this I gave him grief... "You already have a nice drill, why do you need this dinky thing?!" However, I ate my words as it's one of my favorite tools. It's lightweight, has multiple bits, is quite powerful, and sits nicely on a charging base so it's always ready to go. For quick jobs like this it's much easier than getting out a big heavy drill. I use it ALL the time. Yeah, yeah... I was wrong and hubs was right. 

Ok, shameless plug over. Anyway, once you get the hooks on you're good to go! They're perfect! 

I didn't worry about hanging hardware because hubs was just going to screw them directly into the studs through the front. Since these are heavy and will be used by the kiddos, it was the safest method to avoid the shelves getting knocked down and bonking somebody on the head. I'm accident prone, so I think about these things. 

Since I already took out the now-shoe-bins, I went ahead and moved the train table into the room so I would have a place to set items down. I had some help getting it set up...

Now for the most tedious task... PAINT! I admit, it took me forever to get this done, and I finally had to enlist the help of my best friend. Now, before you scoff at the colors, bear in mind that this room's sole purpose is to delight children and bring them joy. This room is also located in the bottom corner of the house, so the only reason anybody would ever go in and see it would be for the purpose of play. I wanted to keep colors that would go with the dress-up closet's fabric (this one)

So I decided to use 3 different colors for the playroom. The closet was dark pink and light, and I painted the shelves light pink, so I chose bright pink, turquoise, and lime green. It's basically an instant good mood! So I decided which walls would be which color, and started with the lightest shade, lime green. 

A fun fact about lime green paint-it takes A LOT of paint. We used a high quality paint/primer combo and it still took 3 coats. I was feeling very distressed at this point...

Then panic started to set in...

While I let this coat dry a bit, I got an unexpected 2AM helper. Apparently she didn't want to miss out on the action. 

Fortunately, once I added a couple more coats, I was very pleased with the progress!

At this point, school started again (for me) so I took a pretty long break from my project to focus on exams etc. I also started working full time so my body went into a little adjustment shock which equated to me basically sleeping as soon as I walked in the door each night. I adjusted pretty quickly, and after the first exam was over my stress level dropped a bit and I had more time for fun things. Things like... 

BRIGHT PINK PAINT!

Now I was truly in love! Between coats, I also had the bright idea to jazz up the light switch plate with some Washi tape. I think it was a nice little touch. Small details really make a difference to me, and my oldest always notices, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

So now I'm all excited and ready to get the final color on the walls... when suddenly, in the middle of the night, I wake up in unbearable pain and can barely move. Long story short, a herniated disc in my neck was compressing the right nerve root. I had to have surgery, and was on strict lifting restrictions. I was stuck at home, not allowed to work, and was going crazy. I'm one of those weird people who actually love my work. So I called my amazing best friend to come over. She helped me paint the living and dining room when moved in, so I figured she wouldn't mind helping with 2 more little turquoise walls. 

That's her in corner, being awesome. This final color is my absolute favorite and really pulled the room together. Now the fun began! Remember that wooden bookshelf that used to be under the TV? It got evicted from the playroom, and the gray and white baskets that were on it needed to be hung on the wall. It's important to note that these baskets have a metal frame, so they're strong enough to hang without tearing. I used a piece of trim wood and screws to secure the baskets to the wall. Each basket has one screw in a stud, and the other is anchored in the drywall. You may have noticed the "A" shelf stayed on the wall while we painted... That bad boy is screwed directly into the stud at multiple points, so it wasn't going anywhere. I wanted to keep the gray/white items grouped together, so I hung the baskets here and planned to put the wooden toy chest against the same wall. 

You see Olaf waving hello? He's one of the many vinyl wall decals my mother purchased for the girls months ago. They were all purchased at Target, and I kept them in the package "until I painted the room". It's nice to FINALLY see them on the wall. In addition to Olaf, there are also Monsters, Inc. and Sofia the First decals. You might be thinking, "wow, that's a lot of decals..." But you know who thinks it's perfect? The kids of course! My oldest LOVES Monsters and Sofia, and I love seeing her eyes light up over the walls. I also promised hubs that his Gator fat heads could stay, so of course I kept my word. So here it is... Without further ado...it's time to open the door to...

THE DREAM PLAYROOM!

Now the dress-up closet is a perfect extension of this childhood wonderland. Here's a closer look at some of the areas of the room:

Here you can see the "new" train table-it goes perfectly with the colors, and the drawers provide great storage. It's also super easy to just scrape toys off the top directly into the drawer for a quick clean-up. 

Ahhh, the shelves! I added some decals for a fun embellishment, and as you can see they are PERFECT for those wood puzzles and books. The bags below have the puzzle pieces, play food for the kitchen, small animals and dinosaurs etc. it's so easy to stay organized with these, and they take up zero floor space! 

This is "dinosaur corner". I used a Melissa & Doug crate as a "stable" for her walking/roaring dinos, and her larger dinosaurs fit perfectly under the baskets. The baskets themselves are perfect for dolls, blocks, and other toys that won't fit elsewhere. 

The cube organizer is self-explanatory, I just wanted to give a close-up on the cute and colorful bins.

Last but least... The finishing touch. This was a gift from Valentine's Day over a year ago, and it's still a favorite toy. The kids are obsessed with mail, the post office, and letters so I screwed this directly into the stud by the door. I have a sneaky feeling there might be some letters and special deliveries in there for her to find in the mornings (wink, wink)

Alright, that's all folks! I hope you love our playroom as much as we do! Feel free to borrow any designs or building plans. The A shelf, hanging round wall decor and dress-up closet all have their own posts if you'd like more details. Thanks for stopping by! Now go make some things! 

Quick and Easy wall decor

Good morning! I know I've been slacking off lately... 2 weeks ago I had surgery on my neck for a herniated disc so I've been down and unable to really do much. Fortunately, I'm starting to feel like myself again, and I'm being bitten by a million craft bugs! So our ongoing project right now is the kids' playroom. We are ::thisclose:: to being done with it, and this morning after my hubs left to take M to preschool, I thought I might be able to throw together a quick project before J woke up. This project is super easy, requires no skill whatsoever, and would be a great project for your kiddos to help with. This took less than 20 minutes and there was no mess. So, today we're going to create a fun, custom pop of color and design for our wall using embroidery hoops and fabric!

Our playroom is downstairs, and the exterior wall is very textured. The texture creates a challenge for me in this room because wall vinyl stickers don't really work on it, and I don't want to hang a bunch of heavy pieces in a room where the kiddos will be most of the time. 

A couple months ago, I went to a local auction house with a friend for a "girls night". This is the same place I scored the $5 entertainment center I used to create the dress-up closet. I also got this giant box of embroidery hoops for something like $2. 

I don't actually embroider or cross-stitch, but I knew there were a million uses for these so obviously I couldn't pass up this deal, amiright? Of course my hubs is getting slightly irritated with all of my "craft project junk" taking up the garage (man cave) so this morning I grabbed this box to move to my craft room and BAM. Inspiration strikes! I go to my fabric stash and start digging. The playroom is very bright and colorful, with Turquoise, hot pink, light pink, lime green, and purple. I pulled out the fabrics I liked and just played with them. These were my original picks, but I later replaced the dark purple with the same polka-dot fabric I used to line the shelves of the dress-up wardrobe. 

I love colors! You could easily customize this for any room though. A nice mix of neutral geometric patterns would look great in a main room or foyer. You could even use this to create an awesome wall for teens using T-shirts that they have outgrown or that have "bacon-collar", holes or stains. Imagine a music room with concert T-shirts on the wall! The possibilities are endless really. 

I wanted a variety of sizes for visual interest, so I pulled some small hoops for the smaller scraps and larger ones for the bigger fabric pieces. 

Please pardon my floor! I had a hole-punch incident last night and my craft room shares a wall with the nursery so I did NOT want to break out the vacuum and wake J up. I also have my fabric scissors ready to go. Next, I just kind of played around with the hoops and fabric. If you're using a large pattern fabric (like my birds) you'll want to make sure that you're placing the hoop on a nice spot. I wanted a pink bird and flower with a dash of turquoise, but I could have also chosen a turquoise flower or greenery spot. Totally your choice. 

Now for the fun part! A couple things to think about-the tension screw will be at the top, so make sure your pattern is turned the right way. The chevron and tiny flower prints need to be horizontal, not all wonky. Also, I think it looks best of all of the screws face the same direction. So, to create the pieces, you simply loosen the outer hoop and separate it from the inner hoop. Lay the inner hoop down and place your fabric over it. 

Once you're happy with the placement, slip the outer ring over the top, remembering to watch the direction of your pattern and which side the screw is on. Gently tighten the screw, and pull the fabric taut from the back. When you like the way it looks, tighten the screw as much as possible. If you're doing this with kids, you might want to go behind to make sure it's very tight and secure. 

SO EASY, right? I use the large scissors to roughly cut the hoop away from the rest of the fabric so I can go ahead and fold that to the side to put back in my stash. Don't worry about perfection, we can trim up later! Now, just repeat the process with the other fabrics/hoops. 

This took about 5 minutes total. At this point, I went ahead and folded and put away the rest of the fabric so there wouldn't be a mess. Now, you can take the little snippers (or an exacto knife, or a box cutter, whatever!) and trim up the fabric on the back as close to the hoop as possible. It doesn't have to be perfect-that side is against a wall anyway.  Before you do this, make sure you are happy with the placement and direction of your fabric, and pull it tight. Once you trim the fabric you really can't adjust it. Here is the result: 

I love them! Notice the screws are all on the left, and the tiny flowers and chevron are going the correct direction. I also love the placement of the bird, as it really incorporates a lot of the colors. This fabric is leftover from a dress I made for M, which J will be wearing soon. Anyway... Now to hanging. Another great thing about this project is that hanging is so simple. Unlike shelving or heavy items, you don't need to bother with finding studs or using screws/anchors etc. there's also no need for hardware-the tension screws on the top serve as built-in hangers! I just grabbed these small nails and a hammer.

These weigh next to nothing, so they won't weigh the nail down, and if they happen to fall off due to rough housing/climbing kids/earthquake (hey it could happen!) it won't hurt anybody.

So now, I take my hoops to the playroom and decide how I want them to be laid out. This is the wall they will be on 

It's a small area next to a window, and it's directly across the room from the closet. I played around and decided I liked this layout. I wanted the chevron in the center so it wouldn't get "lost" on the pink wall. 

Hanging is super simple. Just put the hoop on the wall, and tap the nail in so the tension screw hangs on it. Couldn't be simpler. Now, the wall has some great visual interest, and the matching fabric from the dress-up closet really helps tie things together! 

You can see that the fabric coordinates well with the different wall colors 

And from inside the playroom closet, I love it even more! Of course we are still working in here, so the train table will not be in this location. We just pushed it over there to accommodate an air mattress for my MIL who came to help out a bit after my surgery. 

And TA-DAH! I completed this entire project in under 20 minutes, and the only cleanup I had to do was hanging the hammer back up on the tool bench and throwing the fabric trimmings in the trash!  

If you're looking for a quick, easy project that you can do yourself or do with the kiddos, this is a great choice! Hopefully the playroom will be complete within a couple days... I can't wait for the final product!