Our playroom was originally an enclosed garage that we used as an office / storage room / guest room. That's a whole lot of / 's. Well, my brother took our guest room furniture off to college with him, so that cleared up that part of the room. I think we had 3 guests in our 5 years of marriage, so yeah, not necessary to have a room devoted to invisible guests.
The office area was huge. I mean massive. It was an L-Shaped desk a dear friend of ours gave us when we were married. It was awesome when we were first married as we had tons of space and no furniture. My, my, how five years collects alot of vintage finds! Well, needless to say, it too had to go. So, I condensed my enormous office into a computer armoire, which is beeeautiful. Found that puppy on craigslist for $100. It was originally $1299. Yeah, heck of a steal, if I do say so myself!
And well, the storage, how do I explain the storage. It was junk, junk that Chad and I have not touched in 5 years. That corner of the room was the "off limits" side of the room to Miss Bee. It was ridiculous. So, Salvation Army made out big time, because I went through it all in one day and essentially gave most of it away.
So then, we were left with bare bones. I repainted the baby-poop-tan (horrible paint choice, made by moi) walls a light grey. I wanted a blank pallet for all the color I intended to use. I started thinking, maybe I could just go with a theme and fill it with items in that particular genre. Her 1st birthday was vintage shabby circus themed, and I had TONS of handmade decorations that I placed in storage. I whipped that stuff out and now it has a home in the playroom! I girlified the room with lots of pink and threw in some primary colors with it. Hard to picture when I was putting it all together in my mind, but it turned out way cute.
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| Wheeee! |
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| Top of my desk filled with decorations from her 1st B-day. |
We can't have a kitchen without a grocery, so Melissa and Doug pulled through on that. Thank you Kohl's Cash and Kohl's Giftcards. The whole grocery was paid for without me having to shell out one dime. And that sucker is expensive! I ended up buying the felt veggies at IKEA and the fruits came from Melissa and Doug, I still need one more box of fruits to even it out. The wooden scale and register she received from Mommy and Daddy for Christmas.
I found her table and chairs at a vintage store downtown. All of the other tables and chairs I saw were just, eh, like everyone else's table and chairs. And if you know me, you know that can't happen. My things usually are pretty unique. The table I found is so very perfect. It is round and oak and lovely. The chairs are slat back and slat seated. Perfection.
Next item on the agenda was the one item I knew I wanted for Brianna since the day I learned I was pregnant with a princess. A Land of Nod tent. It was made for princesses. If you haven't seen these in person, they are to. die. for. Stella and Dot paid for that and the matching cushion with my very first trunk show. Check. Not sure if this purchase was made entirely for the benefit of my child... Pretty sure I am fulfilling a childhood dream with this one!
Next, toy storage and a rug. IKEA is the only place for reasonable and large toy storage and reasonable rugs. Trust me, I looked. Everything else is too expensive, too small, too flimsy or not built for toddlers. So, the Expedit storage unit and the Lusy Bloom rug are what I got. At first, I thought I would buy two of the rugs and put them together for one big area rug, then I thought differently once at the store. Heaven knows why. Well, now I need to make another trip to IKEA, because I need two. The storage basket's, the easel, the puppets and the rocking horse (also Christmas presents) are also from IKEA.
For the decorating, I still wanted a vintage look, but functional. Most of her toys are wooden, I love that look. I'm really not a fan of plastic, but sometimes I'm ok with it if it's something she really loves. And I'm always ok with Green Toys, as they are made from receycled milk jugs... yeah, awesome. Wood items last, my parents still have some of my old wooden toys, and they look like new. So, the wooden items I kept out for display. The suitcases are vintage which I hand painted to match the colors at her birthday party. They worked out great for extra storage! The alphabet banner is made up of 8x8 alphabet cards I found from a lady on Pinterest.
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| Vintage painted suitcases. |
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| More decorations from her birthday. |
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| Circus puppets! |
I needed a few more items to make the room a little more circus-y. In steps the Melissa and Doug giraffe and the Pottery Barn Elephant head. I was on Amazon this Christmas season when they had their toy lightning deals and ran across this beautiful plush for $35, usually in the neighborhood of $80! Sign me up! I then found the Elephant Head by chance, in Pottery Barn Kids one day. Tucked away in a place you would never expect was a glorious elephant head, begging me to take him home and place him in the playroom. I hesitated to turn the tag around, I thought not to even look so I wouldn't be disappointed when I couldn't afford him. Thanking my lucky stars that I turned that sweet little tag around, because it read $19.99 down from $99. Plus, Momma had her 15% off Friends and Family coupon. Oh yeah! I'd like to think I'm approaching an amazing, shiny gold medal for my shopping skills! Why don't we have gold medals for shopping? It should be a sport. Call the Olympics! I'm going!
Well, that's about it! There's a few odds and ends that need fixin' and a few more items yet to get, but other than that, she's finished! Finally! Hope you enjoyed the tour and tale of Miss Bee's Circus Playroom!
*****A few people have asked... The small rug by her kitchen is from Circo by Target. I think it's $24? The stuffed animal / blanket basket is by Smith and Hawken from Target. The airplane is Green Toys. The train was from Circo, last year. The cupcakes and cakes on the cakestand are from Haba. I have no idea who made her little table since I bought it at a vintage shop, sorry! It was just a super lucky find! And I hand made the little sashes on the animals on my desk.
