We love to play!

There is lots of change going on around here... And no I am not quite ready to divulge more details other than saying we have a very long to do list going right now! I figured what better way to start the week than with a 'play' project.

Since we have a two story house, we have an upstairs play area and a downstairs play closet.  Today's goal for the play area (aka. the loft) was threefold: to get organized, get rid of the clutter, and designate some adult/toddler/baby areas. Along the way I did veer of course and throw some new (to the room) decor in as well!

Here is a bit of a before shot...

This little bench was a DIY and we used large baskets below for storage.

The bookshelves were mainly used for displaying toys... 

easy access for the kids but not so easy on the eyes!

 I started by taking the bench out of the loft. It was pretty big and the pattern was limiting some of the other aspects of the room. That left me with 3 big baskets to find new homes for. These baskets hold Little Mans GeoTrax train set that we were so kindly given by a neighbor. This set is amazing and was in near perfect condition with about 500 pieces! This is the staple toy that remains upstairs mainly because it takes up lots of space and I don't want to see it in my family room everyday. About once a week I break down the whole set. It stays put away for usually a day and then it's building time again. But I love that Little Man gets to be creative and has a 'new' thing to play with so often! Storing his trains in these bigger baskets makes it easy for us to clean up and to just pull a whole basket out when it's playtime! It was a no brainer to clear out the bottom of the bookshelf for these.

 A small portion of the train on Christmas morning...

Stepping up the design today as Mommy organizes!

Nice and neat on the bookshelf!

Now for the miscellaneous toys that had been displayed on the shelves... these fit nicely into medium sized baskets with lids. Again easy to pull out and play but easy to clean up too!

Each of the kids have their own basket to make it even easier!

Three small baskets hold wooden blocks, baby chewy toys, and small stuffed animals perfectly!

Some of the wooden blocks will make another appearance shortly...

Now our huge bookshelves are now doing the bulk of the storage and organization.... as they should! By simply using a variety of different sized baskets I was able to get everything put away and organized. It is still easily accessible but it looks so much nice not having to see it all! The adorable chalkboard tags are my favorite addition to the baskets! These were a clearance find from pottery barn and meant to be used as place settings! You will notice that oddly none of them have writing on the tags... well they did about 5 minutes before this picture was taken! Little Man thinks that erasing chalk is a super fun game to play with Mommy!

The full shot of all the baskets! So much nicer!

The smaller two bookshelves were already pretty uncluttered. All that I did was switch out the stuff on the left for the stuff on the right. Since you see the left side when you walk up the stairs, I liked that it was all closed storage (one box and one basket).

Loving how clean this looks now!

And finally it's time to work on the last goal... setting up designated areas! We have this super comfy navy leather couch that is were the the hubs and I often hang while the kids are playing so this was the obvious adult area. By bringing in a side table, some new pillows, new drapery panels, and a lamp this really makes it feel more grown up but still fun!

Loving these new pops of color! Can't wait to lounge on the couch and enjoy!

For the toddler space, I pulled the chocolate bean bag that was in the play closet and positioned it next to the play cube like a little table. A couple of fun throw pillows and it's the perfect reading spot for Little Man!

Baby area is in the form of the exersaucer and the play gym! Since she loves her big bro so much it worked great to play the exersaucer next to his bean bag so they can chat as she plays!

I am loving how the space turned out! It feels like a play room but with some cool, modern touches that make me want to hang out in here too! Here are a couple of other shots!

Yes, I used some of the wooden blocks in a large glass vase as decoration (and Jenga blocks too!)

 I just love how it all came together!

An easy DIY using Hawaiian alphabet cards (thanks Sis!) mounted in a poster board frame!