Are you excited? You should be! It's time for another reveal. This time, it is the living room turned playroom reveal. Let's start by reviewing what this room looked like when we moved in, shall we? Only two words come to mind…BORING and DEPRESSING.
As I explain a bit on the Tour My Home page, we are not a family that has a need or a desire for a “fancy room,” which is what this room is intended to be. But, we are a family that had a strong desire for a dedicated playroom. When we viewed the house, I knew this room would be perfect for our twin girls' playroom. It has FABULOUSLY large casement windows and tons of wonderful natural light, which I feel is ideal for a playroom. I also love that it has glass french doors that open to our family room. LOVE that layout. (Note that ugly, outdated fireplace you can see in the family room is now GONE. Stay tuned for the family room reveal :) I purposely avoided any “after” shots of the playroom that revealed part of the family room. You'll just have to wait!) UPDATE: THE FAMILY ROOM REVEAL IS COMPLETE. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS!
It is not totally ideal that the room can been seen from the foyer. I mean, a playroom is probably not the first room you want anyone to see. But, none of our friends, family or other visitors are the stuffy type, so exposing our playroom to visitors was just fine by us. Plus, it gives the girls, who were potty training shortly after we moved in, quick and easy access to the downstairs powder room. (If you want to check out the first floor floor plan, you can see it by clicking on the Tour My Home page).
To make it over, I knew we would have to get rid of the baby poop brown walls and the dingy carpet. And we did all of that. But before I show you how we got there, let me share with you the glorious results!!!
Now for the details. Phase 1 consisted of painting the walls a gorgeous blue color and hanging golden yellow grommet curtains. We also painted the trim a true white, a nice change from the dated taupe/beige color that it was previously. Joe also changed all of the electrical outlets and light switches from almond to white–it's shocking what a difference such a small change can make.
I painted the wall to the right of the french doors with magnetic primer and then with a chalkboard top coat, which the girls love. DISCLAIMER: If I had it to do over again, I would have skipped the magnetic primer. It was messy and can barely hold a magnetic letter. Definitely not worth the time or effort, but it was a good idea in theory.
As for the furniture, we already had the chaise lounges. We chose chaise lounges because we find them to be more comfy for snuggling up and reading with the girls or watching movies than a traditional couch. We also already had the Trofast storage system from Ikea, which is amazing and reasonably priced. The little table and chairs also came from Ikea. The bookshelves are made from rain gutters–a project to be featured in another post sometime in the future. The bean bag chairs are from The Land of Nod {affiliate link below*} They are FABULOUS because the covers are removable and washable.
To add some interest to the walls without spending a fortune, I ordered a set of 12 Eric Carle Decorative Prints {*affiliate link} 
Phase 2 (which took place several months after phase 1) consisted of tearing out the nasty carpet and replaced it with the MOST GORGEOUS hand-scraped laminate (yep, laminate) floors I have ever seen. A huge thanks to Sarah at The Yellow Cape Cod for turning me on to these floors. They are amazing in quality and price. More details on the floors and the installation and finishing process coming soon.
As many of you DIYers already know, the “getting there” process can be pretty darn ugly and messy, but it's important to show the process. The wonderful, handsome, handy man you see in the photos is my Joe :) You can see how gross the floor looked after we ripped out the carpet and the padding.
Just look at these GORGEOUS floors up close. I bet you can't wait to hear more about them?! Check back or follow me so that you do not miss that post!
How about a few side-by-side comparisons?
And now two more photos, because I cannot help but show you a photo of Attley and Avery actually USING their wonderful space.
So, what do you think?
* This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a (very) small commission if you click a link and purchase something. It does NOT result in additional charges to you or cost you anything extra. The small amount of affiliate money I earn per month is how I pay the fees to keep this site up and running. Thanks so much for your support!
I am thrilled to report that this playroom reveal was featured on:
From some of the pics it looks like you might have a Boxer. Any issues with the dogs nails scratching the laminate flooring? We are considering this for our basement, but have a Boxer and our wood flooring on the main level is pretty scratched up. Thanks!
We do have a big boxer! Titan walks all over our floors all day long and we have had no issues! Thanks for reading :)
What is the name/brand of paint that you used?
Hi Jessica! It’s Nostalgia by Valspar.
I love the wall color! Do you mind sharing what color/brand you used?
Thank you Hillary! The wall color is Nostalgia by Valspar!
Thanks for sharing your remodel. It looks great. Could you please tell me what size letters and clock you purchased to spell out Toys? Thank you.
Thank you, Catherine! We used 23.5″ letters–you can find them here:http://amzn.to/1h2m49i. I am not sure what size the clock is–maybe 15″. I hope that helps!