Playroom reveal!

When we’re ready to move Eleanor’s bassinet out of our room, we hope that she and Luke will share his room and quiet each other when they wake up in the night. But we’ll be happy as long as they don’t keep each other up! A shared kids’ room leaves our third bedroom free for use as a playroom, with a guest room alter ego. I’ll save the guest room setup of this room for another post, but today I thought I’d share our playroom with you. Here’s a first peek with the playroom princess.

We tried to keep the room gender-neutral and not too juvenile since it hosts adults from time to time. We accented the sunny space with an outdoorsy theme… butterflies! Eleanor loves to watch them flutter from the ceiling:

And I like the modern look of the grid of oversized ones above the bed:

The room’s other art extends the nature theme. Of course we had to feature our little naturalist (plus a few of his friends from our Grand Lake trip) in the frame next to the closet.

And we have a special find from the Grand Lake Art Gallery. It’s too bad for my sailor husband that the boat is motor instead of sail powered, but I just love the joyful, relaxed spirit that this painting exudes!

The window was a challenge. Securing the curtain rod over such a wide window was tough, and sewing the white panel for the top half-circle was a stretch for my novice sewing skills. I still need to try to lengthen the gingham curtains and find better tie-backs. But imperfections and all, here are the window treatments for our home’s one wonderfully sunny window. 

My favorite room element is the bedding. It helps that it adorns the trundle bed that my sister and I slept on as kids. Now we turn the tables and make my parents sleep on it when they come to visit! But I hope they’re comfortable and I do love the girly, brass bed and look forward to seeing Eleanor use it one day. I think the white floral matelassé mattress cover and bed skirt accent it perfectly. Both were lucky ebay finds: I love it when a poorly photographed, gently used item auctions off for cheap! The white cover isn’t particularly kid-friendly, but I tell Luke that sitting here is for adults only. Is that unfair?

With all these bright colors plus a frequent rainbow of toys on the floor, we painted the walls a neutral khaki-grey (Behr Baked Biscotti). We had already painted every other room in our home, so this job completed our whole-house repaint. Erik was delighted to reach that point, so I think we might have to move before I get to pick any new paint colors…

I love how this small room accomplishes so many functions without looking too dominated by any of them. Erik’s old clunky TV tucks under the table, creating a kid-level viewing area. Our documents are stored in the brown filing cabinet that functions as an end table. The guest bed doubles as a couch and a safer spot for Eleanor when Luke is playing on the floor. And there’s even a workspace for my sewing machine and storage for Luke’s toys!

But the best multi-tasker is the big sunny window. It injects some much-needed warmth and brightness into our home since we don’t get much direct sun from our other windows. Plus it’s perfect for watching Erik arrive home on his bike, the garbage truck pass by, our neighbor zoom up on his motorcycle, Christmas lights twinkling, or dogs being walked in our cul-de-sac. So that wraps up our playroom tour! You can find me and my two munchkins hanging out there most days of the week!