We put in a big silver fan for the hot summer days to come (we do have a/c but sometimes a fan is nice too), we put in track lighting so it's nice and bright in certain areas, and we bought this big baby, to put over what I decided would be our reading area. Suffice to say, our ceiling was done being decorated.
I really wasn't sure where to go after that, so I didn't pay any attention to the room until after the first week of January. Then I found an amazing purple floral area rug that wasn't exceptionally feminine (Theo...) but still brought a bit of a delicate feel to the room. We bought it and threw it down and it was like a switch got flipped on because from then on I was all about finishing the playroom.
We found an adorable wooden table with four chairs for 50 bucks, took it home and painted it white, and now it's one of my very favourite things in the house. We decided we weren't done with the ceiling after all, and we ended up hanging four long canopies from the ceiling. Most of the time the kids don't care about playing with them, but once in awhile we'll let them hang and all of a sudden we've got four little circus tents or houses or stages (because obviously that's what they're for). Viv is too little to play in hers much yet, but when she gets older she'll have her fun too.
We decided to be very careful in selecting toys for the kids, so we bought a Lego bench that serves as both a Lego building platform and a Lego storage center, and a puppet theatre. We bought a bunch of fabric puppets and the kids love them. We bought some wooden cars and other Eco-friendly toys, and we found cheap and very comfortable love seat on wheels that we put in one corner. We bought a cheap TV on sale in January that we hung on the wall so every once in awhile I roll the sofa into the center of the room and stick a movie in the TV and the kids don't have to watch TV in the living room, plus that was our guests can watch TV in bed and we can watch TV if we're using the workstation, even though that's counter-productive.
For Christmas my mom made the kids about 8 (probably more) cushions for their little huts that hang from the ceiling, and we threw in a bunch of old throw and fleece blankets so it's a cozy room.
It doesn't have very many toys in it at all, but the kids have lots to do. We're at a stage now where the older kids can play together as well as entertain the younger ones, and we've got stations set up so that sharing isn't a big issue. There's a huge chalkboard, an art table for colouring or painting or doing homework or playing cards. A puppet station, a bunch of fabric tents to make houses or shops. And of course they can put on little plays all the time too. The big kids can read. There's tons to do in there, mostly involving the use of their imagination, and I think that's better than a bunch of noisy, flashing, battery operated junk. We have a tonne of puzzles for the kids to set, and board games galore. If there's really nothing to do, they can always watch a movie.
So overall it turned out great, I love that the playroom is a place where I don't have to watch the kids every single minute, guests will enjoy it, and Nick and I can work in it. It's everything we hoped it would be, and if the last few days are any proof, the kids love it.
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