147 March Featured Space: Kids - Perfect Play Haven

I have been getting some requests inquiring about our "fun" zone, a.k.a. our playroom.   And consider me massive yippee skippy excited about sharing this space in our home.  I think IHeart it as much as the kids do, maybe even more!

That's right!  We have a pretty amazing play space for our dear little men.  And it's so swell that I had to share some of the secrets behind it for this month's blog featured space: Kid's Spaces.  I am going to condense this down to 5 really easy must haves for the absolute perfect play place for the ones we love most. 

1.  Book Storage!

Play room's don't have to be all play and no work!  In fact, many of my musts for a play room, aren't just for play, but also for reading, learning and being creative!  To tuck away the massive loads of books, yet make them super accessible whenever the kiddos are looking for some eye candy, I find that large canvas bins work pretty perfectly:

I found the brown flower canvas one there are Target awhile back, which they no longer stock, but now they have a stunning collection of Liberty Collection Canvas Bins that would look pretty fantastic in any play space!

I also heart using bookends for taking care of the little munchkin's reads.  These alphabet ones from Crate & Barrel are totally fitting for our play space, but are mod and cool enough for any adult space as well!!
 

I typically place the hard cover books or our absolute favorites up on a shelf with bookends, and the flimsier soft covers in the canvas bin.

2.  Workspace!

Having a good workspace is a great way to help the kiddos learn through creative art or educational play!  These Ikea tables couldn't be more suitable for crafty kid's zones, they are durable,  perfectly sized and cute to boot!

We also decided to add a small desk to house a computer that the handy tech hub created just for the boys.  It's an old hand-me-down pc that was wiped clean and is just used for educational gaming:

Above the computer station, we store the drawing supplies, high up away from little fingers so that mom and dad can monitor the craft use:

$1 planters from Ikea double as crayon, marker and color pencil storage, and add charm to the space!

And don't forget to look in odd places for canisters and containers from other rooms to corral awkward play things.  For example, this kitchen canister is quite perfect for magnetic alphabet letters:

3.  Toy Storage!

Now for the really good stuff.  What the playroom is all about.  TOYS!  Toy storage can be a crazy chaotic conundrum, but not in this space.  And do I ever have a chore when I walk into this room?  Nopers!  My fantastic threesome couldn't be better at keeping this space neat and tidy all on their own, because I made it easy for them to do so.

First I took the time to compile ALL of the toys in the house.  Sorting is so importantly key here.  I paired all "types" of toys together in piles: cars, blocks, train tracks, etc... some even down to very specific types of blocks and toys.  I then took inventory from there, to determine how many bins were needed to keep all toy types separated.  Yep, now singing, "You gotta keep 'em separated!"

It was a crazy overwhelming moment, I am not going to lie.  Our kids toys were taking over our home.  And we weren't to blame, it was our amazingly generous friends and family, that would joyfully gift during birthdays and holidays.  And when you have three little men receiving toys by the tons, it can add up in a quick blink.

Since organizing the playroom, I learned two important things.  A: When family and friends are inquiring on gift ideas, I ask that they expand upon current play sets that the kiddos already enjoy vs receiving a ton of random things that may or may not get touched.  B:  We must clean out our toy bins and areas every single birthday party and Christmas holiday, and donate old toys when replacing with new.  Sometimes it's hard for the kids to understand or let go, but they are learning some very valuable life lessons.  It also ensures that we don't need to build an addition onto our home just for toys, because that is just crazy talk.

So, once I had an inventory, it was time to create storage.  We chose to go with an open shelving system with the option of adding pull out bins:

 We also went with two additional toy storage shelving units with pull out bins, that we bridged together with some shelving and crown molding, which gave the two single pieces a more unified look:

The open shelving is great for easy peasy take out and put back type stuff and they are also wonderful options for storing odd shaped toys and goods:

  And the pull out bins hold way more than I originally imagined they could, and are even better because they come in three bin sizes based on your toy storage needs.

Now, with all the storage in place, it was time to get some labels going.  Again, when it comes to kid's spaces, labels are like little magic wands.  It's like playing a matching game.  Take a toy, match it to the label!  Fun stuff right?!

To make the labels, I just did a Google Image search to find a picture of the toy concealed within in the bins:

Of course I matted and laminated, and then I used an industrial strength Velcro to adhere the labels to the bins.  Potato Head on the outside, Potato Head on the inside:
 

I repeated for all of the slide out bins:

We also added bins to the bottom level of the open storage unit.  These bins hold the REALLY big toy collections, such as Dinosaurs, Duplo Blocks, Little People and Wooden Train Tracks.  They hold the REALLY big collections because the bins are REALLY big!  No joke:

And again, I totally added matching labels to the fronts.  But aside from that, I wasn't too keen on the toys shining through the clear bins because it added too much eye clutter, so I covered the fronts with a piece of scrapbook paper, a 12 x 12 sheet fits like a perfect glove in the front panel of the bin:

Plus, you can pick any color paper to match your space, making the bins totally customizable!  I should mention, the bins were purchased at Ikea also, where the shelving unit is from:

Doesn't even look like the same bin right?!  Gotta heart it! 

4.  Wall Art!

Every playroom deserves a little whimsical lovin'.  It says to the cute kids, "Get your creative juices flowing and have some fun!"  I do admit, I have some additional plans on adding some more color and art display for my clan, but for now, they have this great quote spread above their toy storage shelves:

It expresses EXACTLY what the space is used for!

And art doesn't have to cost anything in a funtastic play space!  Have your munchkins spend an afternoon whipping up some of their own masterpieces to display, hang a memo board full of pics of them in action or display their hand made sculptures on shelving!  Opportunities are endless really!  Another fantastic place to look for inexpensive art is on AllPosters.com, in which very inexpensive poster prints can be snagged and framed!  Whatever is clever, this space is definitely deserving!

We also hung photos of our little buddies above their workspace:

 

5.  Sitting Zone!

Last but definitely not least, creating a cozy sitting area in a playroom, is a for sure must!  And it can be as easy as tossing some pillows in a corner!  It gives your little ones a place to snuggle up with a good book, or to take some quiet down time.  They will appreciate it as much as you will!  The biggest benefit is that it encourages them to pick up a book, which circles us back to easy peasy step number 1.

Our sitting zone is in the form of a cozy chair.  Proud Mom Alert: Here is my little P showing off it's fantastic functionally:

You see how much he Hearts hanging out in this cozy space?  The room just wouldn't be the same or as great without the chair, or him!!

So there you have it!!  Ton's of super easy and simple ways to create the ultimate play zone!  And it can totally be done on any budget with a little creative energy!  And do you see why IHeart labels oh so very much?  I mean, they save EVERYONE so much time and keep the space so super tidy, it's barely a believable story!

So, I give my kid's eye candy in the form of books and art, where is my eye candy?  Any of you willing to share photo's of your play zones for me to drool over?  Come on, as I preach to my kiddos on a daily basis, "We Share Because We Care"!