I have had so many readers reach out asking when I would do a post about our playroom. Our playroom has really become more of a rumpus room, as my boys are a little older and not so little anymore, although I like to wish they were.
This weekend I want to kick off the Renovation Series with Playroom/Rumpus room Design. I want to take you into our space and share how the layout and design came to be. The next couple of renovation series posts will focus on organization, equipment/toys for all ages and storage in a playroom and/or bedroom.
When we were designing this space, in particular, we worked with all three boys and asked them for what they imagined this space would look like. You need to remember that my boys are also quite spread out. Domenic is 16, Anthony is 10 and Stefano is 6. Each of them had unique needs and requests that I wanted to honor and respect. Afterall this is going to be their space.
Let’s start with the oldest, Domenic. Dom wanted this space to be a place where his friends could feel welcomed, come over anytime and hang out. Whether it’s to watch Riverdale weekly with the gang, watch a soccer game with his crew or having just the guys over for some gaming and pizza; he wanted the space to have a large TV, comfy seating and possibly a gaming system of some sort.
Anthony was probably the most demanding…First…he really wanted a “cool fireplace”. I’m not kidding. Now, for those of you who know me, you will know that this isn’t totally out of the box for him to request. One Christmas a couple years back, he actually asked Santa for a fireplace for his room. For this design project, Anthony insisted he needed a cozy place to have sleepovers with his friends and a good size TV to be able to game and watch movies on. He also requested we have good storage for his lego bins, a table to play board games, bean bags cause they are cool, possibly a billardini table (table soccer) and lots and lots of blankets. Ya…told you…he had a lot of input to share.
Stefano is my little collector of all things odd and loose. I attribute this directly to his curiosity which was greatly fostered by the AKIDEMY Preschool. As much as I love that he has a huge sense of wonder and likes to interact and engage with nature quite a bit, he also likes to keep it all…be it bugs, rocks, twigs, relics of things once cool now discarded by others…lol Oh yes. This minimalist, simple mom has a potential hoarder on her hands. I need to respect this about him and so we have, as he requested, a whole storage area dedicated to his loose parts and magical findings in storage bins (More on these next post). The only rule is, keep the living things outside, aka, worms, spiders, centipedes. So he needed storage. That was his only request. oh..nope, I lied…he also requested that I get a comfy couch.
The wonderful thing about planning this space was that I knew right from the start that we would require storage to hold all these special items, toys, legos, games, stuffies, blankets and the list goes on. I wanted to ensure that this space looked tidy and was not overwhelmed by stuff. So before any sort of design or decor ideas come to the table for discussion, I worked with my team at True Kitchen to design proper built-ins around the space that wouldn’t overwhelm the room.
Before the renovation…
After, The Boys Room
Originally the fireplace was in the corner of this room, We cored a hole in the cement, closed up the old hole and centered the fireplace. Anthony was really excited to see that the fireplace would be center stage of the room. This fireplace had to be special so I opted for a custom sleek and modern mantel to wrap around the busy but super fun cement tile! Who doesn’t love stars!
Seating: We tried to meet all the boys requests. We got an awesome pull-out couch from Article that was inexpensive, had great reviews and is super duper comfortable both to watch Television or to sleep on the queen pull out.
link here SOMA DAWN SOFA BED FROM ARTICLE
I got two massive gray bean bags from Wayfair Canada. These bean bags are teardrop shaped and are really cozy to sink into. Perfect for a game of Mario Kart. We also got a second armless couch from West Elm.
Shelving and built-ins: I wanted to have a lot of space to store bins, games, extra toys, the linens for the pull-out couch. True Kitchen Calgary did a great job recreating my design. Turned out exactly how I envisioned it.
Extras: Television is a 60 inch Samsung smart TV. We bought the boys a billardini table and a Nintendo Switch gaming system. The rug is from Wayfair Canada. The coffee table is from Ikea and is the perfect size to play a board game. I also didn’t want anything with edges because my boys like to get rough and wrestle… the last thing I need is for someone to lose an eye, this table is awesome, and I love the color!
Have any questions about playroom design? Wondering what are the best solutions for storage for little ones? Maybe thinking of what are the best toys for your children. Leave a comment! I am excited to share more about playroom organizations and storage over the next couple of weeks.
Till the next post,
moveplaymom