room to play

High on my priority list while on the house hunt, was a playroom for the kids. Now that they are out of the baby stage and playing together with the same toys, I wanted them to have a space where all the toys were together where they could play (that wasn't my living room!)

My vision of the playroom was modern and clean lined. Very Ikea-meets-Pottery Barn. The reality is that it's a hodge-podge of stuff that looks nothing like what I had planned! I'm ok with it though b/c the kids like it more than they would have if it was done "my way." haha!

I originally thought a fresh green w/ lots of white would be great for the playroom, but then I found multiple cans of yellow paint in the garage, left by the previous owners. To save some cash, I mixed them all up and used them! I let the girls put sticker decals on the walls along with their beloved mesh butterflies from the nursery in the old house. Stickers are a girl's best friend, you know!


We wound up with an extra crib mattress, so we stuck in there for them to use while watching t.v. or playing house. I found some velour curtain panels on clearance for less $1, so that's what I used to make the mattress cover and pillowcases. Above the bed are hooks for all of their dress up hats.

All of the furniture is stuff we already had, but I think we will need to get more storage furniture so that the toys aren't just sitting out, piled into buckets! It's tough with the twins only being 2 b/c they aren't tall enough to reach very high and don't understand how to be very organized, so we are limited in what would work well for us.

Any ideas for covering the breaker box? I assume we'll hang something over it, but I'm not really sure what. I thought a chalkboard would be cool, but the kids couldn't reach it. And those are cable wires for the t.v. that's in the corner. We'll be feeding them through something to hide them a little.

Daddy told the girls that if they kept the playroom picked up, they could get a fish tank. Well, the girls haven't exactly followed through with keeping the room clean, but Daddy got them the tank anyway! They picked out Dora and Spongebob statues and pink/blue gravel. We're still working out the cloudy water, but the fish seem to be doing great. We have an albino mini-catfish named Snowball, a mini-catfish named Fluffy, Patty Platty, Gabby Guppy, and Gary & Pearl who are mini-platties.


The fish tank is currently sitting on a table that the kids can use for coloring or puzzles. (I still need to touch up some of the furniture and paint the doors and door trim.) The girls have a Rose Petal Cottage, which I highly recommend, but Daddy has to fix it. (Someone got a little rambunctious while playing!) Originally, I tried making a "hammock" for all the stuffed animals with some of the velour from the curtain panels, but the kids promptly pulled it out of the wall, so I go them this bucket instead. I think when garage sale time hits, we will be parting with some of our collection!


The best part about the playroom is that you can shut the door! It's down in the basement, so no one even has to know the mess exists! Here's the before shot, taken by our realtor: