Playroom Redo

The two hardest working rooms in our house are the laundry/pantry and our playroom. Alright, honestly you could argue that each and every room of our 2800 square foot house is hardworking but that doesn't serve me as well for this post. THIS is about our playroom.

Remember my alphabet wall? Here is another view of it.

We have four kids. The playroom sits at the very front of our house, right by the front door. Most people with this kind of floorplan use this space for their formal dining or living room but puh-lease. We are firmly informal people in this house. We decided years ago to use this space as a playroom.

The space has undergone many revamps over the years. The baby/toddler phase was full of plastic and wood toys and baby gates and color and craziness. Honestly, I don't miss those days too much. Today the space needs to function for two little kids embarking on their first pages of homework, puzzle piecing, drawing, and the occasional doll hospital. It also needs to function as a place to house a large percentage of our family books, an art cart and a prime area to look out the window at the garden. Seriously, we spend a lot of time looking at that garden.

I purchased this white Kallax bookshelf from Ikea about a week ago. I am one of those really strange people who enjoy assembling things from Ikea. Weird, right? Anyway, it took just under an hour to get it together and it is SOLID. I love the glossy finish and generous cubby shelves. The clear baskets on the bottom row were purchased at Target. The transparency makes it easier for my kids to see what they actually have to play with. Since this is a playroom and all, I would like for them to play with their toys. The big red lantern is from Home Goods, as is the crocheted giraffe. That giraffe was a total inpulse buy years ago and I have never regretted it. My ball garland is fashioned from felted wool balls I picked up during my recent trip to Morocco. More on that here.

The big globe is a Goodwill find years ago. We have two children born in Ethiopia and globes have played a necessary part in understanding the journey our family went on to assemble all of us. There is something special about using your finger to trace a story on a globe. It never gets old.

The ball that looks like a colorful soccer ball is from our trip to Ethiopia a few years ago. We bought it at the orphanage where our children were living. See the blue cart in the background there?

There she is! This is the Ikea Raskog cart and it is worth its weight in gold. Although, it doesn't weigh much at all so that analogy won't really work...

This cart is command central for all four kids. I have a few chalk painted mason jars that were left over from another project corralling pencils and markers. The two shelves below are strictly for papers and coloring books. Having all of the art stuff in one simple cart has kept the playroom really clean. Like, shockingly clean.

I made the curtains out of some decorator weight fabric from Hancock Fabric. I always forget how much I hate sewing curtains until it is done and hung and I fall in love. These are the exact curtains that I could not find anywhere.

So that's our playroom space. I have listed a few sources below. Do you have a dedicated playroom in your house? What are your methods for keeping it both fun and functional? I would love to hear them!

Sources:

Black and white curtain fabric from Hancock Fabrics
Large silver star: Taipan Trading
Large red wood lantern: Home Goods
White bookshelf: Ikea
Bookshelf clear baskets: Target
Globes: Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Goodwill
Vintage school house chairs: local thrift and antique stores
Art table: Ikea
Art cart: Ikea
Silver stool: Overstock.com

Easter 2014

It was Easter this past weekend.  We enjoyed lovely spring weather and an incredible feast with family and friends.  But most importantly, we prayerfully considered and expressed gratitude for Jesus Christ.  Easter is all about the Savior and His resurrection.  To learn more about my beliefs visit here.  I am grateful for my faith, my testimony, my family.  I love being Mormon; I can't imagine my life without my faith.

Here is this amazing family of mine.  I love that 3 of us are in VERY similar glasses, and 3 without.  Remarkably, we are all smiling at the same time and looking in the same direction.  It was an Easter miracle :).  Both of my daughters dresses are from Target (recently).  My whole outfit is from Anthropologie.  The boys...who knows where those clothes are from?!

On Saturday we had a little backyard Easter egg hunt for our chickpeas.  Very fun.  I have the happiest memories of my grandparents doing an ALL OUT hunt for us every year.  Money in the eggs, our favorite candies, giant chocolate bunnies.  It was epic.  I am trying to teach my children to focus on the reason for the Easter holiday to begin with (Jesus Christ) but we still have our family traditions :)

The kids opened their baskets in the playroom on Sunday morning.  Everyone got one thing they had been asking for/looking forward to (oldest son was the next book in his favorite series, oldest daughter a pair of yoga pants, etc.) and then of course lots of candy. Candy is a given on Easter, am I right? Most of which was gone by the time we got to church at 1 PM.

Later we enjoyed the yummiest feast ever with our cousins the Clawsons. Corned beef, roasted corn on the cob, sour cream and cheese potato casserole AND baked potatoes, grilled asparagus, salad.  And a giant strawberry shortcake trifle for dessert.  It was perfection. Every last morsel. 

All in all, a lovely Easter weekend had by all.  

Me and Chewy...

This is my youngest son.  We lovingly refer to him as "Chewy".  Because, I mean, come on...look how squishy and cute he is.  Seriously.  He prefers to call himself Turtle (notice the little turtle sitting ON my chest?  He carries it everywhere).

So this is me...with Chewy/Turtle, lounging on our couch. The end.

DIY: Kids Kitchen Makeover!

This post is originally from my personal blog back in 2009...
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I hit the jackpot with a wooden Pottery Barn play kitchen for my kids this past weekend. While it had good bones, it really needed some TLC.

Here was our humble beginning:



I began this process by taking the doors and hardware off and taped it up in preparation for paint. Also, the kitchen was too short for my tall four and six year old so I simply attached feet. The feet are spindles from the stair/banister section at Lowes. I predrilled some holes in the base and screwed the new legs in. BOOM! Necessary play height achieved!


Then it was off to painting. I did away with all over priming since the existing pink was a great base. I simply roughed up the surface with a light sanding with some sand paper. I gave the new spindle feet a quick light coat of white spray paint I had on hand for priming. I used glossy red spray paint and it took two full bottles.


This part took awhile because I wanted an even finish. I allowed for drying time in between coats.

I then repainted the original silver components, added a tile back splash (out of necessity - I messed up with my spray paint on that section), added a new silver piece to the door and embellished it with an antique silver star. I made a little curtain with fabric from my stash and hung it on a small tension rod from Target. Finally, I visited my local Goodwill and picked up a few random small pots and pans. You would be surprised how many small containers there are at thrift stores that are the perfect size for play kitchens. The last piece was a food play set from Melissa and Doug. And that was it! DONE!






It took a little work but was such a fun project. Luckily, Simon and Sophie love it almost as much as I do and have been enjoying it tonight. It is a solid piece of furniture and I am hopeful that it will last not only through my four kids but their kids too. Bon appetite, kiddos!

Sewing: Vintage Inspired Girls Dress

This post was originally on my personal private blog in 2008
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As I lay in bed the other night, I created this dress in my head: grey and white stripes with some textured structure, lined with two kinds of red and white polka dot cotton, trimmed out in blue and red bias and featuring two hip "belts" out of vintage patchwork with large white buttons. Everything sewn in red thread. In my head it was so pretty.

So I made it!

I cut and "pasted" two patterns together, one from the 70's and one current (from the McCalls book of patterns at Joanns) and whipped this up for my little girl. When I say whipped, it really took me the better part of two days. I'm not a magician :). She loved it.








 
 I don't sew dresses often and I certainly don't choose projects as involved as this one. For all of the work, however, it was worth it.

Playroom Redo

 
Our playroom is actually the front room of our house.  And while I like to think of myself as a go with the flow mom...I still like my house to have a decently cohesive feel to it.  Ie: not so many primary colored plastic toys near my front door.

So, I pulled together a color scheme I can live with and NOW I am officially happy with our newly redone playroom.

Curtains from World Cost Plus Market.  Table top originally from Ikea but sprayed with a hammered metal finish paint

 We have these friends on top of our very overstuffed bookshelf.  Yarn bombed giraffe from Home Goods, globe from a thrift shop, multi colored ball from our trip to Ethiopia, large star from a store in Utah called Taipan Trading.

I love how things turned out.  White kitchen from Pottery Barn Kids

My People

 On Easter Sunday.

I like them :)

Sewing: Skirts for Kids!

 I got it in my head about a week ago that my two girls needed something special for Easter...and that I should make that special something!  My oldest daughter LOVES to match her little sister whenever possible so I pulled out a gorgeous piece of vintage fabric from my stash and whipped these two skirts up quick.  Seriously, an hour for both.  It was quick.

On Easter morning it was lovely seeing them in their new skirts (though somehow this picture didn't capture both of their skirts and its the only one I have!  How did that happen?).  PS: my dress is a favorite vintage dress that I purchased a few years ago in Orange, CA.  It all came together so nicely.

Room Tour: A Girls Room

 

My daughter recently turned eight.  We have four kids...and each currently NEED their own rooms.  So after shifting people and rooms around, my eight year old again has her own room.  And she lucked out in that its the largest kids bedroom.  She requested purple purple purple.  We had a ball getting it all ready and she loves the space.

Her bed is SUPER comfy and has lots of mixed patterns and colors. (Bedding a mixture of Ikea, Pottery Barn, Target, Home Goods.  Bed itself a hand-me-down from a friend and painted purple by moi).

Tissue poofs hanging from the ceiling.

(Horse painting from Target)

 This dresser is as old as I am (37) and has gone through numerous coats of paint over the years (it was my dresser when I was a baby).  Its latest incarnation is a lovely lavender with clear glass handles.  Its a great, solid piece.

And finally a place for all of her trophies and ribbons.  I believe that it is important to display these; sometimes you need to remember how far you have come and what you have accomplished...even when you are only eight.

Back to School Printables

 
In honor of my kids returning to school this week and my little ones starting preschool, I thought this idea was brilliant.  Just click, print and create a photo moment with your kids, capturing their back to school day.

Love it!

I think I'm also going to set these on the kids chairs on the first day of school; kind of a congratulations you're now in ____ grade thing...

Get 'Em Organized, Keep 'Em Organized!

We've all seen loads of the hook/shelf/shoe cubby organizational situation.  And differing variations on the same theme.

But this looks both smart AND classy.  Hang as many hooks as you have backpacks.  Use 4 same size frames (pop out the glass and add corkboard...) and paint a unifying color.  Initial for each persons spot.   Sign me up; I'm doing this before my brood goes back to school!  Great idea.