The Playroom

It was important to me that we have at least one truly kid-friendly space on each floor of our home, but I wanted the majority of E's toys to be out of our main living spaces. On the first floor, we have the world's most adorable reading nook. The basement has space for E's larger toys and as she gets older, an air hockey table and pac-man arcade game for her and her friends. The second floor, however, is where E can really go crazy and enjoy being a kid. 

Although I wanted the playroom to be super kid-friendly, it also needed to be able to accommodate adults comfortably since we're not quite yet to the point where we can just leave her playing independently for more than a couple minutes. It was also important to me that the space be somewhat designed - not just a hodgepodge. There was definitely a balance to be achieved of making the space look somewhat stylish, but also like a space for kiddos to run around, make a mess, and have fun.

The playroom is basically a large open space on the 2nd floor of our home. I suppose it's technically a hallway, but I think of it as sort of a lounge welcoming you to the upstairs.

Here's the view of the entire space:

The rug is Ikea and I've loved it for years. It's stylish, and kid-friendly, while not being too babyish, and it's SUPER cheap. A good thing, since it gets pelted with markers, paints, and snacks on the daily.  

The draperies are Serena & Lily, and the fun little flag banner is from Land of Nod:

The play table and chairs  are both from Land of Nod, as are the black storage bins over on the right. 

It's funny, because I thought I totally overbought on the storage and that we'd have way more than we needed. Ha ha ha, rookie mistake! I should note, I'm 100% keeping it real in these pictures. Although I did straighten up a bit, I didn't remove anything from the playroom. And I can admit, the chaos does make my eyelids twitch just a little.  

The gallery wall is for sure one of my favorite elements in the room, and helps tie together the color scheme, which is grey, black, and white with pops of yellow and pink. 

The seagrass animal heads are from Target, the flower print is from etsy, the black and white arrow is from Hobby Lobby, the large bicycle is a vintage French poster I purchased at one of my favorite ever home stores (in San Diego, and I cannot remember the name!), the yellow heart is my poorly executed version of Kerri Rosenthal's truly stunning work. I super love her work and will more than likely spring for the real deal from her one of these days, but when I do, it's probably not going in the playroom (sorry E!). 

The last piece is a print of Goyard's alphabet, which is what they use when you monogram one of their bags. Of all the luxury brands, Goyard is my favorite. If I won the lottery, I'd have a full set of Goyard luggage and all the bags. As it is, I have one, but I am a compete fan girl (here I am geeking out in front of the flagship store in Paris):



Anyway, when I came across this piece (via Artstar), I thought it was perhaps the most perfectly ordained moment of my life. I was powerless; I couldn't not buy it. 

On one of the other walls, we've got a kitty clock:

Its movement is sort of hypnotizing...in a good way.

In this corner you can see some of the other artwork. The alphabet splatter piece is another JC original, and the cow is just a fun little watercolor that I picked up at Homegoods.

The big round chair is super comfy piece that came with us from the old house. The only change I made is I switched up the pillows from the ones it came with. It's a little hard to tell in the photo, but there's a mix of grey velvet and grey buffalo check from ikea, as well as some pretty petal pink RH pillows. 

The play kitchen of course is a popular spot for E, where she makes a mean cheese and ice cream soup.

The little ducky print is by miss E herself, and elsewhere in the playroom we have a piece by E's Omie (her grandmother). I think it's very sweet that we have a mix of things made for E by several people who love her. 

That vintage Moroccan basket (from Loft & Craft) is another of my favorite things in this room:

In addition to being great storage, it's such a cool piece, and adds a bit of age/imperfection to this room that's full of a lot of shiny new stuff.

You can see in the photo below how this space relates to the rest of the upstairs: 

That's E's bathroom down at the end of the room, but the easel basically demarcates the play space from the grown-up space. 

As E gets older, I see this space evolving into a more typical lounge, at which point we'll most likely do some built-ins, maybe with a window seat, install a TV, etc. For now though, it's toys toys everywhere, and such a bright, happy, cheerful space for our sweet girl.

Thank you for reading!