This upstairs "balcony" room was light and airy - but very formal when we viewed the house. However, I knew it would make an excellent playroom. The mess would be up and out of the way, and it would feel sunny and open for bright imaginations.
It started years ago at a garage sale when I saw a split twin mattress. It was the first, and last time, I had ever seen such a thing. I was rather fascinated. And the price tag was $1 per half-mattress. So for $2 I took them home thinking "Wouldn't these be such nice thick cushions for two benches... say benches that held toy bins? And could be used as extra kid beds when needed?" I bought 10 bins that were such a perfect size for $1 each at the dollar store. Unfortunately, they sold out quickly and have never had such big nice bins since. I wish I would have bought 20! The frame itself was a bit of a bummer. After measuring everything so carefully, I accidentally used my longer Leftover board side instead of the shorter more accurate one. So the benches turned out higher than intended, which meant the black buckets didn't fit perfectly. But it wasn't worth ripping them apart once finished. The wood for the two benches was about $25 each, my most expensive part. The pillows were either free or about $.50, and my mom and sister did all the number covers for me. Total for the storage benches is about $75 for everything - including the fabric and bins. I used them in our basement playroom at our old house.
The rug was a find after the whole room had been stuck together. It was a clearance $50 at a local discount store. Not only would protect the white carpet from boy-play, but also happened to have perfect colors and patterns!
The alphabet wall was something I had gathered for Quentin's hallway nursery in our last house. I stuck the letters on the wall using snips of command strips. There were some odd blank holes - since I hadn't planned it out - so I filled those with some black stars out of leftover contact paper. The letters I tried to stay within $1 each. Several letters I used what I had (the o is cut out of an old bulletin board, the P is on an old cutting board, the V and I are old frames, and others I made from the block box) and a few I bought more expensive versions from Hobby Lobby. It was a fun hunt, the X and Y on clearance for about .27 cents, and it gives a little thrill to find deals, even for the alphabet.
I used an old shower curtain, and with my mom's help, cut off two sections. The back got stapled to a board and screwed to the wall, while the front was held by some extra curtain rods that I didn't need elsewhere. These made book shelves, as well as come color for the wall.
The plane art was painted for me by an exchange student that my mom and dad were hosting. I gave her a little scrap paper showing pottery barn's plane, and two old wooden shelves from a cupboard. This is what she came up with, and I nailed it to this wall. (It had been in the boys bedroom before)
The long stuffed caterpillar on the bench is from my in-laws in France and the colorful blanket from a girlfriend who brought it back from Mexico for me. The red chair was something a neighbor was throwing out - and the yellow chair in the top photo was another neighbor's leftovers.
When we moved into this house the only thing we bought for the room was the rug. The rest was collected from various rooms in our old house and came together in a new way here. I was very happy with the ability to use what we had - and also the way it turned out.
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