The Playroom

So obviously this summer is not going to be very productive for me in terms of getting projects around the house finished.  That's okay,  I've accepted it and embraced it because I really want to spend the summer having fun with my kids. I have several projects planned for the playroom, but it looks like they will have to wait until the kids go back to school.  

The playroom is on the third level our house along with the guest room, a full bathroom and a large cedar closet.  Before we moved in, we had the cedar paneling painted Sherwin Williams antique white,  new carpet installed and we added ceiling fans.  Since it's the third floor, it gets pretty hot up there. 

This is what it looked like before we bought the house. Pretty ugly, huh?  

The windows are giving me some grief.  

There is another small window on the other side of the large window. 

 It's behind the slanted wall next to the big window.  

 When the full bathroom was added (not by us), they wanted that small window in the bathroom for some natural light.  Great for the bathroom, odd for the playroom.  

 After spending way too much time agonizing about this unsymmetrical situation, I decided (for now) to hang this bulletin board over top of the small window to help even things out a bit.  

You may recall from this post, how I feel about symmetry.  

This is the boy's entertainment area, equipped with the Wii and a dart board.  

Kota, the dinosaur resides in the dormer.  We have great storage under all the eves.  

Here is the lego table I made recently.  It is working out very well.  

Not quite sure what to do yet with this big blank wall.  

The giant chair used to be in the office.  

I'm not crazy about, but until I find the perfect seating for this area, it will be staying put.  

There used to be four prints hanging on the wall.  

An unfortunate incident with a ball and some rowdy boys and now there are three. 

The cedar closet is behind the door with the basketball goal and the guest room is through the open door.  

I am linking to:

Houseography

A Lego Solution

I'm sure moms of boys can relate when I say, legos are taking over my house.  I step on them, I vacuum them up, I sit on them, sometimes I even purposely throw them away.  I have recently banned them all to the playroom on the third floor.  Of course, every once in a while, a few will mysteriously make their way downstairs to, once again, get stepped on by me. 

Our playroom is carpeted, which makes lego building somewhat challenging.  I have come across some really neat lego tables on-line.  In an effort to save money, I decided to make one myself.  I started with this coffee table that came with some outdoor furniture we purchased last year.  The set came with two tables and I wasn't using either one of them.  

We had a piece of MDF in the garage which was leftover from a DIY headboard project.  I had my husband attach the MDF to the table base with screws and bolts.

Having three kids and extra kids here all the time, sharp corners always make me nervous.  I got out the trusty jigsaw and rounded all the corners and then I gave the entire thing a light sanding.

The next step was to prime the top. I rolled on the primer with a four inch foam roller.  It happened to be beautiful outside today so my four year old and three of his friends did circles around me on their scooters the entire time I was working on this project.

The top coat was, of course, chalkboard paint.  I know it must seem like I whip out my chalkboard paint every other day, but it is such a great product for so many projects.  I thought it would be fun if the kids could draw different scenes on the table.  Once the table was finished, I asked my four year old and his friend if they wanted me to draw something for them.  Of course, I was thinking maybe a tree lined street with some pretty flowers.  Then they could build a cute little house out of legos.  

Not quite what they had in mind.  The had concocted some giant lego ship an they wanted some water,  hot lava, a tornado and fire coming out of the water.  

I would love to stumble upon some large baskets that fit perfectly underneath to store the legos in, but for now, these bins I had on hand will do the trick.

The kids seem to approve.

I am linking to:

Home Stories A2Z

Tip Junkie

Savvy Southern Style

Goodbye City, Hello Suburbs

The Shabby Chic Cottage

Somewhat Simple

Blue Cricket Design

The CSI Project

At The Picket Fence