Before & After Playroom

Our "Playroom" 

(the biggest room in our house that at one time in history was a 2-car garage that got closed in) - has always been changing - I don't think it has stayed in the same arrangement for more than 2 months since we moved in 3 1/2 years ago. (It's become much more than a playroom)

Here's the last 'before' arrangement 

It wasn't awful - I mean, I constantly fought it to stay clean,  and in pictures, things like carpet stains and completely smudged up flat paint walls were somehow hidden.

But in real life, you'd walk in the room and it looked....well, like it was the most used and at the same time the most neglected room in the house.

Here was our thought process....

Myth: If I organized it well enough, no one would notice the carpet stains, smudge/drawn on flat paint, etc.

Fact: this room was unmarketable and needed new paint and flooring.

Decision: Might as well take care of it now and enjoy the money and work we put into it while we're off the market for a while.

And so the process began!

We repainted (more durable paint)

ripped up that nasty carpet (it was so flat, was it really called carpet anymore?)

refloored

sewed some projects

spray painted and prepped some decór

bought some furniture to finish off our plan and 'make' the room

And finally, after nearly 3 months of working on it, the room is finally complete!

Here is it now
(on a clean day) :)

Starting from the first wall and going around the room....

note that I made a slip cover so the couch matches
(I was going for a room that is completely matching - all done within the same year...for once) :)

as close as it's going to get for now...there might be some more updates/organizing here

ahh - my area is back

I'm not even going to pretend that this stays this perfect all the time, but the goal is the shelves are neat and the closet (dress up on left, kitchen on right) is just ignored until I finally go in there and "fix" Alee's version of clean back to MY version of clean (the 72 hour kids are also in there stacked on some white shelves to the right of the kitchen)

Overall, I love it. 

I wish I could make awesome panoramas of the two long walls, but sadly, I haven't learned that part of photoshop elements yet...here are my attempts so you can get a better idea of the room
(just ignore the ghostish walls that aren't continuous or straight) :)

the window wall

the wall opposite the windows

(This wall was short enough to get in one photo)

I love all the frames the same color -
I just need to update two families to include our other nieces & nephew

This is probably my favorite part of that first wall.

I have wanted an art display for the kids for a while.

And there is is - our playroom makeover.
(And I'll get back to the kids for the next few posts - there is so much going on at the end of school, I will probably have an overload of posts in the next few weeks!)

PS: For any that haven't heard- Natalie's surgery (tubes in ears + tonsils/adenoids removed) went well and she's recovering very well so far - may it continue! Thanks for any prayers.