Playroom Update: The Furniture Story

This little playroom update is LONG overdue. I've been wanting to share this story with you since around Thanksgiving time, but then the Christmas season arrived and it just didn't feel like the right time.

 

So.....Back in the Fall, Hubster finally gave the official thumbs up to buying a new couch for the playroom. A couple days before Thanksgiving, he took the day off work and we made the two-hour trip to our closest IKEA store. I had IKEA's Ektorp love seat and chaise in my mind from the beginning of the playroom project and that's what we decided to go with.

We left as soon as the kids were on the bus for school, made the drive, and arrived in plenty of time to get some 99 cent breakfast. That's Hubster's favorite part. And I don't mind starting the shopping adventure with that if it keeps him happy. Haha!

My Instagram photos help tell the story.

 

 

After breakfast, we headed to the showroom floor. The sofas were all at the beginning of the IKEA trail (If you've been to an IKEA you know what I mean.) There was a group of employees in that area rearranging and setting up a new furniture display. I wanted to show Hubster a sample of the fabric cover I had chosen, but couldn't find it among the samples. I asked one of the employees about it and she kindly showed me a cushion from a sofa they had just moved out in that fabric (Nordvalla grey, by the way.) Hubster approved and we were directed to another employee who helped us order it. So, with a printout in hand of what we wanted to show the cashier, we were on our way along the trail to enjoy the rest of our shopping.

I picked up a couple smaller things along the way and when we reached the checkout area, Hubster discovered the "as-is" area and wanted to take a look.

And there it was.....the Ektorp loveseat and chaise in Nordvalla grey that had just been brought down from upstairs where they were doing all the rearranging. It was still on a cart with all the cushions piled on top and hadn't been re-priced yet. We approached the gentleman working in that area about it and he went off to check what the marked-down price would be. In the meantime while we waited, Hubster sat down on a Strandmon wing chair in Skiftebo orange that was also marked down. I had been considering this chair for the playroom as well, but figured we could only afford the couch right now. I mentioned it to Hubster. Then the man came back and told us the price of the Ektorp. With as much as each piece was reduced, we could get both for less than what we were planning on paying for just the couch! We gave both pieces a good look-over to make sure they were in good shape and everything looked good. The decision was made. It was pretty much a no-brainer.

Except for the fact that we had to figure out a way to get them both home in our mini-van.

Hmmm. I was skeptical, but Hubster was confident we could do it. (I love that man!) Even the guy whose job it is to help people load their purchases into their vehicle expressed his concern that it would fit. But Hubster was not discouraged! He managed to cram both in and we headed for home!

We are STILL so beside ourselves at what a great deal we got and are really happy with our purchase. I have always loved the idea of having a sectional, but in a room this size it was just not practical, so the Ektorp loveseat with chaise is a perfect alternative.

 

 

 

And an orange chair!!

 

I know....isn't it awesome! Hehe!

 

                 

 

 

 

 

Despite having been floor models, both pieces are in excellent condition with no wear. This makes me feel good about how the fabric will wear on them over time. (The fabric on the couch is amost like a grey denim.) I don't know how long IKEA keeps their furniture displays, but you know people had to be sitting in these things....trying them out, waiting for their wife to finish shopping. I mean, I know I do those things.

 

Another perk to buying floor models was that (even though we had to cram them in our van) they were already assembled. And on the Ektorp, the cover had already been steamed. I hear that those are a bear to handle straight out of the package.

 

We are definitely using this room more. The Ektorp is especially comfy and I LOVE the chaise part. It is a nice quiet spot to read or watch TV by yourself. But honestly, there have been times when all five of us have been in this room watching football or something together. So it was a win, win, win situation for us and we are very happy.

 

I still have a couple of loose ends that I want to tie up in this room though. I need to tackle window treatments. It's looking pretty blah at this point with only mini-blinds. I would also like to get one or two side tables, maybe a floor lamp, and something for on the wall over the chair....a mirror perhaps. But these things will all come in time. I'm not in a hurry now that the room is back to being comfortable and usable again.

Playroom Gallery Wall

I've been gathering items for a gallery wall in the playroom for a little while now. Yesterday I finally took the time to put it all together.

 

I had a  good idea of where I wanted things to go, but I still decided to use the paper layout technique to preview it first. This worked great, especially since I marked all the hanger points so I knew where to put the nails. A tip though....don't outline your gallery items with pencil. I wound up with lots of graphite smears on the wall. Not a big deal, but just a little tip for you.

 

 

A few weeks ago, I purchased some inexpensive vintage state postcards on eBay. I matted them myself using some manila folders I had laying around. They were framed in $2 frames from WalMart. So as wall art goes, they were a pretty cheap project.

 

 

 

The Empire State Building and Eiffel Tower canvases were Hobby Lobby finds.

 

And here's what I did on the other side of the door to the kitchen.

 

 

 

The "It Is Well With My Soul" (one of my most favorite hymns) wooden sign was a clearance deal at Hobby Lobby a few months ago and the big letter is from there as well. The clock is a special as it was made by Hubster for his grandparents when he was 16 years old. He didn't believe I would use it, but I knew it would make him happy. Plus, it helps personalize the space a little bit.

 



 

 

So there you have it....another playroom project completed this week. Yeah!

 



Playroom Update: What's Goin' On?

Hey look.....it's a post from me! I know, I know. I've been a little MIA the last couple weeks.

So what have I been doing lately....well, besides watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix (Can you say "addicted!"?) and killing all the mums I bought to decorate for Fall?  You know....all those real life things....parenting three special needs teenagers, school activities, church activities, family activities, holding down the fort while husband is on business trip. It's been my occupation for quite some time now, but I've officially given myself the title of "Person Who Holds Down The Fort." I'm a Fort Holder Downer.

In the last couple days I haven't needed to hold on quite so tightly to the fort, so I've been working on some details in the playroom. This is what I consider the fun stuff.

 

 

I've been trying to track down some baskets I like for in the new Kallax shelves. I didn't know they'd be so difficult to find....or so expensive. After looking in several stores and online, I had resigned myself to the fact that the least costly option was to wait until the next trip to IKEA (who knows when that will be) and purchase the ones they have. I wasn't too excited about that option because, 1.) I wasn't completely in love with them, and B.) We all know I'm not good at waiting.  :-)

 

But last week I came across these baskets at Target. I can't believe I hadn't seen them sooner! I used Target's Cartwheel app  (Have you tried it yet? It's great!) and was able to get them at 15% off, so they wound up being less expensive than the ones at IKEA.....and I like them better. So, two days and 4 Target stores later, I finally have six baskets to fill the cubbies.

 



 

 

I'm excited about the extra storage that I'm gaining with these shelves. Three of these baskets already hold all my candles that were taking over a closet. Yep, three baskets.....one for pillars, one for jar candles, and one for Christmas candles. I lined the bottom of the them with parchment paper to protect the candles from the rough basket.

 

 

 

 

Besides the baskets, I've been trying to gather some fun wall art and accessories. I'll share more details on all that when the room is more complete.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that's what's going on around here. It's a slow process, but that's okay.







A Playroom Update

Good Monday morning everyone! I hope you had a great weekend!

Ours was....I'm tired of saying "busy," so I'm going to say "full."

It actually started on Friday when Hubster took a day off from work to help me....you won't even believe it....PAINT THE PLAYROOM!!!!  Hooray!!

We worked hard on Friday. Hubster continued to work like a dog on Saturday while I went and watched our daughter run in her cross country meet.

Sunday morning we had our normal church activities. After church we celebrated this guy's Gotcha Day. It's been fourteen years! FOURTEEN! I can still remember the excitement mixed with panic when they first placed him in my arms in that Kolkata hotel room and I became his Mom. He has come such a long way since then. And my, how the time flies!

(He loved that Dad picked him up a crown at Burger King. He wore it until he went to bed last night.)

 

 

So back to the playroom.....

 

I thought I would give you a little update about what was accomplished over the weekend.

 

 



 

 

First, we had to finish cleaning the room out a little bit. Then we got to the painting (SW Sea Salt. You can read my process in choosing this color HERE and HERE.)

As you can see, we also took a big step (for us) and painted the doors "black."  The color is actually a very, very deep brown, Fired Earth by Valspar.

 

 

It took a little convincing for Hubster to see the vision, but we're both really happy with how they turned out. There are three doors....our front entry door (which hardly gets used), a bedroom door, and this coat closet door. On Friday, we also went out to Lowe's and purchased a new door for the closet. The original door didn't match the others, plus it had been painted over a couple times and wasn't in the greatest shape.

 

Here are the before and after photos.....

 

 

On Saturday, Hubster finished painting the trim, cleaned the carpet, and put together the IKEA Kallax shelves that I purchased back in June. I told you he worked like a dog!

 

 

I can't wait to fill up these cubbies and make them look pretty.

 

I found this wall art at Hobby Lobby a while back at 50% off. I thought the cheerful colors would be perfect for this room. Plus, the kids love maps so it's perfect.



 

 

 

Obviously, we still have some projects head of us. I'm thinking about what kind of window treatments I would like. And in the meantime, we are seriously considering replacing the windows in this room. There is a crack in one that has been there since we moved in (eleven years ago this month!) So hopefully we will get that taken care of before the weather gets too cold as it does cause a bit of a draft in the room.

 

Plus, I'm still in negotiations with Hubster about a new couch and chair, so we'll see. The ones we currently have are still pretty sturdy. They were handed down form my in-laws, but we've had them going on twenty years and between three kids and a dog, they have seen better days. And I'm a little over the country blue plaid, you know what I mean? 

 

So there's still a list of things to do before we can call this room "DONE," but I finally feel like we've made some progress.



Four Things For Friday 8.22.14

Happy Friday!

 

It's that time again! Time to share a few things that have been on my mind or are going on around here.

 

1.  It's back to school time. Our kids return to school next Tuesday. School schedulers know what they are doing when they make Summer Break the length that it is. Summer is a wonderful time to take it easy, do fun things as a family, and just unwind. But there comes a time every year when we are all just ready for a return to the routine of the school year. I think we actually reached that point a couple weeks ago. Even my child who likes school the least said she is ready to go back.

 

And Mom is ready too. I like the being able to sleep a little later and not have such a set routine, but having the kids home in the Summer puts limits on what I am able to accomplish creatively around the house. I crave a creative outlet. As much as I hate getting up at 5:15 every morning, I'm looking forward to projects ahead.....like working on the playroom, decorating for Fall, and...<gasp>....Christmas!

 



 

 

 

 

2.  Our oldest will be starting high school this year. YIKES! I can't believed we've reached this point as parents. I attended Freshment orientation with him this week and I know he is going to do great. (More on this guy next week!) But it just reminds me that graduation and college are just around the corner and every moment is precious. I hope that he will embrace his high school experience and make lots of good memories.

 



3.  This Fall our family is venturing into an unknown area for us...school sports. Our daughter is running cross country this year. Practices began about three weeks ago and so I have been driving her to practice every day either to the school or a local running trail, sometimes heading home, and sometimes sitting in the van through the entire practice for the sake of less driving time. We've also attended a cross country picnic, taken her to a team party to make matching tie dye t-shirts, and we went as a family to a  community event where all the Fall sports teams were introduced.

Phewwww!

I had no idea! And school  hasn't even started yet! Tomorrow is their first meet. We are excited to see how that goes.

 

 

4.  And speaking of the playroom....

It's still waiting to be painted. I referred a while back to an architectural detail that we need to address. It's not a big deal, but where the walls and ceiling meet it is curved. It's hard to explain and I thought about taking a photo to show you, but I don't really think you'd be able to see it well. Anyways. Hubster and I have to come up with a plan on how we will handle that. When we painted the room before, we just used an off-white color so we could paint the walls and the ceiling all the same and it wasn't an issue. But since we will be using Sherwin Williams' Sea Salt this time around, it will need to be addressed. I think we will probably just tape off a ceiling line, but I'm considering the possibility of molding too, so we'll see.


I hope you all have a great weekend! Enjoy what's left of this beautiful Summer we've had!

Can't Put It Off Any Longer: Playroom "Befores"

 I've seriously been dreading this day and have been putting it off. Today is the day I show you the "before" pictures of our beloved playroom.

 

 

These aren't pictures taken the day we moved in ten plus years ago folks. I took these photos on Friday!

 

It's embarrassing really. I mean there's the green print curtains from my last attempt at updating the playroom alongside the blue checked couch that was passed down from my in-laws. Blech!!!

 

 

Since this room stopped being an actual playroom for the kids, it's become a catch-all for all the furniture we really don't want anymore, stuff that doesn't really have a "home," laundry I'm avoiding, etc. It's a hot mess, for sure.

 

 

I see a lot of de-cluttering in my future. Ugh!

 

But I keep telling myself to keep my eyes on the goal....a clean, comfortable place for our family to hang out. Besides, next to these photos, the "afters" will look even better, right?  :D

 

(Here's my inspiration photo again.)

 

Playroom Update: Sampling Paint Colors

Yesterday I was FINALLY able to get out and pick up a couple paint samples for the playroom at my neighborhood Sherwin Williams store. Having the kids home for the Summer makes getting out to do things like that difficult. But yesterday I was able to run out for a half hour and pick up the paint. Thankfully, my Sherwin Williams store is really close by.

(If you are just tuning in you can read HERE about my process of picking out a wall paint color for the playroom.)

I came home with my small cans of Comfort Gray (SW 6205) and Sea Salt (SW 6204) and immediately painted the samples on the wall. I started with the Comfort Gray and I liked it a lot. But the farther I went I started to get a sneaking suspicion that it was a little too dark. The playroom is a pretty small room. Next came Sea Salt.

 



 

I let the paint dry completely and I found myself walking in the room every few minutes to look at it. Believe it or not, after all my unscientific research, I'm pretty sure that Sea Salt is going to be the color for us.

 

It's still a nice gray (with a greenish cast), but is a little lighter. In making my decision, I took into account that someday I would like to get a dark gray sectional for the room. Maybe something like the IKEA Ektorp. I like the idea of a little more contrast between the walls and the sofa.

 

 



So that's where things stand with the playroom. School will be starting in a couple weeks and I don't think I will be painting before that. Plus we have a little architectural challenge we have to overcome before we paint. I'll explain more about that another time.

 

But the moral of this story is....even though you think a paint color looks perfect on the paint chip, in a picture, or in somebody else's room, it's worth it to buy a sample and try it out first in your own room.



 

Finding The Perfect Paint Color For The Playroom

I took some time yesterday to try and zero in on the perfect wall color for the playroom (when I got tired of walking around IKEA shelving boxes.) I'll show you the number one contender in a minute. But first I want to share with you the resources I used to help me narrow it down.

I started out at a great blog called Favorite Paint Colors. Kristin's blog is a terrific resource. Readers send her photos of rooms they have painted in a certain color which she in turn posts on the blog. She also categorizes them by color family, room, and paint brands and you can search her archives by any of those categories. I began my search by looking through all the grays. I made a short list of some colors I thought might work for the playroom.

From there, I did a Google image search of the specific paint colors to see how they looked in even more rooms. This is always an interesting search to do because you can see how a paint color looks in different lighting and with different trim, flooring, and furniture colors. It's amazing how different a color can look in different rooms. Sometimes you'll be lucky and will find an image than resembles your own room which is really helpful.

After Google, I went to Pinterest and searched the color again. I'm always surprised by how specific you can get on Pinterest. I searched by the color and brand and even more room images came up for me to look at. What's really helpful is when somebody else has already compared a couple colors you're considering and has painted samples on their wall for you to contemplate. Saves you a lot of time and money (getting samples.)

So you may have noticed that my #1 contender right now is Sherwin William's Comfort Gray.

On Pinterest I found these rooms that I loved.

The first one was Nester's sitting room.

source

 



Another room that caught my eye was this kitchen that was redone by Layla at The Lettered Cottage.

source

 

See what I mean about the color looking different depending on the light in the room? But I like the way it looks in both photos so I think that's a good sign.

 

The other great thing that happened when I searched on Pinterest was that in the search results were several rooms that I had admired on Pinterest before....which gave me a little confidence that I was on the right track.

 

So, what's next? Well, hopefully in the next couple days I will be able to get over to Sherwin Williams (I have a store really close to me) and pick up a sample of the paint to try out. I may also get one of the next lighter shade on the paint chip (which is called Sea Salt) just to compare. I'll give them a try in the playroom and let you know what I think.

 

What are your thoughts on Comfort Gray?



A Road Trip To IKEA And A Playroom Update

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope you had a great weekend.

On Saturday, I got to do something I had been looking forward to for a while. I headed off on a road trip to IKEA with all my favorite girls. It was a Ladies Day, Road Trip, IKEA-Shopping Extravaganza!! Our traveling party included me, my daughter, Sal (an IKEA first-timer), my niece, and my Mom.

We woke up to rain on Saturday morning. BUMMER. But we didn't let that dampen our spirits. Oh no....we forged on!

(See that sky? That's what is was like. All. Day.)

 





It's been a long time since I had been to IKEA on a Saturday. It was BUS-Y!

Since the closest store is two hours away, I always try to think ahead, make a plan, and use the trip wisely, so to speak, since I don't know when I'll be back again.

As you know, I've been thinking a lot about our "playroom" and have been gathering inspiration.

So I picked up some Kallax shelving.

And I also picked up this rug. I think it will add a fun bit of color to the room. It was a good deal too. It's over 4x6 ft. and with my IKEA Family card I got it for 14.99! Rugs can be expensive, so I was a happy camper.

I got a few small things too.

 

 

I bought a couple more of these sea grass placemats. I have two already, but I wanted to be able to do a whole table setting using them.

 

The black and white striped plate caught my attention.

 

Those little metal planters are only .99. I had one, but was wanting another....for symmetry. I have a thing about symmetry. Ha!

 

I love the cork hot pads. They're great in the kitchen, obviously, but I find myself using them to raise objects up in different vignettes I do. So sometimes I run out of them in the kitchen!

 

And lastly, I thought this black and white geometrical print pillow was really cute. Another good deal at only 5.99.

 

It was a good day. We girls always have so much fun together....lots of talking and laughing. I love them all so much and it was great to spend the day with them.

 

So now I have a little start on the playroom. I want to paint and I figure I probably shouldn't put the shelves together until after the painting is done. Less to move, 'ya know? But our calendar is looking pretty full over the next few weeks, so I have no idea when that will get done. All in good time, I guess.

 

 

 

 



The Playroom {Brainstorming}

By now you've probably realized that I haven't shown you every room in our house. And for good reason, trust me. Case in point, the room we affectionately call "the playroom." I'm so embarrassed of this room that I'm not even ready to show you photos of it. I sometimes refer to it as a used furniture store. It always becomes the resting place for furniture we're not sure what to do with but aren't ready to get rid of and other things we don't know where to put.

Our current living room is an addition that was added onto the house in the 90's. The room we have used as the kid's playroom is the small original living room. When we first moved into our house (about 10 years ago now), our kids were preschoolers and so this room became their place. Even when we moved in I had grand plans for this room....bright colors, cubbies for storage, a table for projects. But time, finances, and well, little kids kept me from really making this a great space. About three years ago we did paint the room and I bought new curtains for it's big picture window. I was hoping to get some new furniture. But those plans stalled as well as I started to concentrate more on our actual living room and kitchen. There was a bathroom makeover in there somewhere too.

And now the kids are teenagers. We still call it the playroom, but it doesn't see as much action anymore. The room is mostly used for watching TV and Hubster and I recently talked about this space being used as home office.

A big re-do isn't really in the budget, but now that I know what we really want to see this room used for, I'm starting to gather some inspiration photos and I've created a Playroom board over on Pinterest. Take a look!

 Coastal Living

My #1 goal is to make this room comfy and a place that we will want to hang out. It's not going to happen overnight, but at least when the time comes I will have thought through how we will use this room and what I want it to look like.

You can see that there are some common elements in a couple of my inspiration photos. First off, a nice comfy sectional. The room is not large so it would have to be a smaller piece, but I would love to have some nice, comfortable seating.

BHG

Storage! I kind of have a love affair with the Expedit line at IKEA. We already use some of this in our kids rooms. It is so basic....and fairly inexpensive compared to other storage units....and can be dressed up in so many different ways depending on what type of bins, baskets, and accessories you use. I would love to be able to house books, DVDs, office supplies, craft supplies, etc.

**In looking to provide a link to the Expedit series, I discovered that IKEA is phasing it out!! Say it ain't so IKEA! It is being replaced by a similar series call Kallax. BUMMER!

We also need something to put our TV on. It is currently sitting on our piano bench....OY!

You can also see that I love the globe trend. I'm really drawn to those colors so that may be a jumping-off point for the color scheme of the room. We'll see.

But for now, I'm just dreaming and gathering inspiration for the future.