flashback: closet playroom

One of the very first projects I did in our house was to turn our closet under the stairs into a playroom for my kids.

Yes, our playroom is in a closet. Our house is small, what can I say?

I originally posted about it here, but it's changed a bit in the last few years, so I thought I would update. Still my favorite shade of robin's egg blue, though!

The biggest change is the book rack. The original book rack in this room only had a few shelves. They were set too close together for most of our tall books, so the tall books were in a basket on the floor. Except, they were never actually in the basket. They were usually just scattered around. There was no where near enough space on the book rack or in the basket for the amount of books and toys I wanted to keep in the playroom.

Enter Giant Book Rack. This metal shelving unit was out in our shed and we weren't using it for anything, so I brought it into the playroom instead. The lower shelves are tall enough for tall board books. Along with books, I keep a bunch of other stuff on the upper shelves, mostly stuff that I rotate through our quiet time baskets or get down when the girls specifically ask for it.

• Nerf guns and darts: I keep these in a large plastic bag with a zipper. I think a shower curtain came in it. Shower curtains, sheets, tablecloths, things like that all come in those clear zipper bags and they are perfect for storing toy sets.
• Magnetic doll and her clothes: also in a plastic zipper bag.
• Pizza making set: pizza and toppings, apron, empty spice container, pizza cutter, etc, in a plastic zipper bag.
• Discovery bins: Pencil boxes with different sets of stuff. One has a tea set, one has odds and ends for inventing things (allen wrench, mini screwdriver, old zippers, calculator, anything that my girls can pretend to take apart and put back together), one has a magnifying glass and a couple of insect flashcards.
• Viewfinder and viewfinder cards: the viewfinders are just on the shelf and the cards are in a little drawstring pouch that I made.
• Plastic bingo boards: also in a plastic zipper bag.
• Photo albums

Along with the bookshelf, there's a magnetic chalkboard and alphabet/numbers magnet set hanging on the wall and a basket with stuffed animals. We have a set of desert stacking blocks that are a huge hit and a cardboard mailer tube which is great for playing telescope, or using as a tunnel for little cars, or rolling balls down. There's a fluffy purple rug, a soft kid-sized armchair, and a bunch of pillows for lounging around and reading. In the back of the closet I keep the fort kit my awesome brother and sister-in-law gave Tempe for her birthday--kind of like this one. And last of all, Tempe's Star of the Week poster is hanging on the wall.

Our playroom may be small, but it is a popular room. It's a surefire way of getting Juno to calm down during a temper tantrum. It's the one room where anyone who wants quiet time is allowed to kick everyone else out and be alone--Helena takes advantage of it a lot. It's a great place to snuggle up with a good book, pretend you're in a rocket going to outer space or a bear in a cave, turn out the lights and tell stories by glowstick, or just pass the time while mom is making dinner. My tween cooking class students are even known to sneak in there and look at comic books after we're done cooking :)
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