My mission: create a bright, sunny, and organized playroom for two young kids. In other words, a dream project!
I’ve worked with these clients before and they’re super fun to work with. They had a vision for a brightly colored playroom for their two kids, and had drawn inspiration for Houzz and Pinterest. The space was completely a blank slate, as they had just claimed extra space in their home by extending a main floor guest bedroom into the overhead dead space in their garage. (They also added a mudroom & workshop!) So we were starting from scratch.
The room is large, so we divided it into zones. Even if you don’t have a huge space, I highly recommend creating zones in your child’s play area. It helps you keep the room organized, and makes clean up time so much easier – for you and the kids.
Let’s take a tour!
Front: Toy storage, play kitchen area, trampoline & Lego Station (hidden).
Middle: Swinging seat, toy & book storage
Back: Art Gallery & Reading Nook
Here are three of the key zones for this space:
1. Toy Organization & Display
The key here is lots of separate cubbies to hold different toys. The colorful bins scattered throughout help contain smaller items, while the open cubbies offer room for bigger toys or display items. And I love the carefully placed items on display on top of the shelf as a fun design element. (That is, until the kids want to play with them.)
2. Lego Station
If your child has a favorite hobby or collection, it’s great to create a specific space or zone for it. This client’s son loves his Legos, so we dedicated space to his collection and projects. This may be the ultimate Lego space. The shelves are great for displaying projects, while the table and storage drawers offer excellent organization.
We found this great, pull-down table for work space and storage. It folds down when projects are in the works, and up when you want everything out of sight.
Cubbies and drawers organize different types of bricks, while the top serves as a display shelf.
3. Art Gallery & Reading Nook
Isn’t this a cheery space? The cozy, bright couch is a great spot to cuddle up with a book. And I love to use these curtain wires from IKEA to display artwork. They’re easy to install, you can add as many clips as you want for an instant art display!
Nearby, we added built-in shelves to hold more toys and books. I never waste good vertical space!
Around the corner, up few stairs is a secret book nook. We had so much fun with paint colors. You’ll notice we transition from yellow to green. The green walls signal the book nook area.
The tent offers a great hiding spot too! (Can you spot someone inside?)
And finally, can we talk about the colors in this room? Even on the darkest, rainiest Seattle day, this room will be a cheerful place to be. We used paint colors to divide the space, with predominately yellow walls, except for the green book nook. We also had some fun on the ceiling, a spot that’s often overlooked. We went with a sky blue, and added sun and cloud decals to make the room sunny year-round.
I’m so excited with how the space turned out! I hope it inspires you to organize and/or brighten up your child’s play space.