playroom

Ever since my parents moved out we've had some extra space to play around with in our house.  We turned one of the rooms they were using into a downstairs playroom for the kids.  It won't stay this way permanently but for now, while the kids are young, it's a great solution for what to do with the extra space.  I don't want to do anything to decorate in there since I know it won't be that way for long, but I think it's turned in to a great play area.  Excuse the mess in the pictures; it's a room that obviously gets lived in.

We added a kid sized table and chairs, plus a bean bag for seating.

We moved the train table down here and put it in the middle of the room so the kids have plenty of space to walk around it.

There's a small TV in there that doesn't ever get used.  There's also an art center which rarely gets used.  It's hard to do arts and crafts unless brother is asleep.

Along one wall I turned my craft cubbies on their sides and bought some cheap plastic shoebox containers to use for toy storage. Jules and I took pictures of various groups of toys and put them on the ends of the boxes so that the kids can clean up and organize their stuff appropriately (even if they can't read).

And probably the thing I like the most about the room is that we took the extra twin mattress we have and put it on the floor in the corner.  It makes an excellent "reading center" as Julianna likes to call it and it's the perfect height for Joshua to crawl on and off whenever he likes.  This area of the room gets used the most.

Of course, everyone who comes over notices that my craft/scrapbooking room is no longer there.  I guess I can hope for the future.