Playrooms cam sometimes present very tricky design challenges. Let's say you/your kids want a playroom, but you really don't want it to look anything like a playroom (sorry kids!). Maybe your kids have their own design ideas and want it to look like a colorful circus paying tribute to all their favorite cartoon characters or toys, but the very thought of that makes you cringe (I see you!).For example, if my kids had their way, this room would be nothing but legos and minecraft from floor to ceiling. Yeahhh, hard pass. Don't get me wrong -- I'm all for fun & whimsical kids' spaces, but sometimes you just want the playroom to flow with the decor of the rest of the home for the sake of your own sanity, am I right!? In our case, the playroom is right off of the main hallway and doesn't have any doors (just a wide, arched doorway opening), so you see it all. the. time. I wanted to give my kids a bright, sunny space with lots of storage and space for playing, but also make it feel like a clean & calm space the whole family can enjoy.
It's taken a few months to pull this space together, and I partnered with Serena & Lily to add some finishing touches so everything is finally starting to feel more polished & complete. Thank goodness so many of their pieces are in-stock and ship quickly (they even have a new feature on their site that lets you filter your search by for quick-shipping items!). Yes please!
Here's a little tour of the progress so far and all the details of the pieces I used to achieve our incognito playroom look....
How it's going:
How it started:
How we did it:
First, we painted the room white for a fresh, clean canvas (see my previous post all about the paint colors and finishes we used):
Then, we installed these IKEA besta cabinets for wall-to-wall toy storage, and added some shaker doors from Semihandmade that I painted in the same color as the walls and trim (still looking for the right door pulls and planning to trim out the bottom so it looks like an actual custom builtin... stay tuned!).
These throw pillows from Serena & Lily added the perfect touch on top of the window seats to create a cozy little reading nook! I love the subtle stripe and the layers of textured neutrals these pillows add to the room, and the color of the stripe ended up being the perfect match to go with the linen slipcovered sofa!
We also added my go-to neutral area rug to soften the space and anchor the room. It has a very low pile, but tons of soft texture, so it's perfect for a playroom (i.e. it's flat enough build train tracks or race cars on it, and cozy enough to sit on, but not so plush that you'll lose tiny toy parts in the pile like you would with a shag rug).
Next, we brought in these gorgeous rattan chairs from Serena & Lily to add more conversational seating for when we're using this space as a family room (also critical elements for building epic blanket forts!). I have the counter stool version of these chairs in the "natural" finish in our CT kitchen, and was so excited to use the armchair version in the "mist" finish here in our FL house!
I love this color and the calm, soothing mood of the tone-on-tone look with the linen sofa and ottomans! I originally had these chairs in mind for the living room but once I saw them in this space with the sofa, I knew this was where they belonged :) Also, this artwork by Deb Presutto ("Nantucket Beach") totally captures that monochrome, coastal feeling and I am totally here for it.
The texture of the rattan and the little brass accents on feet of these chairs just get me every time.
We replaced the existing sputnik chandelier with this woven pendant from Serena & Lily to add some warmth and texture to the space. I love how the color of the rattan pairs with the cooler chairs and linen sofa to balance the warm & cool tones.
For even more toy storage, we added my all time favorite lidded baskets from Serena & Lily. These baskets hold SO much stuff it's actually kind of mind-blowing, like a modern day Mary Poppins bag. We keep all of our loose lego bricks in the medium size basket, and I have them stored inside these drawstring playmat bags from amazon, which make tidying up a cinch (pun 100% intended). The small size basket holds all of their magformers / magnatiles in a smaller version of the same drawstring playmat bags.
Lastly, we added some woven roman shades to the windows for a little bit of light filtering/privacy when we need it.
On the other side of the room, we have a console table with a tv above it, but we still need to mount the tv to the wall and add the sconces on either side.... stay tuned for progress updates on that soon!
I also want to swap out the recessed lights along this hallways of arches for some pretty pendants.... can you picture it? :)
I'm so grateful for my friends at Serena & Lily for helping me pull this space together, and my littles ones are very happy with their new playroom! Win win!
Click below to shop this space:
xo,
Marcie
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