the play room project

I've been busy with another project.

The Basement.

It's gone from being a storage dumping ground, to a muddy hole, to renovated into a functioning abyss. It's now a half laundry room, split into a spare room.

We painted it white, put tons of bright lights down there and added a day bed. To make it look less like a Fritzl Bunker and more like an inviting place for a guest to lay their head. My mother slept in there for 10 weeks without too many issues. I think.

So, because I thought Sebastian would be spending his days at home with a little pal and a nanny, I decided to really deck out the thing. Create a hybrid room.

A spare bedroom for adults, blended with a play room.

So not too much 'playroom', but not too much 'adult guest room' either. A nice blend, so that whoever is in there, feels comfortable and at home.
I love an interiors challenge.

I wanted the room to feel bright and open, given it is a small space. I also wanted to do this for another reason. Sebastian's nursery was created for both my twins. It still has two mobiles hanging on the ceiling, and much of it still reminds me of having two babies, but only filling the nursery with one. It's not the end of the world, and I don't want to completely change this. But I will be tweaking it slightly too.

We went to IKEA. I vowed never to go back there after last time. But we needed new wine glasses and luckily for everyone involved, Seb really loved his first trolley experience.

By accident I found this little circus tent - loved a 'fort' when I was a child so am sure he will too -  and the circus theme formed the basis of the decor in this room. (I should add: circus sans clowns. There will be no clowns in the Fritzl chamber.)

He will only really start to use and appreciate this room when he is older, but I wanted to get it done before I went back to work.

So with the tent forming the basis of the room, this is what I did:

Mum made these flag tapestry numbers for us a few years ago, and the little quilt with elephants on was from a friend for Sebastian.

I bought some cushion covers in circussy prints. These Cath Kidston and Kirstie Allsopp ones were the best I could find, after scouring Pintrest and Etsy and Amazon and eBay and every other site on the internet.
Coincidentally, Cath Kidston and Kirstie Allsopp are actually cousins. How's that for a bit of interior design trivia?

The day bed is a wooden bench, that serves as a single and double bed, when pulled out. So when it's not in use it can be piled up with pillows, and be the perfect place to snuggle up, read books or chill out.

I wanted something that was slightly whimsical, gender neutral but fun, and these looked just right.

Then we added these funky hooks to the wall, and also bought these storage thingies from IKEA, to put books, toys or other bits in.

Then I took down the bunting in his bedroom/nursery, and put it downstairs. It works much better down here in the circus room.

 We also added the shelf, so he had a place to stack his teddies, or when guests comes, their stuff.

I covered the existing pillows that were white in circus theme pillow cases - and these worked so well with the others I got too. Now anyone can rest easy when they're sitting here - boys, babies or adults.

  Then, I saw H&M were selling little boys road rugs, so I got one of these for the floor.

 My mum found this little chair at an antique shop for £4 when she was here.

 For the side tables, and adult side of the room (which will be climbed on and pulled down no doubt), so let's assume this will be here for all of five and a half seconds - I stacked a collection of our old trunks and suitcases up, with a print and lamp.

 Et voila.  I'm just pleased he has an extra bit of space to play in. Our flat is rather small!


 In progress...

 (Note baby gates that still have to go up - top and bottom of the stairs)

And finished!

It's small, but it should work. The large drawers under the bed should hold a lot of storage and toys.

Am really happy.