Play Room Before and After

This is actually the third room that I restyled, but the bathroom is not fit to be photographed, so I'm skipping it for now. This room is an upstairs bedroom that was originally part of the second-level attic (there is also a third level attic) and was converted in the 70's to create a fourth bedroom to accommodate the previous owners' four children. Since it wasn't part of the original living space, there was no plank flooring under the pea-soup carpet, just plywood subfloor. I wanted to lay hardwood, but carpet was less expensive and easier to install, and as my husband pointed out, cozier for on-the-floor playing (for the kids, not us).

This wasn't a high-priority room, so I did my best to use furnishings we already owned. The old slate chalkboard was in the upstairs landing, along with the vintage desk, and a schoolhouse light fixture that I convinced my crabby electrician brother to move into the play room. There's also a huge bookcase that was in the room we use as a master bedroom, which we screwed into the wall and filled with toys and books.

The curtains were made from fabric that a friend bought for me
years ago from the Ikea in New York when I was living in Miami and had never heard of Ikea. For wall art, I opened boxes that we'd never unpacked and found prints and a vintage linen childrens book and put them in inexpensive frames. I also used some self-adhesive racing stripes that I found at Lowes for a few bucks. Add jalepeno paint, one excited kid, and his Plan City, and we now have a Play Room.