Playroom Reveal

It's done!  Ok... it's been done for awhile now.  I was just so tired from doing the whole thing that I couldn't be bothered to take pictures??  

As I have said, I wanted to create a space that the boys can play in now, but will grow with them into the teenage years and beyond.  Someday we will reclaim this room and I wanted to have it be classic and something that we could love for quite some time.  I originally thought I wanted to change the wall color, but the boys actually begged me to keep the green (who knew they cared?) and after all is said and done, I think that they made the right call.  I fell in love with a goldenrod yellow rug that there was no way I could afford.  But that color stayed in as a highlight and I love that too.  I found the Nate Berkus box (on the shelves) at Target, of course.  And that kind of set the tone for the rest of the room.  I also scored a ridiculously soft goldenrod blanket at Marshall's to carry the color to the other side of the room.  

And I found a small navy blue throw rug that would add some color and pattern to the big brown floor.  You've seen some of the other room highlights like the magnet board and the wall map here and here, but the part that I am most proud of is the entertainment unit.  I had various versions of this type of thing sketched up in my notebook for months.  And I had finally settled on a design.  Then I happened to walk into the Schenectady ReStore.  Ok, no one "happens" to walk into the ReStore.  I walked in quite on purpose.  And I found this for $10:

I thought that it could be useful as the middle of the unit.  Save me some time and money on the materials.  It was slightly too long, so I sliced, diced, painted, and put it back together.  Then I built the rest of the unit around it and voilà:  

Total cost of unit:  about a zillion dollars less than buying anything like it.  And perfectly sized for my room.  Don't mind the olllldddd school tv.  I can't afford to get them a new one yet after all of this.  My sister was nice enough to dump give them her old one so at least there's something there for now.    

So there it is!  What do you think?  

 Onto the next project!!

New Map

In what I will now refer to as "the old playroom", there was a map.  It was a free political map of the U.S. that came out of some old magazine and still had the fold marks to prove it. 

 But being a use-what-you-have type of girl, I made a wooden frame for it and for years it lived on the wall where the boys play.  Geography by osmosis.  When it came time to update and grow-up the playroom, I knew I wanted to keep a map feature.  Just not that one.  So I started searching for ideas. 

I really liked this one, and planned on making it.  The wooden look was just what I wanted.  But then I decided that I actually wanted them to be able to read names of countries etc and - you know - eventually be able to learn where Pakistan is (for you, Kather).  So I went online to find the perfect map.  I eventually settled on this National Geographic map of the world.  Because it was the right size and price, and I liked its coloring.  As an added bonus, this guy came laminated.  So he will last for quite awhile.  But I knew that I didn't just want to throw it in a frame and call it a day.  After doing another search for unique map framing ideas (or whatever), I found this - a perfect compromise - from the girls at Shanty 2 Chic.

So I found myself cutting up some scrap pieces of pine and making this.  Yes, I am that lazy.  There was just no need to stain the center of this piece.  

The finished piece came out even better than I had expected and I LOVE it.

   So much better than if I had just thrown a frame on there, right?