Our New Playroom

A few weeks ago, I decided to convert our "living" room into a playroom on a whim (I'm sure the steroids I was taking from my allergic reaction helped a little bit)! 

I use the term living room very loosely because, well, we weren't exactly living in it. It was basically the room where we put our Christmas tree every December. And that's about it.

See?! Super boring. 

My kids already had a playroom in our upstairs bonus room...but that's shared with all my craft stuff, our treadmill and wall-to-wall shelves. So they didn't really have a room that was all theirs. Plus I didn't like them playing upstairs by themselves if I was down in the kitchen or something. 

Now, they can play to their hearts' content downstairs and I am right there if they need something! 

My favorite part about this room is the natural light coming in from the windows! Nothing makes me happier than a nice, bright space for the kids to play! 

I just happened to walk down the "random" aisle at Aldi (you know, the one with all of the junk in it?!) and found these bins...2 for $5! Lucky me!

Yes, I organize my kids' books by ROYGBIV. I am that OCD.

{Please ignore the large Amazon box...that is Ella's "boat." She spent forever decorating it and I'm too scared of her reaction if I throw it away!}

My other favorite part of the room? Our little "school" corner, where I have proudly hung my calendar pocket chart and displayed all of my seasonal classroom books! 

Ella loves to play "calendar" and sing her months of the year/days of the week songs from preschool! She is also wanting this suuuuper badly for Christmas so she can do more "kindergarten stuff!"

Next to the books, Ella uses these pointers when she wants to be a "teacher" and point to things around the room. Lucas has started copying her and using them, too! All you do to make them is get paint sticks from a hardware store (they will give a few to you for free, but apparently you can buy a bunch on Amazon too!), and hot glue on one of those painted wood decals they sell at craft stores. I used these pointers for everything when I was teaching and am so glad I kept them! And yes, I have different ones for every season/holiday! 

{In a UNC cup, because duh. Like we have other large plastic cups besides the ones we've taken from football games?!}

Ok one more favorite part of this room (sorry, I have lots of favorites!)...the kids' artwork!!! I found this idea on Pinterest and decided it would be a great way to display Ella's 39496 pieces of preschool art! I found most of the frames at Goodwill and spray painted them white. 

My kids also made the above pieces (Ella made the E, Lucas made the L)! I put painter's tape on a large canvas in the shape of each letter and then had each kid go to town with teal, green, gray and yellow paint. I removed the painter's tape when they were dry, and I loved how they turned out. Let me know if you'd like to commission my little artists for your next artwork ;) Gotta start building up their college funds somehow, right?! 

Oh and if you think it always looks this clean....

...it does not. 😜

Sources:

Rug: Hayneedle

Shelves: Ikea

Bins: Aldi

Chairs: Target (old...these are similar)

Play kitchen: Amazon 

Canvases: Joann

Lamps: Ikea

Anywhere chairs: Pottery Barn Kids

Canvas book shelf: I actually got this at a consignment sale, but found a similar one here

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