Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Upstairs Playroom/Schoolroom (OlioBoard)

We recently transitioned our son to his very own big boy bed!! I know - it is a happy moment knowing he is still our little boy, but he is getting so big so fast!!

Anyway, while shopping at IKEA for his bed (full post on that coming soon), I had somewhat of an epiphany. We were strolling - well not really strolling - but squeezing our way through IKEA on Family Day when we stopped in the section where the hide a beds were. Now, when we first purchased our home and saw the staircase and how hard it was to move furniture upstairs we vowed to NEVER EVER own a hide a bed or a sofa bed as they are called sometimes.

But, on this day - we thought why not? And, here is our reasoning.

Having a little two year old involves having a lot of extra stuff - a lot needed, some probably not. But, as he grows, he takes up more space and so do the amount of items he needs.

He currently has 3 rooms in our home all to himself - his bedroom, his bathroom and our downstairs "dining room" which is his current playroom. Now, when he was a little tike - he was very easily entertained within the confines of the dining room space via baby gates. Now that he is a full head strong two year old, those baby gates are not doing their job. The result - toys EVERYWHERE downstairs. At the end of the day, most of the cars and trucks and trains have found their way into every room of the house.

Our extra bedroom is supposed to be our guest room, but we honestly have a bed in there and the rest is storage - clothes, baby bed and mattress, pictures we have no where to hang.  We have been purging and selling a ton and we still  have a ways to go, but we need to gain more control over our space.

We decided that we really don't need a fully devoted room just for guests (sorry family). We do occasionally have guests during the holidays, but that is pretty much the extent of it. So, getting back to that hide a bed. We decided we will sell the double bed and mattress and some other things we have in our guest room.

We will purchase an L-Shaped low profile sofa with a fold out double bed (whether from IKEA or somewhere else) and place it in the room. This will clear up sooooo much space. I will then move the trestle table and cubbies (hubby made these) from downstairs along with the cubby shelving (also built by hubby) into the room along with all of little D's art supplies, books, puzzles and toys.

If he wants to play downstairs, we will use the bucket system and he will be allowed to fill that bucket with toys to play with downstairs. At the end of the day, it will be filled back up and the toys will be taken back upstairs. This new toy room/activity room will also allow us to have a little quiet preschool area where we can work on learning activities and art activities. We may eventually hang a TV in there on the wall, but as for now TV is a limited commodity at our house.

Room Plans and Mood Board (via OlioBoard):


The above is my first attempt at using OlioBoard to create a Mood Board. I like it, but think using other tools can be somewhat faster unless you use all of the items from the downloaded brands they already have available. Some of the items shown here include:


  1. A cute little chalk board/art area for the corner as seen on TheProjectGirl.com and her roundup of spaces from the Utah Parade of Homes 2013 {Definitely DIY}
  2.  (2nd Option) Easel that can easily be for chalk or drawing 
  3. Industrial shelving as seen on Beneath My Heart {DIY LOVE LOVE LOVE this look}
  4. Floor Poufs - these have been popular for a while now, but I just haven't had the time to complete them - Summer project for sure using IKEA Signe Flatwoven rugs in various colors (I chose a red/sage stripe and a black/red stripe). These rugs were $2.99 each!! Of course, the stuffing will be pricey. I will save up my JoAnn's coupons for that. 
  5. Pottery Barn Stripe Rug - Pricey at $299 for a 5'x8', but this will be in the playroom so I want something cheap. I have been wanting to paint a canvas rug for a while. Add to my list of Things to Do. 
  6. Art Center- Love these rolling carts from IKEA at $30.00, but I already have a thrifted one from my favorite little spot. May repaint it a better color. 
  7. Love Love Love the Smart Store system from The Container Store. I will be purchasing a few of these and the Sterilite containers from Target to store his ever growing art supply pile
  8. To keep this room a little rustic and boyish, I am going to go for stripes, plaids and woodsey prints. I might even break down and take on the trend of paper mache animal heads on the wall. Maybe....
  9. Art will be kept to a minimum because I want this room to be mainly functional. There will be a chalkboard/art roll as well as a magnetic center for letters, numbers, etc. Other art will include family photos, pallet board art (DIY), and maybe some vintage airplane or car paintings. A few of my favorite sayings I have seen recently on DIY signs include, "You are our greatest adventure", "Why fit in when you were born to stand out", "Every good and perfect gift comes from above", "A Little boy is the only thing God can use to make a man", "It was always you." 

So, I am sure my readers are tired of seeing the ever changing "Playroom" Posts, but this home is ever changing. Ever since beginning Dave Ramsey and vowing to pay off all of our debt within the next few years (our house will take a little longer), we have decided to stay in this home for a while and just make it work for us where we are. We don't need more space, we just need less unnecessary items and a little more organization. 

Not quite sure what we will fill the empty dining room space with once we move little man upstairs, but it will either take on its previous dining room roll or will become a keeping/sitting room where we can read or I can paint. 

Thanks for reading. Hope to have some updates and photos soon. Blogging is always the easy part. Finding time to tackle these projects is what gets put on hold. I would much rather be at the part with little D. 

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