You just don’t know what you are gonna get any time you check in here, do you?! One might think that you would get something Halloween related but I am not done with the boys costumes (EEK!)….so today you get a playroom update.
You can just thank me later for keeping you on your toes….keeping you young….agile…gracefully easygoing. I do my best.
Anyhoo….remember when I explained our Great Switcheroo agenda? Basically the rooms in this house were just not working for us….they weren’t serving us well in what we had created them to be…so we decided to switch things up and make the office into a playroom, take the toys out of the living room, and make the sitting room (which nobody ever used) into my office. So far, we have successfully removed the toy area out of the living room and replaced it with a DIY console table, painted and moved my office stuff into the new office and we cleared out the playroom.
Since today is all about a little progress in the playroom….here is what it looked like before. This is when it was an office.
Except it really didn’t ever look like that because my hoarder tendencies. In actuality, it was like a scene from Real World : I don’t know how to pick up all the things Edition.
But still – even that was better than the VERY befores….do you remember what it used to look like way back in the day?!
Yup. You are craving a chocolate cupcake with almond strawberry icing after seeing that paint job, aren’t you?
So much better now that it was painted. All we did so far was clear it out from my stuff. Most of the other items were left because we were playing the ‘figure-it-out’ game. It should be noted that we are trying to save up for a new roof for the Monroe house, so this makeover is gonna be really low budget. Also…the boys destroy most things in their path, so we can’t put anything in this space too precious…or breakable….or susceptible to bite marks.
All that to say….I saw this little bookshelf at a the thrift store. It was outside and I had Jeremy drive by to pick it up. We negotiated the price from $20 down to $15…which I think is fair. It wasn’t perfect but it definitely was narrow and allowed for storage for the BIG books that didn’t fit in Will’s bedroom shelf.
The entire thing is made from plywood and we estimated that it probably would cost about $25-30 to make after you purchase the wood and the veneer edging…so $15 is a good price.
Jeremy sanded it down for me and then I got to painting. I didn’t really think about the color…just grabbed some leftover paint and had at it.
We went with Valspar’s Front Door Red. It was the same color we used on our front door before we painted it black. This color definitely reads differently inside than outside…much more brown and darker inside.
Most of the books that it holds are really large. Will’s normal books are all still upstairs…because we use them during bedtime for reading. These are more activity books/Search and Find/oversized books that don’t fit upstairs.
We also got around to hanging this map of Central America. Yes. I have a thing for oversized maps. I’m not sorry. I love them and this was marked down to $20 at the antique mall with an extra 20% off….making it $16. I can’t beat that with a stick. It did have a tear in the corner but I just put some tape on the backside and attached it back together.
We decided to hang it by stapling it to a long stained piece of wood trim and then screw that directly into wall studs. I LOVE the colors like a fat kid loves Halloween. I kinda wish I had made the bookcase a green to play off of it. Oh well. Maybe there will be a paint job in my future.
We also moved the boy’s train table in here as well as the orange polka dot rug from Will’s room. The blue and white striped rug from the old sitting room is now in Will’s room. I think we are just gonna yard sale the red console table. I like the size but it doesn’t provide hardly any storage. I think it’s always better to have storage in a playroom.
So that’s our update in the playroom…nothing too exciting but I will say that the boys have already started playing in here and it is LIFECHANGING. I can close the door and the mess disappears like magic. I can stand in the neighboring laundry room and fold clothes and they can’t get past me to make a mess of the rest of the house. I can help them in the playroom bathroom and still keep an eye on LJ if he is on the floor. I hope it ends up looking ok…but honestly, even if it looks like a bag of skittles exploded in there, I don’t care because it is functioning so dang well.
Speaking of fun….I hope everyone has a great time tonight and stays safe and all sugared up…oh and hope those kids do too! Happy Halloween!