Welcome to our new playroom.

Though it's nothing too fancy, we are pretty excited about our new playroom.  We didn't have any room in our last apartment for a designated play space, so having this area in the basement is really awesome.  We used most of what we already had, added some baskets and a table from Ikea, and an art rail that Brian made for us.  We put up the nerdy alphabet cards we had, labeled the toy bins for organization, and decided to make seating areas using small chairs, cushions and pillows. 

 

This is definitely a boy space, and gets a lot of use.  And is not normally this put together.  But while Theo was off at preschool I could get a few photos of it out of use for once.

Pretty much everything in here used to have another life.  I have issues with getting rid of anything so I am very good at the third "R" reusing.

Below is a storage unit for Ikea that everyone seems to have, and for good reason. It is awesome.  We originally used this in our bedroom to hold Eli's baby things when he was first born.  It was used vertically then in a small corner spot.

I created quick labels to help us with the daily picking-up that goes on in here. They are:  dress-up, busy bags, food, cars, farm and animals, Thomas trains, bits and bobs (manipulatives) and messy toys (bubbles, chalk, etc).  I just took pictures of objects for each bin, added text to the photos and made prints.  Then I ran them through my laminater, and placed Velcro on the bins and photos to keep them on.  Eli likes to pull them off, but they have held up well so far.

 Working around the room next are the big bins we used to use for recycling, which hold all of the duplos and also the big electric train that Theo has.  I threw a big red pillow from my first apartment, and some old chair cushions we used to use down here fore some seating.

Even though Theo has pretty much mastered letter identification (other than W-which can be U or M on any given day) we went ahead and put these up on the wall to add some color.  Being a math teacher married to a scientist, I just couldn't resist how cute these nerd flash cards are.   We also have the number cards too.

 We used to have this chair in our bedroom, but moved it down here to be my seat for reading in the play area.  It was another cheap Ikea find.  And the green wooden board on the wall was hand-painted by Brian to be used as a road with playing with the cars or trains or a background for the farm set. 

We have had this chalkboard long before the recent pinterest-inspired popularity.  It used to be the top of a temporary table Brian built, which he painted with chalkboard paint.  And the small white table with an extra chair was our main addition to this room when we moved in.

My husband also created the art rail for us.  He simply got a piece of trim, painted clothespins (these are actually in the boys room colors, in case we ever relocate it) and attached them before attaching the whole things to the wall.  Theo is very proud to hang things here now (including the moon from his first day of pre-school).

It's not the most fantastic room, but I love how it was done cheaply, keeps everything organized and how how much the boys truly enjoy playing here.