Some client projects really fire me up. So much so that I’m almost willing to organize the space free of charge. The end result / vision I have while standing in the midst of the “before” gets the best of me on occasion. This is true. Mom had recently moved both of the boys into one shared bedroom, which left this wide open space free and clear to create a playroom of their dreams. She had moved everything into the space (everything was previously in their formal living room) and they were in need of organization / design to bring it all together. They now have a gorgeous and simply organized playroom – one where there’s a place for everything, the floor space is open, and the boys (and little sis) really want to spend time in here!

ORGANIZED PLAYROOM CLOSET

( baskets | totes | labels )

Look at all that space! *heart eyes*

There was already a built-out custom closet in this space, as this used to be a bedroom. There used to be a second section of hanging above the rod you see. Matter of fact, if you look closely, you’ll see I tucked the rod behind the baskets on a shelf above it. What I did was suggest we order 2 additional shelves from the closet company to give us more storage space. The overall goal was to have this closet store a majority of the toys so the kids would have a lot of open floor space to play.

I love modifying closets to maximize storage space. Don’t be afraid to do this in your home. More often than not, I usually have shelves cut at a local hardware store. But in this case, because the closets are so beautiful, and someone will likely move back in here one day, we opted to stick with their closet company for new shelves.

( baskets | totes | labels )

For the storage, I went with open topped bins and totes. Their children are aged 5 and under and mom didn’t want plastic bins or anything with a lid. These baskets are one of my favorites for playrooms and pantries because of their sturdiness, variety of sizes, and how they hold up to kids tossing them around. The striped totes are one of my long-time favorites and am so glad The Container Store hasn’t phased them out, as I previously heard they may.

The closet contains a variety of toys; dinosaurs, instruments, trains, cars, duplo blocks, magna tiles, wooden blocks and more. You won’t believe just how much variety there is. The 5 striped bins you see up high are “out of rotation” toys. I labeled the shelf front so mom knows what’s up there, but offering kids everything at one time generally means they lose interest. Consider rotating toys so their interest remains and toys last longer.

LEGO ORGANIZATION

The boys are in love with Lego’s and we all know how difficult it is to organize these babies. To make it easy for them to find their current builds and keep the storage shallow / easy to find pieces, I opted for this solution…

( elfa system )

This free-standing Elfa system is totally customizable. For now we started with this layout, later we may add a second set of drawers. The shallow drawers make it easy to sift around and discover pieces to build with. I spent a little time searching for Spiderman lego’s with one of the boys and it brought me right back to sitting on the floor with my own boys building and creating. So grateful this job keeps it all in perspective…and that I get to play with cuties / lego’s all the time.

OPEN FLOOR SPACE IS IMPORTANT

( teepee )

The boys really wanted a teepee in their playroom (so did mom and I) and if you know me and playrooms, you know I love open floor space. Open space is crucial to a playroom for so many reasons. Mainly because it gives kids space to spread out and play with their chosen activities…but it also encourages creativity and brings a sense of calm. The calm is what us moms can appreciate it, for sure. And if you have a playroom I know you can relate to kids playing in that room more often when it’s clean and clear. If it’s a disaster they aren’t going to step foot in the room.

We chose this great teepee and the kids are in heaven!

A CREATIVE ZONE

The kids love to craft and color so we created a zone right under the bright, sunny window for a table, chairs and craft caddy…

( table | caddy )

I am in love with this caddy! It’s wide, has a lot of compartments and a long handle to carry it to another space in the house. The kids have a great little space to color and craft but also to build lego’s!

Organizing and designing this playroom has been a highlight of my summer. (Which by the way is totally packed and that’s why I haven’t been in here very much) Loved seeing the photo texts from mom that first evening when the kids came home – they were camped out in the teepee with sleeping bags and my heart totally melted. Love helping sweet families get organized!

If you’d like to shop this playroom, you can find all the sources here:

Happy playroom organizing everyone!