a playroom

The front room of our house is technically supposed to be a formal dining room and, believe me, I would love to use it for its intended purpose. Sunday dinners in the fancy dining room? Yes please! Unfortunately, I couldn't get the Mr. on board with my plans (killjoy), something about buying another table when we have a perfectly good one just 20 feet away...So we decided that the space would be best used as a playroom for the shrimp. We have a loft upstairs but baby boy is so small still that I'd be uncomfortable with him playing up there without supervision. And the combination of me actually wanting to accomplish things during my day and not wanting to be upstairs with him 24/7 means that we'll hold off on moving the party up there for several more years. I love having him in a different room, close by, where he can still be independent and I can still keep an eye on him while working. Best of both worlds. So here is the room before we moved in - a nice, blank, beige slate. 

 I was a little worried about it being the first thing you see as you walk through the door but let's be honest. Most of the people walking through my door have kids too. I'm not trying to impress anyone, I'm just trying to be real people. Plus I think once it's completely done it will be cute and bright and happy and that's exactly the first impression I want to make.

Here are the current "in progress" photos, after almost 1 month of living in the house. This is the view from the entry. We bought the bookcase and the new light fixture from Ikea. The curtains are also from Ikea and were hanging in the front room of our apartment.

We still need to hang up some art, I was thinking some crayon drip art would really brighten the walls or a framed alphabet or some animals. I'm not sure yet but I'll know it when I see it. 

 I found these green storage ottomans at Target and thought they would make great seating for play dates. And see the pillows behind them? I want to get some heat-n-bond and write ABC on one and 123 on the other in some funky fabric. We'll see if that ever gets done though. 

 Here is the shrimp - every time he'd get close to my camera I'd up and move on him. Cruel me. 

Still angry at me for not letting him touch my camera buttons. Don't you dare feel sorry for him - I'm still trying to figure out how to get all the white space on my preview pictures from blinking from the last time he got his hands on it. Seriously though, does anyone know how to fix that? It's been months. 

Despite the (fake) tears, he really likes his room. Play date anyone?