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April 15th, 2016

these are
almost all wall
decals

PLAYROOM

FUN

Transform your basement into a 

This is such a great space for kids to play in. Our kids love their playroom! And a basement is the perfect place to use for that great space the kids can call their own and even take part in decorating. Even just as much as hanging up art work can really add a fun decorative touch. You can hang them from a rope with fun clips or even frame them. 

 

The great thing about using your basement to make a playroom is that there are so many large walls everywhere to decorate, put shelves up for books and build cubbies for storing toys. And hopefully it becomes the one area for most of the toys to be stored away (instead of having them strewn all over the house 😉).  Here are a few of the things we put in our playroom that best suited our needs.

Reading Nook

My daughter is in grade 1 and has just recently learned to read. And she loves reading books to her 2 younger brothers. A reading nook was a must in our playroom! We designated a section beside our wall of storage cabinets to become a mini library/reading nook. To do so, we just extended the wooden shelving using a longer piece at the end and added two cubbies underneath.

 

To finish we topped the bench with old patio cushions wrapped in fabric.

A very simple no-sew fix - We purchased green material (with decorative twigs) from the fabric store to match the scenery on the wall & wrapped two patio cushions which were no longer in use.

 

We hung a white wooden shelf 4 feet above for books. Making sure there was enough room in between for the kids to stand on the bench.

Chalkboard Wall

Magnetic 

With so many great large walls in our playroom, we knew that 1 of our great walls HAD to be a big magnetic chalkboard!

 

To add extra storage for craft supplies, we hung up floating shelves. They were from an old media center we had kicking around. We repainted them white. But you can easily build some floating boxes yourself using the same idea as the built-in boxes below. All you need are some wood planks. Dowels were hung to create tape roll & paper roll holders. For the full how-to click here. 

Built-in Cabinet

Figure out the length & depth you want your unit to be using a measuring tape. Ours was 18" in depth because we wanted to have a wide platform on top for a larger play area. I don't advise going much wider then that. When figuring out the length don't forget to divide your total length by the number of sections your unit will be, if you want your boxes to be the same size. 

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We bought two 4x8 sheets of 3/4" knotty pine at the big box store and got all of our main cuts done there. They will usually give you about 3-4 free cuts, then charge you for all additional. Use your table saw at home to make any later adjustments. 3 main long pieces were cut to size for the large horizontal sections as well as 5 medium main panels (1 for the banquette & 4 for the unit) to create large boxes. 4 small pieces were cut to use as dividers. Using a drill, screw your pieces together to create a box. Use wood filler to hide any visible screws. 

Dress-up Corner

Every playroom HAS to have a dress-up corner! This is my kids' favourite activity. Shop for clearance costumes and accessories the day after Halloween. It's a good way to get stocked up at great prices. And check out your local thrift store for fun wigs, hats, scarves & suit jackets/pants.

 

The wall unit is pre-fab shelving purchased from the big box store.

 

The wooden coat rack we made. It's a really easy project to do, that takes no time at all & will save you half the cost. TRY IT one weekend!

DIY projects are great!

Used the same hooks for both
projects

Activity Table

My dad built this table for us last year so I don't have pictures of 'the making of the grassy table'. My only request to him was to have a shelf underneath for extra storage for our larger containers of toys. My husband & I got the green grass material and fastened it to the table w/ a staple gun.

I plan on painting it 1 day soon. 

If you'd like any additional information or if there's something I might have forgotten to mention, please feel free to comment or message me.

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