What with the influx from Christmas, the toy situation in our house was getting a little out of control. That's how we found ourselves, the day after Christmas, unexpectedly taking on a mini home makeover project. And that's how {drumroll, please} Em got her brand new play room!
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| Ta-Da! |
Please don't judge my "before" pictures too harshly. Keep in mind this is early morning the day after Christmas. Who wants to be judged on their house the day after Christmas?
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| This corner of the living room was originally hard to utilize well. We had the piano over there, but the rest of the space wasn't very usable. |
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| Since she could sit up, we have had these foam tiles in the corner to make a safe place for her to sit. But it's a little close to the fire place and I couldn't see it from the kitchen. Not that she stayed on it anyway... And there were just toys... all over it. There's one puny little bucket over there trying to contain the mess. Poor, sad little bucket. Good effort, buddy. |
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| Christmas-y dining room. Obviously, doesn't usually have a tree in it. |
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| We moved the piano into the dining room. I don't love it - it feels a little cramped to me. But we use the living room a lot more than we use the dining room, so I'd rather have that be the more functional room and deal with a little squishiness in the dining room. |
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| We picked up the shelving unit, table and chairs, and rug to create our little play space. The rug really helps define the space and the shelving unit solves a lot of our clutter issues. |
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| There's also a little corner back here were we can tuck push toys out of the way. Oh, and I ended up making my own art for the wall because I couldn't decide on something. I'm not sure it's what I had in mind, but at least there's something there for now. If you ask nicely, maybe I'll make it available for Freebie Friday :) |
Em especially loves the little table. It gives her a defined work space to do things like color, build blocks, and other still activities.
I love the storage. The shelves keep her bigger toys and her books accessible, but out of the way. The storage boxes allow me to stash smaller toys and toy parts out of sight.
Just this small little change has really helped me love my house more again. I can now see her when I cook and I'm not constantly tripping over toys. We have been so pleasantly surprised by how much she loves it. She will actually sit down and play now, instead of just running all over the house trying to see how many of mommy and daddy's things she can get in! Having her "own" space seems to really encourage play and we find her engaging with her toys and activities in new ways.
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| She has recently started demanding us to sit down and play with her, too. "Mama, Down!" and points at the rug. Of course, baby, I always want to sit down and play with you! |
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| It is so fun to watch her play. We couldn't be happier with the new space! |
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