Although my son’s playroom space is not yet finished, I wanted to share the progress so far. I need to purchase the remaining elements of the design – area rugs, wall decor and more – but the chunk of the main pieces are within the room already. My son loves this space and we have made so many fun family memories within it over the past year. Time really flies! I can’t believe we have lived here for a year already.
This room is very large – the size of a primary bedroom. We originally thought this would be his bedroom, but quickly realized through the building process that the large square footage would make for a great play space.
When designing a space like a playroom, anchoring pieces – like a bed within a bedroom or a table within a dining room- lack. Due to this, I design playrooms with an activity ‘vignette’ approach which are are groupings of items. For example, our reading vignette is comprised of a nugget couch, wall book shelves, floor Montessori bookshelf, fun wall decor including a ‘read’ pennant. These are all items, that when grouped together, make a cozy space centered around reading.
A few items that are notable:
- This Pottery Barn Kids Carolina Grow-With-You Activity Table in ‘brushed fog’ is not only wonderful quality, but also doubles as toy organization with the coordinating activity carts and is aesthetically pleasing. Since this is an item that we will be using for many years, I felt the investment was worth it. My son has used this every day since we bought it one year ago. The coordinating activity carts are really worth it because my son can roll them in and out himself and as a mom you know – toy storage is everything. If you toy rotate like us, the carts are huge and hold so many train sets and trucks. This is a great activity table option with storage built in that won’t be as costly.
- This wooden play kitchen is so adorable and under $150! It took awhile to assemble, but for the price it wasn’t a big deal.
- This Pottery Barn Kids Anywhere Beanbag has been a hit for an additional reading spot. Although there are other options in the market, I liked that this one has a lock. Cheaper bean bags that do not have this lick feature pose a suffocation risk. There are many other design options too! I looked into the Pottery Barn Kids Anywhere Chair, but since we intended to use ours for cuddly reading sessions, I decided on the bean bag and it’s gotten so much use over the past year.
- This Montessori bookshelf has been worth every penny! Unlike traditional bookshelves, this style makes the books accessbile to children since it sits on the floor and the books have the cover displayed face out – rather than the binding – so they see the book. My son it just over two years old now and has been a book worm since he started being mobile. Although many factors contribure to that, having a Montessori style bookshelf really does encourage reading!
- This Felt Pennant is super cute! I have one with his name on the playroom door as well. They are great wall accessories to tie in the room’s accent colors and be the finishing touch on a vignette.
- This Pottery Barn Kids Acrylic Wall Shelf is such a great way to display books within a playroom. I store sentimental books here that were handed down by my dad that I prefer to monitor toddler hands on. We have used these in my son’s nursery and this room and they just are a cute way to display books.
We also use the nugget couch, Montessori climber and art table daily. To shop all details, click the items within the widget below! Xo Mindy
