Playroom Tour!

Anyone who knows my child, knows he has way too many toys. This is the product of being both an only child and an only grandchild on my side of the family. I strive to keep an orderly home, but with baskets of toys spilling out into our living room, it was nearly impossible. Thankfully, we had room to grow and I was able to utilize some space in our basement to create the perfect playroom.

 

The best part about this project is that it didn't break the bank. I reused some tall bookcases that we've had forever, making sure to anchor them to the wall so they can't be pulled over by little hands. I believe I originally purchased them at a Walmart, years ago. They have adjustable shelves so I was able to modify the shelving to fit everything.

 

 

In addition to housing my little one's ever-growing toy collection, I was able to place all of our family games on the upper shelves which opened up some space in our hall closet. My mom found these utility bins by Martha Stewart on clearance at Kmart and they were the perfect color. I love when I can use baskets or bins to hide things away. I plan on making a cute tag label for each bin, but haven't gotten around to it yet. The second shelf down from the top holds bins containing painting supplies, Play-doh, and a few more games. I like that this shelf is out of reach for little hands.

 

 The bottom three shelves house toys that can be easily accessed. The bins are packed with like items. For example, one bin has Viewmaster viewers and reels, one has puzzles, one has busy books and grab and go activities for the car, one is full of Fisher Price Little People, and one is home to Mickey Mouse and Friends figures.

Next to the bookshelf, is a handy easel that I purchased at Ikea with a roll of butcher paper attached. We move it outside to finger paint, but keep it inside to use with chalk, water colors, markers and crayons. I love the little paint containers from Melissa and Doug that control how much paint can be put on brushes and they fit perfectly in the easel tray.

 Next to the easel, I placed a chunky legged table from Ikea with matching stools. I works great working on arts and crafts or playing board games. While shopping at Ikea, I also added this giant canopy leaf. I didn't have a real plan for it at the time, but the color matched and it found a place in the corner of the room. To brighten up the space and help set it off from the rest of the room, I used two colorful floor rugs also from Ikea. I had these from my days teaching elementary school and am SO glad I didn't leave them behind for my replacement. They are super durable and fun to boot. I mounted a magnetic white board on the wall at child height so we can work with magnetic letters and shapes. Later, we'll break out the dry erase markers, but he isn't quite there yet.

 Crayons, markers, chalk, colored pencils, Play-doh, and all things crafty that I don't necessarily want my little guy to have unlimited access to are stored in this handy wall-mounted storage shelf. Coloring and activity books are stored in magazine holders on to of and next to the piano. The festive Mickey Mouse and Friends "London" letters were created for my guy's second birthday and they found a home above the storage shelf and add some additional color to the room. I also keep a CD player handy in this space and lots of kid friendly music and read-aloud story book CDs in this area too.

I hope you enjoyed your tour of our Playroom!