Did you catch my surprise vlog post on Thursday? If not, check it out here!
If you don't mind a spoiler, here's a read into WHY we transformed my daughter's old bedroom into a new multi-purpose space and HOW we did it on a budget.
the WHY's
A calming multi-purpose space serves many functions from reading and play to hosting overnight guests.
Carpet. Possibly the first thing my girls said they love about the new play area. Our previous play space (built to be a formal dining room) has hardwood, and although we added an area rug plus a foam puzzle mat when they were real little, I can't argue with them. It wasn't comfortable. Now they have a plush high-pile carpet to play on that's also gentler on their bodies.
Multi-purposeful. Letting go of our dedicated guest room made this entire room reshuffle possible. We are so grateful to have an extra bedroom, but when my love and I talked (for months) about how better to use the spaces in our home for our present everyday, a once-in-a-while occupied room did not make sense. Fortunately, this room has ample space to serve multiple purposes and we strategically moved our futon in here to do just that. In addition to play, this space has beautiful natural light for reading. The futon will spend most of its time in sofa mode to give us grown-ups a soft seat to curl up on while our kiddos enjoy the book nook and window seat. On the fortunate occasion when we have out of town guests, the futon will be opened and ready. There's also plenty of floor space for sleeping bags, which will be great fun when cousins or our kids' friends come to stay.
Toy storage solution. Yesss! While not ideal for my daughter's bedroom, the painted window seat is a much-appreciated solution for storing and, even better, concealing the bulk of our girls' toys. This not only serves us day-to-day, but when we need the room to host a guest, the fun can get stashed out of sight. The window seat naturally divides into three (drawers-cabinet-drawers), so I divided their toys to fit into 3 zones (food play, building, dolls). Whether designing or organizing, I'm a huge believer in trying different ways until one clicks. By giving broad categories to the girls' toys and storing them in an intuitive way, it makes it super simple for them to return every item to where it belongs. Kind of like our kitchen. They seem to know where things go even though most things are hidden!
Makes sense now. When we first toured our now home, we chose this bedroom for our first daughter because of its size. An obvious choice, right? Looking back, many of our move-in decisions were obvious ones. It was an overwhelming time (new jobs, new town, first home) and with a baby on the way we needed to settle in quickly. Five years later, we've had the chance to grow into our house. We've adapted every room in big and small ways to work for what we need, from reconfiguring furniture within a room or to another room entirely to editing the amount and placement of items we use every day (especially in our kitchen and laundry/mudroom), until we land on a system that makes sense for present us. Not future us or an ideal version of our life. Us. Now. We adapt our home for our true everyday lifestyle and when something stops working, we evaluate and adjust accordingly. A lot has changed since we moved in. Our kids are both in school, I have a business, and spending more time in our space is going to be our normal indefinitely. We will continue to change and in order for our home to fully support that growth, it's going to evolve, too.
the HOW's
White paint creates a blank canvas to reimagine any space into what you want it to be.
Paint. A must for refreshing this room was painting the built-ins. The wood's natural pink-undertone made the built-ins stand out in a distracting way. By painting them the same white as the walls, they blend into the background and become hidden support, both functionally and aesthetically. If you have wood built-ins and feel they dominate the space or interfere with your color palette, matching them to your adjacent walls is a great way to not only remove the distraction but also make your space feel bigger.
Upcycle. I anticipate my girls will play with their current toys for a few years yet, but I know that could change overnight. So when it came to organizing their toys, I did what I always recommend to clients: upcycle boxes I already had. Simply trim the flaps off one end of a cardboard box and you've made your own drawer divider. Any empty bins or baskets you have on-hand will work, too. When behind a cabinet or drawer, it's less about what the container looks like and way more about the order it helps provide. It's also more cost effective. Toys will change, so no point in spending time, effort, or money on a container that may not work for the next stage. Bonus, you can feel good about helping divert a box or more from landfills in the process.
Helping hands. I said it before, I could not do this transformation alone. Yes, the vision is in my head, and yes, I LOVE doing room swaps. But I'm not a full-time DIYer, and I for sure needed the help of my love and kids to see it through. Because of that, this has taken time to tackle. There are still a couple DIY builds to do, but the big moves are done. All of the room contents (futon, toys, pillow, textiles, and decor) were all things we owned, so only the paint and hardware to come are new. My girls were very eager to assist and I'm so impressed not only by how much they did but by how patient they've been throughout the process. They understand we have more in store, and they're SO excited for when it's complete. Until then, they keep telling me how much they LOVE the new space, and that makes all the progress so far feel so, so good.
That said, are you wondering what's left to do? And what happened to the old play space? Well, you'll have to stay tuned to find out! I'll leave you with this video before penning off.
what do you think the old play space will become?
I'm curious to hear what you think! Write your guess in the Comments and stay tuned for the next update.
Always,
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