photo{s} a day, forty two: operation playroom reveal
For starters, I love the playroom. I do not love the photos. I cannot get a shot of the entire room because of my lens and the lighting is less than par. I mean, it's killing me. Anyone in my Bible study group will get this statement - when things don't turn out just perfectly so {the photos}, I get really insecure. In fact, I leaned towards forgetting about it and leaving you all in suspense. I hate when things don't photograph as awesome as they look. I can photograph people, things, or events just fine - but the whole house or room thing - well, don't hire me for a home decorating magazine, let's just say that! Ha!
Now that I started my post on a totally negative note, let's get to it. Let me start with my inspiration, tell you a little about what I did and onto the boy's reactions and photos. Shall we?
So, I had the idea to redo the playroom early last week. We had just finished organizing the garage and that got my mind a spinning. I thought to myself - the boy's will be gone this weekend and that'd be a perfect opportunity to dig deep in that room and organize. Oh, hey! Wait! I could decorate it! On another side note, the playroom is a room that the previous owners built in our garage. It takes up half of our "two car garage". And let's just say, their work was less than stellar. I have always hated this room and it's been nothing more than a dump for extra stuff, the boys toys, our pet tortoises and has been labeled "playroom". I hate going in there, so I cannot imagine why the boys would ever want to.
I searched "playrooms" on Pinterest and BAM! I was immediately in for it. I found one that had lots of maps and I thought to myself - the boys love maps, and I have an awesome old globe. Hmm. That could be cool. I saw a room with a chalkboard wall and thought, Hmm. Eli LOVES art and they would think this is AWESOME. I also remembered some pillowcase sleeping bags I saw on Pinterest awhile back. I knew I wanted the playroom to be a little less toy playroom and a little more video game room since they are slowly moving out of toys and more interested in all their games. I knew they would need a comfy spot to plop down on the floor and waste their brain cells with video games {I mean, to relax and enjoy themselves.} And, I went from there.
I went to Walmart last week with the boys to pick out material for the pillow sleeping bags. The boys had no idea what I was up to and I didn't explain it. I was trying to find something with a map print, but they didn't have anything and I didn't have time to search all of San Diego or order any from the internet. I found a cool airplane print that I thought would work. And actually, as soon as Silas saw it he proclaimed, "This is AWESOME! You HAVE to buy this. What is this for anyway? What is fabric? Whatever you're doing, you need to make something with this." {Score. They both loved it, so that made my decision easy.}
So, my chalkboard wall. I decided to do it half blue and half chalkboard. I wanted there to be some sort of division between the two paints, so I thought of doing a stripe. Well, maps have lots of red, right? So, red, it is! Immediately after painting the red stripe, I saw what it looked like - the Titanic. If you know anything about Silas lately, you'll know that he is OBSESSED with the Titanic. He recently asked me to redo his room with a Titanic theme. He so happens to have a Titanic model that he got for his Kinder promotion and I also just bought him a Titanic book off Amazon for a few bucks. I figured I could steal a couple of photos to frame and buy him a new one.
Since my theme was turning more Titanic, I wanted to do something for Eli. Eli LOVES to hide. He always has. It's a normal everyday thing for him to hide in a closet, piled under pillows, under a blanket pretending to be some sort of baby animal, etc. I decided it'd be cool to do a little nook for him, with curtains that he could close and hide if he wanted. This may be my favorite part of the room, actually. For the curtain, I took a sheet I already had and then a pillowcase from their old bedding that had a car print {Yeah, you can see this kind of turned planes, trains and automobiles - except replace the "trains" with "Titanic"}, Mrs. Judy cut the sheet together, added a block of the car print and voila! The perfect curtains that cost nothing. Nada. Zip! Can't beat that.
My least favorite part of the room is the closet, but it is what it is. The whole goal here was to create a functional space where their toys were organized, instead of piled in a huge heap in the middle of the room. Also, it was the perfect place for their pet tortoises. They were just out in the room, but there was no way that was happening. Their box fit perfectly in the closet. I decided to take what were mirror doors off, so they wouldn't be trapped in there. I hung long curtains so it can be opened or closed. I hung up some of their artwork, because Eli is always wanting to hang stuff all over the walls, so this was the perfect spot. It works!
The final touch was the photos. I printed a bunch of the 4x4 Instagram photos and hung them with twine and mini clothes pins. I love it because it is colorful and they are all so them. I clearly am obsessed with photos. This was the perfect finish.
There ended up being a whole lot more red in the room than I ever imagined. A couple of reasons - I needed curtains and blue would've looked awful next to the wall {blue on blue = dumb}, black would be too drab, white would be blah and red was the only other color. I could only find a red rug that was in the price range I wanted to spend and hey - I think the red makes everything pop.
The reaction -
The boys walked in and were elated. They both deemed it the "best surprise EVER" and Silas said, "Wow, mom! Now, I actually want to hang out in the playroom!!! This is GREAT!" He FLIPPED over the "Titanic" theme. He seriously could. not. believe. it. Eli, of course, loved his little corner. They loved the fact that their tv was finally set up with their Wii and Netflix. They loved the turtle's new home. They loved the chalkboard wall and you can see that Silas already broke it in. I said, "Won't this be so great when we have friends over? Don't you think your friends would love playing in here? Should we invite someone over??" Eli immediately said, "No mom. We JUST got it. I'm not ready to share yet." Ha. At least he's honest!! And I am so, so, so happy that they love it. It makes all the planning, the shopping, the lack of sleep for the past three days, and the intense amount of organizing worth every second. I agree, it was "the best surprise ever" - I LOVE that I got to do this for them and that they were so thankful. {I'm having a mommy moment.}
Oh, and btw - my little partner in crime, baby J, was such a trooper. He gets some credit too - I couldn't have done this without him being on his best behavior. And last but not least, I could not have done this without Mrs. Judy's {my co-worker} help. She sewed the pillow sleeping bags, the curtains, helped me paint, helped me hang everything, and enabled me to complete this project in such a timely manner to pull off the surprise. Mrs. Judy, you are THE BEST!
Now that I started my post on a totally negative note, let's get to it. Let me start with my inspiration, tell you a little about what I did and onto the boy's reactions and photos. Shall we?
So, I had the idea to redo the playroom early last week. We had just finished organizing the garage and that got my mind a spinning. I thought to myself - the boy's will be gone this weekend and that'd be a perfect opportunity to dig deep in that room and organize. Oh, hey! Wait! I could decorate it! On another side note, the playroom is a room that the previous owners built in our garage. It takes up half of our "two car garage". And let's just say, their work was less than stellar. I have always hated this room and it's been nothing more than a dump for extra stuff, the boys toys, our pet tortoises and has been labeled "playroom". I hate going in there, so I cannot imagine why the boys would ever want to.
I searched "playrooms" on Pinterest and BAM! I was immediately in for it. I found one that had lots of maps and I thought to myself - the boys love maps, and I have an awesome old globe. Hmm. That could be cool. I saw a room with a chalkboard wall and thought, Hmm. Eli LOVES art and they would think this is AWESOME. I also remembered some pillowcase sleeping bags I saw on Pinterest awhile back. I knew I wanted the playroom to be a little less toy playroom and a little more video game room since they are slowly moving out of toys and more interested in all their games. I knew they would need a comfy spot to plop down on the floor and waste their brain cells with video games {I mean, to relax and enjoy themselves.} And, I went from there.
I went to Walmart last week with the boys to pick out material for the pillow sleeping bags. The boys had no idea what I was up to and I didn't explain it. I was trying to find something with a map print, but they didn't have anything and I didn't have time to search all of San Diego or order any from the internet. I found a cool airplane print that I thought would work. And actually, as soon as Silas saw it he proclaimed, "This is AWESOME! You HAVE to buy this. What is this for anyway? What is fabric? Whatever you're doing, you need to make something with this." {Score. They both loved it, so that made my decision easy.}
So, my chalkboard wall. I decided to do it half blue and half chalkboard. I wanted there to be some sort of division between the two paints, so I thought of doing a stripe. Well, maps have lots of red, right? So, red, it is! Immediately after painting the red stripe, I saw what it looked like - the Titanic. If you know anything about Silas lately, you'll know that he is OBSESSED with the Titanic. He recently asked me to redo his room with a Titanic theme. He so happens to have a Titanic model that he got for his Kinder promotion and I also just bought him a Titanic book off Amazon for a few bucks. I figured I could steal a couple of photos to frame and buy him a new one.
Since my theme was turning more Titanic, I wanted to do something for Eli. Eli LOVES to hide. He always has. It's a normal everyday thing for him to hide in a closet, piled under pillows, under a blanket pretending to be some sort of baby animal, etc. I decided it'd be cool to do a little nook for him, with curtains that he could close and hide if he wanted. This may be my favorite part of the room, actually. For the curtain, I took a sheet I already had and then a pillowcase from their old bedding that had a car print {Yeah, you can see this kind of turned planes, trains and automobiles - except replace the "trains" with "Titanic"}, Mrs. Judy cut the sheet together, added a block of the car print and voila! The perfect curtains that cost nothing. Nada. Zip! Can't beat that.
My least favorite part of the room is the closet, but it is what it is. The whole goal here was to create a functional space where their toys were organized, instead of piled in a huge heap in the middle of the room. Also, it was the perfect place for their pet tortoises. They were just out in the room, but there was no way that was happening. Their box fit perfectly in the closet. I decided to take what were mirror doors off, so they wouldn't be trapped in there. I hung long curtains so it can be opened or closed. I hung up some of their artwork, because Eli is always wanting to hang stuff all over the walls, so this was the perfect spot. It works!
The final touch was the photos. I printed a bunch of the 4x4 Instagram photos and hung them with twine and mini clothes pins. I love it because it is colorful and they are all so them. I clearly am obsessed with photos. This was the perfect finish.
There ended up being a whole lot more red in the room than I ever imagined. A couple of reasons - I needed curtains and blue would've looked awful next to the wall {blue on blue = dumb}, black would be too drab, white would be blah and red was the only other color. I could only find a red rug that was in the price range I wanted to spend and hey - I think the red makes everything pop.
The reaction -
The boys walked in and were elated. They both deemed it the "best surprise EVER" and Silas said, "Wow, mom! Now, I actually want to hang out in the playroom!!! This is GREAT!" He FLIPPED over the "Titanic" theme. He seriously could. not. believe. it. Eli, of course, loved his little corner. They loved the fact that their tv was finally set up with their Wii and Netflix. They loved the turtle's new home. They loved the chalkboard wall and you can see that Silas already broke it in. I said, "Won't this be so great when we have friends over? Don't you think your friends would love playing in here? Should we invite someone over??" Eli immediately said, "No mom. We JUST got it. I'm not ready to share yet." Ha. At least he's honest!! And I am so, so, so happy that they love it. It makes all the planning, the shopping, the lack of sleep for the past three days, and the intense amount of organizing worth every second. I agree, it was "the best surprise ever" - I LOVE that I got to do this for them and that they were so thankful. {I'm having a mommy moment.}
Oh, and btw - my little partner in crime, baby J, was such a trooper. He gets some credit too - I couldn't have done this without him being on his best behavior. And last but not least, I could not have done this without Mrs. Judy's {my co-worker} help. She sewed the pillow sleeping bags, the curtains, helped me paint, helped me hang everything, and enabled me to complete this project in such a timely manner to pull off the surprise. Mrs. Judy, you are THE BEST!
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| The tv and wii set up. |
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| Eli's reading nook. |
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| The chalkboard wall. |
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| Titanic model, photos and map! |
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| The closet. |
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| details in the reading nook. I made these :) |
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| $10 lamp from Goodwill that I put a map on with modge podge. |
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| Close up of the cubes, adorned with labels! |
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| Baby testing out the nook. |
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| the pillow sleeping bags! |
1 Comments
The thought placed in the room is obvious. The boys are blessed to have such a loving mommy😊. I'm sure lots of fun will be had in the play room.
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