Starting a Playroom

Updated on January 07, 2009
C.P. asks from Houston, TX
4 answers

Ok, we are finally ready to get rid of our dining room and turn it into a playroom, but I have NO idea where to start. I want it to be cute, because it will be the first thing you see when walking into our house. We currently have a little girl and another one on the way. We don't really want to decorate it towards a certain gender. I just don't have a clue where to begin. Please help with any creative ideas (because I am not at all)! :)

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W.C.

answers from San Antonio on

I love doing kids rooms, can you tell us more about you and the rest of your house? Are you a blue perosn or a green person? What style do you have in their room, or the rest of the house?
I love to use my daughter's art to decorate. I frame it so it looks professional, but still playfull. I like big letters and words on the walls too.
Maybe an ABC/123 theme or a garden theme? You can use any colors you like for this and it will last for years.
Are you thinking trendy, childish, or maybe a mural? Any particular theme? What age is your oldest.
There are some great books out there. My personal favorite is pottery barn kids style. I use it mostly for inspiration. You can get something similar most of the time cheaper at Target.
Can you give some more information?

1 mom found this helpful
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E.S.

answers from Houston on

Hi Alexa, I have soo many ideas but only one playroom! If you would like to see pictures of it just send me your email, I have a home daycare so I set it up to be for boys and girls. You should start by choosing a neutral color or a color you will not mind seeing every day for the walls, after choosing the colors, make a list of the main toys/furniture you would like to place there for instance a toy kitchen, small sofa or individual rocking chairs, bookcase and shelves for toys or bins, a table for art or an easel. After you know what things you will place in the room, draw a plan of the room and where you would like to place each thing. Once you have an idea of where everything would go, it's time for the measurements I went online and wrote the measurements of each thing (play kitchen, easel, table, sofas, etc.) that I wanted to place in the room, this helped me choose things that where not too big for the space I had for each thing. Your drawing/plan will probably change as you come up with ideas and check measurements but make sure everything you buy will fit in and not be too big or small for its purpose. With the measurements ready, get some painters tape if you have hard floors or place strips of paper if you have carpet and measure and place the tape/paper on the area where each thing will go, this will help you visualize exactly the space things will take and how much space you will have left after you put everything in and that way you will know if you need to make any changes to your plan/drawing. You don't want it to be too crowded, also choose toys that spark their imagination and can be use in different ways, like a store stand with a cash register can be use as grocery store or a shoe store, if you place a kitchen with a small table they can be a chef/waiter/customer or just a mom cooking! Place another bigger table for doing art and crafts there are some really cute ones that have storage underneath for papers, books, colors,etc. For the walls you can place hooks in one area to hang the smocks/aprons and dress up clothes, and decorate with borders you can also use posters or words or use some chalk paint or magnetic paint, you can paint an entire wall with it or make some squares with the paint.
About the floor I originally had carpet but since they were going to use paint, glue, playdough, and other fun & messy things, I changed it to harwood laminate in a color that was not too dark or light, it's very easy to clean you can wipe any mess right up and I don't have to worry about stains in the carpet. For the areas like the reading, kitchen, and block building I bought small carpets that are washable and not too big, this helps separate the different areas and reduce the noise the toys make when they hit the floor. Well some of these ideas should help you if not email me, I have lot more ideas! Have fun decorating :-)

1 mom found this helpful
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R.B.

answers from Lewiston on

If you don't mind painting the walls...

When we were little my mom let u paint a forest and some animals on the walls in the basement and we set up doll houses and barns for the little animals there. She painted the tree stems and we got the sponges and blobbed on the leaves. That was great because we were a part of it. You could use stickers now to put on the little animals. We also had a raceway painted on the floor for the toy cars, but we were in the basement and the floor was cement so that wasn't a big deal. You coud buy a cheep indoor/outdoor carpet though and that takes paint pretty well.

All in all if you get your daughter involved in putting it together it will mean more to the both of you. Trust me.

R.

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R.M.

answers from Houston on

Well there could be many ideas, just depends on how young a game room look you want. My first thought was alittle maturer than a children's game room. If you do not have old board games than I suggest going to garage sales or dollar stores and purchase board games. Hang the game boards on the wall. This can even be done with frame and removed to actually play at a later time. This would be a start to the room. Hopefully you get great ideas.

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