Playroom Makeover

We had gathered quite a bit more leftover wood from the houses being built around us and Jason was itching to get started on another project. We thought a reading loft in the playroom would be fun to build, especially since that room has such a high ceiling. After scouring the Internet for various ideas, we settled on a reading loft that would look like it was in a tree house along with a ladder alongside the tree and a playhouse underneath the loft (sounds a bit confusing written out like that!!) The vision in my head looked so good, but like any home project, we had to change and adapt as we went along and honestly I think the finished product turned out even better than I could have ever imagined. And it was a fun project for Jason and I (with a bit of help from the kids too) to work on together!

Here was the playroom before...

Basically all it was before was a room with a white ledge that ran the length of two walls along with lots and lots of toys. We decided that along with the loft, we would completely redecorate the entire playroom (the snowball effect of home remodeling!!) We sorted through all the toys first, donating lots of them and moving some others down into the basement play area. We decided to keep the original paint color for two reasons...#1, the ceiling is vaulted in that room and painting walls that high is a big no-no in my book of DIY projects and #2, the wall color worked perfectly into our idea of doing a "Dr. Seuss" themed playroom using the colors from "The Cat in the Hat" (blue, red, black, and white.)

Here is our only "work-in-progress" photo with things starting to come together. We built the loft and tree trunk from leftover builder wood, the "tree house" cedar wood was leftover from our outdoor playset and most of the paint came from previous household projects. The only thing we had to buy were the unfinished siding pieces for the base of the house which we then painted red, lots of screws, and some fun accessories (like those fun pillows you can see up on the loft already...)


We thought that the reading loft would be a great place to install those gutter shelves that I have loved the look of for a while. I ordered the Dr. Seuss quotes from Amazon and found a great deal on the Dr. Seuss cutouts around the window and above the loft at Michael's.

The top of the loft area (it's about 5 feet off the ground)...

The front of the loft/playhouse/tree house area. We made the ladder out of 2x4s and then painted it brown to match the tree trunk behind it. The foliage portion of the tree was painted green and then we super-glued fake leaves all around it to give it some fun texture. The cream-colored siding and edging is leftover from the home being built two doors down from us.

The view from below into the reading loft...

 

I got a copy of "The Cat in the Hat" from a local used bookstore for $1 and cut out some of the fun pictures from it. I then matted and framed them to create some fun artwork above the door...

I also loved this metal shower curtain from Ikea to hang up some of the kid's artwork in the room. (Have I ever mentioned how much I love that window up there that peeks in from the hallway upstairs? I will often chuck toys from the main level back down into the playroom using that window and it is FABULOUS!!)

A few finishing touches with a flower box in the window and an address plate...

 

We also built this art table with some scrap wood which was then painted white. We purchased  a set of black stools to go underneath and some cheap black trashcans to store some of the block sets we own. I am a big fan of organization!!

The view from the window above...

 

I am in love with this room now. It feels so festive and fun and fits well into it's Dr. Seuss theme of using creativity and imagination to have a little fun!!