Room For The Whole Family

I love to decorate! If I had a room for every different idea & theme I had blossoming in my head, I'd need a 20 room mansion at minimum. But my reality is much more humble so I often rearrange, change out pics on walls, swap pillows etc to keep things fresh around here and allow room for creativity to flourish.  Yet I have had this one space...this awkward and unused space I just couldn't figure out what to do with.  It's that small front room that welcomes guest as they enter into your home. There really isn't any room for furniture, a TV or table with chairs so it's has only served as a walk through area these former years.  Recently I had an epiphany and started planning.  I really needed some space for Catori to play in that allowed her the room she needed yet kept her close so I can keep an eye on her as well. No matter how independent she thinks she is, there are still questionable choices made at 2 years old that keep me on close surveillance.  So I slowly transitioned this space into a fun play area for Catori where she can learn, be creative and play with friends yet not look like a daycare center when guest walk in.  This gave us so many opportunities to be creative and make our own decor and engage in some fun crafts together as well.  Here are some photos of the room and several DIY crafts and projects that we embarked upon.  I will follow up this blog with tutorials on the ones we really enjoyed and ideas you can try at home as well!

This is the small space directly in front of the door when you walk in, somewhat of my ode to Anthropolgie, one of my most favorite places for home decor and inspiration.

so easy to take a old dressing jar and fill it with some great dried flowers 

easiest plant stand..garage sale bargain stool.

this is where we keep our weekly library books so we don't get them mixed in with ours

this clock was really fun to make. see my previous blog for details

my mom gave me an old school desk for Catori. We took the legs off for now and updated it with a coat of bright yellow spray paint and chalk board paint on the top

We found a fun way to store our chalk, colored pencils, crayons and paint brushes. These tin buckets were $1 at the Target dollar spot and the frame was upcycled with a fresh coat of spray paint

Keeping the upper portion of the shelves kid friendly with a horse and bird house keep with the flow of the room. The bottom shelves contain baskets to house various toys and children's books.

 

There was a huge open space in the shelves that we decided to turn into a ready nook. We picked some fun fabric and I made all the pillows and seating pad. To keep it from sliding on the tile floor, I bought a floor mat for kids (the big puzzle piece kind) and painted it solid white. The curtains are just one panel cut into 2 pieces that I trimmed down and hemmed then hung on a tension

We also added lights all around the inside walls of nook area so we can snuggle up and read at night too

We love this wall of art because it includes master pieces by both Catori and her daddy!

Catori painted these stained glass canvas pieces all herself!

easy easy...this LOVE piece took me hardly any time to make and we felt the word was the most appropriate to put in the front room and greet all our guest

Rose...Nose. Rodney painted this one for Catori as she was learning to talk. Easy rhyming words and pictures to help her along the way.  One of our favorites!

I love how colorful and fun this piece is. Our dear friend Nicole used an old quilt of mine and and created this cool installment piece for an art showing. We were lucky enough for her to gift it back to us and now it's the perfect decor for this fun room

Chalk boards are a must for any child's room. This was an easy and cheap project and we have gotten so much use out of it. Catori colors and draws here on a daily. It's also a good place for me to teach and go over shapes, colors, numbers and letters with her as well.

Stay tuned as I'll be posting tutorials on all the DIY projects from this fun play room and cheap easy way to decorate.