Playroom & Storage

When I started the playroom my son was 1 and a half.. and I had another boy on the way. Miles was actually 3 months old by the time we moved in. At the moment we probably spend 70% of the day in this room, especially with it being very cold and wet outside...! so it really was important to find a layout that worked well for us.

As they’re pretty close in age I didn't have to worry too much about the design (in respect of boy/girl or a large age gap) they will be mostly much into the same things, at the same time - with any luck anyway! But I still wanted to keep it quite neutral so that if we were to change up the design or give the room a theme every few years, it's going to be easy to adapt.

For now, I knew it had to be bold, bright & fun - lots of colours. But also, really easy to tidy away… so storage was a key consideration.

I had seen this colourful wooden wall cladding before and immediately knew we have to have it for the playroom! Its from a company called Ted Todd, and apparently its reclaimed from an old Indonesian ship.

I remember calling them in a panic one afternoon as I noticed it had suddenly disappeared from their website, but luckily they said there’s a little left in stock… phew! So, that was my starting point. On the opposite wall we had a media unit made to fit, so as the boys get older it can be used as a TV room, but also if it became a study later on, it would work too.

We teamed the bright reclaimed wall with a fun but retro Monaco car poster by Geo Ham. I had my eye on that thanks to Pinterest, and eventually hunted down a genuine print on Etsy. I already had this fabulous “Frankie” sofa from the lovely Jo&Co Home (which was actually in our old lounge) luckily it looks great and is super comfy too! The simple star cushion I also adore - I think it adds that little pop of fun (thanks Magge & Me)

Originally when I first finished the Playroom I had the sofa facing the media unit - which looked right, but it didn’t really feel right - it wasn’t working for the boys’ ages because the baby was just starting to roll over, and soon he will be calling, so we really needed that central space clear. We ultimately made more ‘room for play’ .

The lovely Susie from Totter & Tumble kindly gifted us one of their incredible playmats - which is unbelievably soft, (I don’t think a single person hasn’t commented on it the minute they enter the room!). I cannot recommend these enough - even if we're lucky enough to be gifted one, wed've 100% bought one. Miles loves it, and its also really easy to wipe clean.

Now last, but not certainly not least… was STORAGE, we needed storage. The media unit looked great, and nice to display all the pretty wooden toys, but practicality wise, there’s not a lot of depth to those cupboards below, and one is full of DVD’s, (another has the heating system controls!)... so where were all the actual toys going to go!?

Great Little Trading have such a huge range of options when it comes to storage. They have everything from wall units to baskets & cubes - all with different colours and finishes. We very almost went for the ‘‘Alba” unit, but as our carpentry team ended up being on site longer and were able to make the media unit on site, we decided two walls of storage might look a little… utilitarian.

I also wanted to still show off the colourful reclaimed wall. So in the end we went for the lower ‘‘Abbeville” storage units and we absolutely love it. Instead of displaying books or toys on the higher shelf, we just have another row of rope baskets - the red ones to match the racing car in the poster, and the wall lights, while the lower row are neutral tan & white colour - to keep things soft and simple.

You have no idea how satisfying it feels when everything has its own place! We’ve got for dinosaurs, one for play food, and for cars or colouring pens…

I usually clear everything away at the end of each day, (probably because I haven't quite accepted that this house can be untidy yet…) but no doubt this will change as they get older, and I will just be sliding the doors closed and pretending it is organised by keeping them closed, ha!

If you really want to up your game when it comes to storage and organisation - I would recommend these net bags from Amazon! We also found this Train Table on Facebook marketplace, Ernie loves to stand to play - and nothing can spill over the top because there's a lip around the edges. We often move it to the site so that Miles has more space to wriggle about too.

Next we're looking at making a creating a craft area and somewhere to display their art.. so any tips for storaging paints and pencils etc, please send them my way! Watch this space, and thanks for reading xxx