The space, as used by the previous owners, looked like this:
Over the years, we've tossed around a lot of ideas about how to use the space. It has housed a spare couch. (We got rid of that pretty quickly -- no one ever sat in it!) Then we thought that maybe we could create a closet and powder room, and eventually get rid of the existing downstairs powder room to open up the kitchen. Although that would have been an excellent use of the space, we quickly realized that the cost of doing that would have resulted in our spending more than what we could get for the house when we eventually sell it. We've always known that this will not be our forever home, so that was out of the question.
For a while, it had bookshelves and a chair and some unused artwork and decor items. It wasn't the best solution, but it was better than nothing.
Once Brennon was born, it quickly started filling up with baby stuff and junk we had to get out of other rooms. Sadly, this is what it looked like at that point:
You can somewhat see what was going on with the bookshelf, chair, decor... right? But then we added the pack n play. And the bumbo. And a random box of diapers. And oh, there's the vacuum cleaner. And a soft bin of toys. And a play mat. (And so on...)
I realized that a lot of Brennon's toys were ending up in this room. As I began to look around my house to prepare to childproof it, it dawned on me -- this wasted space could be his play room!
I spent a few days thinking about how it would all work out. We'd have to move the bookshelf. The decor would have to find a new home. I'd have to create a space where he'd be happy and comfortable and safe. But it could work, right?
I began the work:
- The sofa table that provided an area of decor at the bottom of the stairs was moved to the attic for temporary storage, until we need it in the future.
- Moved the bookshelf to the bottom of the stairs.
- Took down the pictures until I could find new places for them.
- Replaced the curtains with some cotton curtains that had been in the nursery before it was a nursery. (And added a random yellow ribbon that I found in my craft supplies.)
- Decided on a decor style and started working.
I purchased this inexpensive piece of artwork at Big Lots for $12 and used it as my inspiration for the room:
I also had a metal dragonfly that I wanted to use in the room. It was a gift from my sister-in-law. I found pond wall decals and created this art on one of the walls:
I also added alphabet wall decals, which will be displayed in later photos. The decor did not feel complete, so I added a painting that I created at a Painting with a Twist session (and then fixed up on my own at home because I did not like the paint colors that they offered to me!).
I wanted to give it a fun, whimsical feel -- enter the red paper lanterns. The final touch was the bird art. I found a package of paper bird that were $5.99 for 36 birds, less a 30% off coupon. I pulled out some white square frames that I had purchased at the AC Moore going out of business sale and some scrapbook paper, and this is what I came up with:
The other thing that I had to do was sew a cover onto the foam mat that I purchased. Apparently, cats think that foam mats for babies make excellent scratch toys! (Ugh.) I happened to have some leftover fleece material that worked well, so I made a double sided cover with velcro attachments at one end.
Ok, so the space is not 100% complete in this next pic, but I wanted to at least show an "almost done" pic so that I can publish this post. (It's been sitting in my drafts for two weeks. It's amazing how time gets away from me!)
Anyway, here's a pic from the angle of the staircase, for now. I will update with a pic from the view of the front door. I've moved around a couple of the pictures, so it's slightly different. But you can get the idea! (Oh yeah, and there's Brennon playing in his new space, too.)
