A while ago we did some reorganizing of the toys. Almost all of them moved downstairs to the basement and one spare bedroom turned into the new toy room! Come on in and have a look.
This just might be my favorite part. The toys are organized into bins. There are finally actual spots for animals, tractors, cars, balls, and lots of other things. And they are all neatly organized in the closet. So thankful for this closet space!! And I realized that organization makes me peaceful. And finishing a project. It sure feels nice to work on something and then see it completed.
One wall has pictures hung with tiny clothespins so we can change them up and/or put artwork and stuff they make at Sunday School or Cubbies. And my Barbie house.
My Grandpa Dyck built me this for one of my birthdays. It's hard to see but the roof has real shingles. He crawled up onto the roof of their old farm house and got old wood shingles which he cut down to size and used to shingle my Barbie house. I still remember the smell of the fresh varnish the first night it moved into my bedroom at home!! Super special. My mom "wallpapered" and decorated it. And then my aunts and uncles and parents helped fill it with furniture. It is a tad outdated, and I thought about doing a reno but since all the furniture still screams late 80's and early 90's I figured I might as well just leave it. Especially since Addyson and Braden are really playing with it so it's going to take some wear and tear. I may have had just a little too much fun setting everything up though :)
The kitchen set moved downstairs. I am really glad to not have to clean up little pretend food items from every upstairs room of the house like we did daily before the toy room existed. At least some of the mess is confined to the lowest level.
Along the other wall are clipboards where we can display some of Addyson's and Braden's artwork. And little chairs for reading or sitting. Or possibly climbing . . . and falling - that may have happened. And a soft comfy rug for each of them to sit on. The stained concrete floor is pretty to look at and pretty perfect for building train tracks and fences for the herds of plastic animals we own, but not so soft for bottoms to sit on. They've worked out really well!
Addyson loves her some watercolor lately. It's fun to see what she paints. I think these were airplanes.
Braden prefers more writing and drawing with pens. Fun to see how things are starting to take some shapes instead of just lines and scribbles.
I wanted something on the window but since I wanted to make sure that it still let in lots of light I ended up making bunting out of burlap and painting polka dots on it. I like how it turned out!
So there you have it. The new play room!
Now could you please convince my two littles that it is fun to play in there? They do not like to be down there by themselves. Hopefully they will outgrow that eventually. But for now I guess I should be thankful that for the most part it stays pretty organized!!!
