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Playroom Ideas Needed

jnedenjneden member
in Working Moms
Has anyone turned their living/dining room into a playroom? If so, do you have any tips or pictures? I'm trying to figure out how to organize Sydney's toys so its more functional for her and us. TIA (cross posted)
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Re: Playroom Ideas Needed

  • SunAndRainSunAndRain member
    Yes! Our diningroom is off our kitchen yet we had a whole other space more suited for a diningroom table so this was perfect.

    I have ikea storage. There are several options. My advice is to stick with ikea. I considered the oh so expensive pottery barn but was shocked at how poorly made it is! I made it in to a seuss theme with decals I bought off etsy. I added a foam alphabet floor mat, the kind that is interlinking and since we have tile floor this is heaven to sit on! We also bought a small table and chairs from ikea. And I hate ikea generally speaking but for playroom they could not be beat!

    Lots of ideas on Pinterest.

    I would suggest that you think in areas: reading nook, floor play area, table maybe next to a play kitchen. Measure to ensure everything will fit and secure to the wall!

    Have fun!
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
    We did. I use clear plastic storage bins (shoe storage system from Container Store).

    I like this better because it organizes like toys. Being clear, they can see what's inside them as opposed to dumping out. We had the dumping issues with the fabric cube things.

    We also use this..https://scene7.targetimg1.com/is/image/Target/10627480?wid=280&hei=280
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
    edited July 2014
    This is the plastic shoe bin. It's $1.89 at Container Store.
    https://m.containerstore.com/img/c/gw_360/ttl_31d/1url_images.containerstore.com/catalogimages/93785/OurShoeBox_xl.jpg?
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  • 88sharonlee88sharonlee member
    I'm just about to turn our dinning room into a play room!
    It's right off the kitchen and we don't have a nice dinning room set anyways and LO is almost 8 months so just about to get mobile!

    I've been considering the foam floor tiles and an area rug as well. We've been using the room for baby stuff storage anyways so I'm excited to have a room for fun and storage and keep our living room more adult.

    I'm looking on pintrest for ideas and craigslist for items, hoping to get it dive for cheap!
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  • lulubelle21lulubelle21 member
    We're about to do this, all from ikea
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  • 88sharonlee88sharonlee member
    I'm curious if you guys feel that foam tiles are worth it/ necessary?
    I have an area rug and hardwood floors. I was thinking if doing foam tiles but it might cost me about $150 so wanted to get opinions if I really need them or not.
    Or do I need to do the full room wall to wall - of course LO will take a spill exactly where I don't put them!

    Also for ideas I'm thinking when my LO is older I might mount a roll of craft paper to the wall, horizontally and hang small buckets of markets next to it for a fun place to draw!
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  • rockychryslerb2010rockychryslerb2010 member
    I loved foam tiles when E was crawling.  Our playroom is part of the open floor first floor, so it is actually part of the kitchen / family room and breakfast room.  We gated off those rooms from our more formal dining / living rooms and foyer to upstairs.  The foam tiles were amazing.  Kept baby drool and spit-up off the carpet and made messes easy to clean.  We just bought a set from Amazon that locked together, took up most of the free carpet area in our family room. 

    We also have an ikea table/chairs for E, a chalkboard/dry erase board (also ikea), a toy box and a large train table.  storage wise, we use the toy box, train table and just large plastic bins organized by toy (train set in one, cars and trucks in another, art supplies, etc).  We stack the storage bins in front of our fireplace, so it acts as a barrier to keep him from climbing the fireplace and away from the heat in the winter.  We also have an old metal dog pen setup around the entertainment system, so he can't touch the internet or cable box.

    Sure, our main living areas look well lived in, but that is life for now!
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  • snicksnacksnicksnack member
    88sharonlee I don't think they are needed.  In our old house we had area rugs where the kids played and I liked it better than the tiles.  We are now creating a playroom in the basment and depending on the flooring we chose we will either have one of our old area rugs or wall to wall carpet.  The tiles are nice if you are not planning to have an area rug in the future because they are less expensive than a nice area rug. Both of my kids have fallen on wood floors and have been fine.  It is hard to avoid unless you pad the whole house.
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
    We never did foam floor tiles. We have hardwood and area rugs.
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  • jnedenjneden member
    Thansk everyone! :) 
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  • jtmomma13jtmomma13 member
    edited July 2014
    We don't have a playroom...yet. But I am going to try and incorporate some of these idea when we do...and also when I win a couple million in the lottery. Her blog has 3 different posts on their playroom and it's amazing. 


    Edit- some of her storage ideas seem really cool and the layout of the room isn't a typical playroom idea. 
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  • thedashthedash member
    We have a toy box for big toys and then something like this organizer (different colors):

    We have this table and chairs set that I love:


    It's the perfect place for coloring or play-doh.

    Our playroom is carpeted but I got this playmat for the floor (which is only $15 at Ikea stores):


    He has the Ikea wooden train set which is a lot of fun for a very reasonable price. I recently bought a bunch of the Ikea wooden spice racks for $1.99 to hold kids books where they can reach them. Here is somebody selling them for $20 each on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/Nursery-Kitchen-Bathroom-Accessory-Organizer/dp/B00BTPIUSE/ref=pd_sbs_k_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=00GWQVSBS26YWQT1XHHG

    I also got a long chalkboard wall decal but haven't mounted it yet. I'm not sure if it will work very well though. My last project is somewhere to display their artwork. Pinterest has tons of cute ideas!
    DS: 2/17/11          DD: 9/4/13
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