Playroom - inspiration needed

LittleBit_2

We have decided we're going to turn our dining room into a playroom for our two boys. DS1 in almost 2, but DS2 is only 8 weeks at the moment.
We're looking for ideas on decorating it so it will appeal to the both but we won't have to redo it too soon in the future.
Also, I'm looking for tips on storage and layout. Everything really :rotfl:I really am pants at interior design.
Hope someone can help.

landybabe

wooden flooring would be top of my list and selves where you can stack those big plastic boxes the rest of the storage i would do as required as who knows what toys they will have !!!!!

LilacPixie

we are looking to move soon and we are wanting to have the kids sharing a bedroom then a play room. Girls aged 3 and 1. top of the list is wooden flooring. nothing expensive ust the cheap £6 a square meter stuff. walls pink/lilac in endurance washable paint. Fr boys maybe blues/greens. You get blackboard paints s we hope to paint a square of maybe 6ft x 4 ft on one wall at child height. We are using wall stickers butterflys but you get other versions.

Storage we have 3 x 4 drawer storage trollies. one has art stuff, anohter mega blocks/clippo and the 3rd has jigsaws aquadraw and wooden peg things.

Fizog

Go for wood type flooring and neutral walls. Bright curtains and cartoon or animal posters, pictures in frames on the walls. A comfy sofa or couple of bean bags, couple of small child chairs to go with child size table for crafts, puzzles, drawing. Bright stackable boxes for the truck loads of lego, cars and toys you will acquire/or toy cupboard with shelves.
We had a tv and video for the Pingu and Postman Pat videos.....our play room is now a sitting room, full of dvds and 6 ft teenagers still got a wooden floor and sofa, tv, piano, x box, art stuff ...still called the playroom ! I have changed the curtains to a less loud pattern on request and recovered the sofa. The pictures are a bit more spohistocated too.

MustTryHarder

I have 2 boys aged 6 and 3 and we have a conservatory that we use as their playroom. We have laminate flooring, easy to clean up paint, glue and playdoh off the floor. As it is part of our downstairs and can be seen at all times the colour scheme matches into the general house colours but we are moving so their next one will be blues and greens.

Storage wise, if you are near an Ikea we have Trofast tubs in wooden frames. All the boxes are labelled by me so the boys know where to return stuff to and they can find it. Even though my 3 year old can't read he knows which tubs contain what.

Avoid just going for large storage chests as they put everything in it and it gets buried and broken. We have the large blue trofast tubs for "transport" so cars, buses, planes, diggers etc, one for play food for the kitchen and one for dinosaurs! We have medium tubs for trains and track, dress up (pirate outfits) musical instruments, paints, playdoh and cutters. We have small tubs for paper, pens/crayons/felt tips, farm animals etc. You get the picture.

We have the low trofast measuring Width: 94 cm Depth: 44 cm Height: 52 cm which hold one medium tub and 1 small tub or just one large one, nice and low so no pulling stuff onto their heads. It also doubles as somewhere to sit (even adults) and as somewhere to lean and colour. We also have tall ones attached to the wall and the top ones contain the stuff we want them to ask to get such as paint, scissors, glue etc.

Make sure there is a lot of space for play in the middle. Label the boxes/storage so you know where to find stuff and it stops the constant "I want X" and you have no idea where it is!

Yes, I like things tidy, but only at the end of the day, it looks like a tornado has gone through my house in the day.

shirlgirl2004

I you have low shelves then the children will be more than capable of putting things away. We follow the Montessori principles so the shelves are mainly low so the children can access, play and then return their toys to the right place. With very little encouragement they learn how to do this from a very young age.

I also have some other toy storage (out of arms reach) so we can rotate what is on the shelves so when the toys change it is like having new toys again.The only thing the shelves don't work with is the art things because the glue, glitter etc ends up everywhere so that is a close supervision only activity and up out of the way. A dressing up box is nice to have though unless you just buy large pieces of plain fabric (silk is good) and then the imagination makes them use it in all manner of ways that as adults we might have forgotten.

ormus

rachbc

I was just about to post saying avoid going down the character route - as what is fav this week won't be next.

I'd have accessible storage, a big display wall with cork tiles or magnetic paint to put up art work, a blackboard area, floor cushions if you go for hard flooring to make it cosy and comfortable...

ormus

disney never goes out of fashion.

sunshinetours

Another fan of the ikea coloured/wooden storage Trofast combinations here aswell. We have them in our kids toy room and they are all low enough for youngsters to be able to access and use the tops on the longer low ones as a desk/play area etc etc. Nuetral decor with decorations you can add (peelable stickers / pictures / blackboards etc) and a hardwearing easy clean floor such as wood laminate or vinyl based flooring works well with rugs/cushions for comfort.

maggie111

If I had a room to set up as a playroom - oh wow, stuff of dreams! I would probably put down lino. I understand that laminate is easy to clean and maintain, but so is lino - and it is also warm and soft underfoot for little trips they are bound to have.

At such a young age I would be imagining bright colours, lots of tactile things and some designated areas - such as a low table for arts, a corner of cushions for some book reading and that kind of thing. I'd be tempted to put some big toys, like a rocker - what you fill the room with will in itself be decorative.

If it was me, I think I'd paint the walls white, and decorate with stickers that peel off - that way you can update whenever you like something like http://www.kidzdens.co.uk/catalog/funberry-farm-giant-wall-stickers-p-3079.html
And this is just adorable http://www.wallglamour.co.uk/products/tree-wall-sticker

Try and get in lots of storage too. Think about everything you'll want to house in there.

Plenty of inspiration on the web:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zHbr51uZVvQ/SvD16ktXjeI/AAAAAAAADTQ/BycB6M-IX5Q/s1600-h/Playroom+PPK1.jpg
http://www.borderwomensaid.co.uk/assets/large%20playroom.jpg
http://errinschildminding.co.uk/_img/photos/playroom.jpg
http://projectnursery.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/playroom-collage.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/design/design_inspiration/factsheets/181.shtml
http://www.ohdeedoh.com/uimages/ohdeedoh/2008-10-23-caden1.jpg