Our “baby” is almost 18 months old (tear …) so we decided we no longer needed a nursery. We thought a playroom would be perfect for our girls to play, laugh, dance, and make many memories!
Here’s a quick “before” of the room as a nursery. There’s no sugar coating these photos … icky carpet, lots of toys and mess! What more can you expect with a 17 month old and 3 year old?
We started with the finishes in the room.
Our paint is Sky Blue by Valspar.
We painted the baseboard, trim and crown Snowbound by Sherwin Williams.
The floor is VCT 12 x 12 tiles in grey and white and we designed a striped pattern and cut them to size.
Our first “big” purchases in the room were the hot pink lacquered storage benches. These were from a Victoria’s Secret store that was being remodeled and we got them both (plus 3 huge bulletin boards) for $225!
The provide plenty of storage in the drawers and under each cushion there are removable lacquered trays.
Our color scheme was pulled from the benches and reusable bags I found for $1 at Old Navy.
{stay tuned for a tutorial on how to turn them into pillows}
I love the pink, orange and white. A few more fabrics were purchased locally and they will make some comfy pillows soon too!
We reused the butterfly photos that were originally hanging in the nursery. I used wallpaper samples to make a series of 6 butterfly prints. This was inexpensive yet added a great graphic detail to the room.
Book storage was a must for this playroom! We purchased the IKEA Expedit bookcase in white to hold most of their books. Luckily it was on sale the day we shopped at IKEA … guess it was meant to be.
As a designer, there was only one way to organize the girls’ books.
By color!
We also purchased picture ledges to display books on the wall.
We offset the picture ledges so we had room for a small TV in the playroom. Ideally they wouldn’t have a TV in their room … but I can only watch Toy Story 3 so many times!
The configuration of the shelves gave us a perfect place to hang a special painting.
My Dad writes poetry and is an artist (in is spare time). This is a painting made for our daughter, Bella. If you follow our blog you will see a few more special pieces he has painted for her and our sweet Lilly.
In addition to books, we have an excess of dolls and stuffed animals! We devoted one drawer of the pink storage benches to stuffed animals but that wasn’t enough.
I found hot pink wall mounted garden baskets at Garden Ridge for $6.99. This was a perfect solution.
We are also displaying some of their baby dolls in the vintage doll bed Santa so kindly gave the girls last Christmas.
Next to the display of stuffed animals, we have a vintage mannequin displaying a few dress up items. The girls love to dress up so another drawer in the storage bench is devoted to tutus, heels, jewelry, princess costumes and of course, tiaras.
Tyler got this mannequin from the Dallas Trade Mart as they were demolishing the building for renovation. It has a fabulous iron base and adds a lot of character to the room.
Remember those 3 huge bulletin boards we got along with the storage benches? We took one, made a frame from reclaimed wood and covered it in a fun fabric to display their artwork!
{tutorial on how we transformed the bulletin will be posted on the blog soon!}
Remember the girls’ pink chalkboard table and folding chairs?
They found a new home in the playroom.
And they sit on a rug we found at IKEA for $19.99. Can’t beat that price!
We extended the flooring {which will also be featured as a tutorial on the blog soon!} into the closets and added wire shelving for the remainder of their toys.
We probably spent a total of $700 in this room for the complete transformation. Being creative, thinking outside the box and being resourceful will help you achieve the look you want on a small budget. We will continue to share ideas, tutorials and tips to help you apply design elements in your own home. As always, you can contact us if you would like additional assistance & services for your space.
The playroom turned out just as we hoped and we got rave reviews from Bella.
She thinks it’s simply beautiful.
Happy “clients”. Happy daughters. Happy Mommy & Daddy!
