The Playroom... the plan

After we finished painting the playroom, it was time to come up with a plan. Here is a mostly-to-scale floor plan of the room with my proposed set up. This was definitely not the first configuration, but it is the one that seemed to make the most sense. The right side of the room would be reserved for the hubby - his desk, bookcase and file cabinets. The rest of the room would be free reign for the kiddies.

Each of the bold lines you see represents a door - most of them open into a closet, the bottom left opens to a storage room that is under the porch, and the bottom right and bottom center both open up to different parts of the same room. It's where the sump pump, furnace, hot water tank, work area, and crawl space all live. That part of the space is unfinished, except for the peel and stick tile floor.

This is the design board I came up with - note that most things will be altered in some way and not appear in the final design as they do here.

























1. An no-longer-used mirror will now be in the dress up corner in the lower left of the room. It will be painted Behr's Tropical Breeze (our accent color for the room).

2. Play kitchen that we already own (got it as a gift) will be just across the door from the dress up area so all the imaginative play is near each other. There is also space there to park a shopping cart, stroller, and vacuum cleaner.

3. A row of hooks (not these exact ones) on the wall as a place to hang all the dress up clothes. I found an unfinished wood one with a little shelf that I will also paint Tropical Breeze.

4. & 5. Wooden shelf and brackets to hang over the arts and crafts table (not this exact one, but a close replica of our old kitchen table). The shelf will be painted and will be a storage place for all the coloring books and arts and crafts supplies.

6. Little Tykes play table which we already own. Perfect for doing a puzzle, playing restaurant, and much more.

7. Klippan couch from Ikea - its low profile (and low price), not to mention washable slipcover are perfect for a playroom.

8. Bookcase that we already own will also be painted. Besides for books, it will also hold puzzles.

9. Trofast system from Ikea for bulkier toys that don't fit neatly on a shelf.

10. Herman chair from Ikea - two of them for seating at the arts and crafts table.

I also set aside the closet next to the table for more toy storage. This will be for board games, playdoh, and other toys with lots of pieces that are contained in storage boxes (ex. lego, polly pocket, my little pony) I wanted to get a big rug for the middle of the floor, but the size I wanted was out of stock so I ended up getting two smaller ones to put next to each other (which actually ended covering up more space). I also got the Lekplats play mat for the little guy to drive his cars and trucks on. It will go right in front of the couch.

As you can see, this room is being done on a major budget - using mostly things we already own or budget-friendly items from Ikea. I know that as kids grow, so do their toys and therefore their storage needs so I don't want to spend too much on things that are liable to change in a few years.

Have any good playroom ideas? Please share!