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One Room Challenge Spring 2021 | Kids’ Playroom Makeover Week 3

May 21, 2021

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What’s that saying? Something like it gets worse before it gets better?? Well, I hope that is true!

Welcome to Week 3 of the Spring 2021 One Room Challenge in Partnership with Better Homes & Garden! You can catch up on weeks 1 & 2 if you want to see what has been going on so far in this kids’ playroom makeover. If you have been following along, you know that we now have a color inspiration, and a first draft of a design concept. But thing are starting to move along on this One Room Challenge. Here is what has happened over the last week. Below is the design concept that I came up with last week.

How it's going...

So this week has gone better than last week for sure. I ordered some items that actually arrived. That in and of itself is a huge accomplishment given the fact that lead times for everything are so long.

We have been making progress on getting the room cleaned and cleared. I finally rolled up the rug, removed all of the throw pillows that we were not going to use and got rid of the old dresser that was holding papers and craft trash for the last 8 years. I finished just before I had to pick up my kids from school. And then from there, I took my oldest to PT and a basketball open gym. When I got home, I saw that my “clean” playroom had become a cushion fort disaster. Such is the life of a mom with kids, right!? 🙂

what we have accomplished

Here is the checklist that I made at the beginning of this challenge and I love to cross things off as they get done.

~~A brand new color palette~~ – Done! I am super excited about the jumping off point for this room. We will have black, soft whites, caramel, deep blue, dusty rose and pretty taupes and grays.
Paring down and donating – It feels like we have gotten rid of so much and yet there is still a bunch of stuff in the corner of the room and I still need to decide what to do with it all. Like what about the Legos?? I feel like that is one of the biggest issues.
~~Add desks~~ – I found 2 great desks that I really loved from Pottery Barn Teen. They came in yesterday and I need to put them together. Fingers crossed that they are as good in person as they were online.
~~Get a new rug~~ – I found a rug that I am so excited about from CC & Mike The Shop. It’s got all of the colors in it that were in my color inspiration. Fingers crossed that it arrives in time. So far it still hasn’t shipped, but I’m optimistic.
Organization! – Still need to put some systems in place to make sure this room stays clean. The media console I found has 4 doors with 3 shelves in each door. It will be great for some items, but not for all of them…
Reorient the room – The plan of how to layout the room is going to work based on the furniture pieces I bought. Where the longest part of the sofa is currently will be a desk, a media console and then another desk. I like the idea of splitting up the desks in case 2 kids are working on homework at the same time. Less of a chance to bother each other, you know?
Add drapery rods and panels – I found the old curtain panels that I bought for the room when we first moved in almost 3 years ago. I’m not sure if I still want to use them or if I should just add a nice solid pair of panels instead? You can see those below…still in the packaging. Haha!
Add art – I was thinking about doing a gallery wall behind the sofa since that wall will now be one of the first ones you see when you walk in and not the giant TV. I love ordering digital prints and having them framed, so I am going to look through some of my favorite shops and see what jumps out at me.
Add an accent wall – I started thinking about the accent wall a little more this week. I was thinking that maybe I would add vertical shiplap or board and batten on the desk and media wall about 6 feet up the wall and then add removable wallpaper above it. I found a couple of wallpaper options I liked on Etsy and I added them both into the design board just to see how they felt.
Add other new furniture – I bought the media console and it was delivered today. I also purchased the desk chairs today, as well as a couple of square ottomans for extra seating and to be used as foot rests. I think I still need to find an accent chair for in the corner of the room and maybe some other storage piece as well.

inspiration

Here is what I have found for inspiration this week for my accent wall. I found a lot of photos for wall moldings and wallpaper above it in bathrooms and other spaces, but not as many for playrooms or even living spaces. So even though I’m doing a playroom, these rooms are still inspirational.

This is actually one of the bedrooms in one of our Scottsdale vacation rentals. I hated putting up this wallpaper, but I loved the finished result. 🙂

I thought that I wanted vertical shiplap, but then I saw this and realized I might want board and batten instead. It’s a really pretty look, but I have board and batten in other rooms in my home an I don’t have any vertical shiplap, so now I’m torn.

And now I am back to vertical shiplap…Hopefully I will make a decision at some point and get it done. Because by this time I have pretty much convinced myself to do it.

Design Draft #2

Since my first draft of the design concept, I have been adding in additional layers and changing some things when I realize they may not work as I thought. Case in point, I switched out the dark gray desks chairs for a light gray option since my sofa is already dark gray. I feel like this board will continue to evolve, but the things are permanent are the rug, media console, desks, ottoman, desk chair and the blue patterned pillow and dark taupe pillow. Those are all things that I have already purchased for the room. I need to narrow down the wall paper and art options though for sure.

Next week, I look forward to sharing with some actual room progress!

In the meantime, make sure you check out the featured designers and other fellow guest designers. There are some really great projects going on! I am so thankful to be a part of this and I can’t wait to take you along on this room makeover over the next few weeks!