by Bex
I am so chuffed with the playroom which we have finally managed to finish since Nik had a week off work! I mentioned in my post about the nursery that I had a few rainbow ideas from the nursery which just wouldn't fit without it becoming utterly cluttered. The playroom therefore ended up having a rainbow theme as well! Luckily babies like bright colours and it means all of their toys look good in there as they're brightly coloured too.
As a reminder, here are the before pictures from the day we moved in - it's the wee room just off the living room (used as a study by the previous owners) through the double doors.
We basically had a blank canvas but although the beige colour goes with the carpet and oak doors, it's just not me and grey goes much better with the bright colours I love. We just used the leftover grey paint from the hall and living room (slightly different shades on each wall but very similar) and Mum painted it for us before she left after Christmas. The whole of the downstairs has Oak wooden flooring but there was carpet everywhere except the kitchen and hall when we moved in. We immediately lifted the carpet in the dining room but have left the playroom for now knowing that if the kids do wreck it (e.g. with paint/glitter/glue), we can just rip it up and have the wooden floor.
The Expedit shelf unit from our study in Glasgow wouldn't fit up the stairs in one piece so we put it in here instead and bought a new one to build in the study upstairs (I had thought it would be good in the playroom anyway). I mostly wanted lots of drawers in it for toys, craft supplies, etc. and I was pleased when Ikea brought out grey ones although I did want a wee flash of colour so added an emerald green one.
My favourite thing in this room is the cluster of paper lanterns, honeycomb balls and pom poms. I saw this idea on
Pinterest (or course!) and loved the idea for the nursery but it wouldn't have worked in there due to the sloped walls. I'm really pleased with how it has turned out (and it hides a patch of water damage in the corner from an unfortunate bathroom leak incident!) The cluster was made up of balls from Ikea, Hobbycraft, Tiger and some homemade using tissue paper (some bought new and some salvaged from gifts we've received). In total it cost around £30.
The book shelves are another favourite. We have a normal bookcase upstairs in the nursery with lots of my old books but I like the look of these Ribba shelves (meant for displaying photo frames - also seen on Pinterest) to display some of the babies' new books and some of the prettier old ones.
One set of the rainbow fairy lights we bought in Thailand (when 6 weeks pregnant) has been hung in the corner next to the lovely print from Roz which I had framed temporarily but I decided it would look better in a square frame (and then changed my mind again and went for 40x50). I also bought a multi-aperture frame to have some pictures of the twins in there. The cute peas in a pod string of lights was a gift from Nik's friends (who will be guide parents for the babies). I know I'll have to remove them once the babies are on the move so they don't get tangled up in them (or pull them down as Roz has warned me will happen)!
I also got a long multi-aperture frame to fill the space by the window and plan to put pictures of the babies underwater in it once they're taken at their swimming lessons in May.
The gorgeous limited edition bunny prints
Laura gave us at my baby shower are now framed and up on the wall too, they look fab!
Nik's parents brought the twins back some colourful beaded giraffes from Kenya and the gorgeous wooden elephants were from Roz at Christmas (find them at woodliketoplay.com).
The little books are from M&S and the small porcelain elephants were a gift from my late grandmother when I was a child. (I also have an extensive Beatrix Potter collection from her but haven't found a suitable place to put those ornaments yet, I'm thinking another Ribba shelf up out of reach, perhaps above the bookshelves but I don't want to overdo this space either. I might just wait until the babies are older and we re-decorate.) The hanging elephants were a gift from the twins' grandparents brought back from India (there's a pink one in the nursery above the door - they're traditionally hung above doors and windows for good luck and to welcome people).
We also have some great rainbow coloured wooden toys (building blocks and alphabet) from Sainsburys (just £5 each!) which look good on the shelves for now as the twins aren't old enough to play with them yet. The gorgeous silver plated piggy banks were a gift from one of Nik's friends and are by Vera Wang. The wee yellow house money box was from a Pinterest event I attended.
I've moved the rainbow stripe cushion down from the nursery to start a cosy reading corner together with this gorgeous handsewn cushion from one of my Mum's friends with the babies' names and date of birth stitched on.
At the moment, we still have a changing table in here but as the twins get even bigger we'll probably just change them on the floor and move the table out until they're much bigger and can use it for arts and crafts. We also have the swing out of the way in here as it's so huge and fits neatly next to the table.
I've started making the rainbow bunting (also originally planned for the nursery) but will be using this at the naming ceremony in May before I hang it in here.
Finally we have added long roller blinds to the doors so that when this room ends up looking less 'styled', i.e. scattered in toys and general mess when the twins are older, (or if we just want to chuck the baby gym and jumperoo in there for now) we can hide it all from the 'grown up' room. Closing the blinds makes the living room look smaller so we didn't want a permanent screen up. The glass panels actually let more light in and allow us to keep an eye on the twins when they're in there for naps. (Apparently the swing is the favourite place to nap!)
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| Obviously the jumperoo would be placed INSIDE the playroom ;) |
It's such an ideal wee room for a playroom downstairs where we can easily keep an eye on the kids but keep it a separate space. I love my new colourful view from the sofa!
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| Priya enjoying a snooze in the newly decorated room. |
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| Kalyan - ditto! |
Item details:
Shelving unit -
Ikea (Kallax, previously Expedit)
Book shelves -
Ikea (Ribba)
Honeycomb decorations -
Hobbycraft,
Ikea
Rainbow paper lanterns -
Tiger
Tissue paper for Pom Poms - Fenwicks
Round disc decorations -
Ikea
Piggy Banks - John Lewis (Vera Wang for Wedgwood -
Heart &
Infinity)
Roller blinds -
C&H Fabrics
Grey frames - Ikea (
Osterslov)
White frames -
Hobbycraft
Swing - Mothercare (
Fisher Price)
Changing mat -
Babies R Us
Wooden elephants -
Wood like to play
Wooden building blocks -
Sainsbury's
Wooden alphabet -
Sainsbury's
Pea pod lights -
Button Owl
Quote print -
Etsy
Rainbow cushion - Ikea (
Skarum)
Edit - since I wrote this (while awaiting my new frame before posting the final draft), the paper poms were sadly destroyed by a bathroom flooding incident above! Most were saveable but the hours I spent putting them up and getting them just right were wasted, I was devastated as I have precious few hours to do anything in the house these days and had made the most of Nik's week off work to tick some things off the list. Also, the carpet is now stained already! The purple paper dripped and dyed the corner below. Anyway, I had to replace a few of the paper decorations from Ikea and also found a few other bits while I was there - of course! (Not quite sure yet when I'll get the paper all back up but at least I had already taken the photos!!
I got one of the cute little cactus plants and put it on the windowsill with a couple of the Beatrix Potter ornaments and this orange lamp which I think looks like the setting African sun!
