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This is one of our most ever-evolving and well-loved rooms in our house! It is always a kid space. When we were looking for a new house, it was very important to me to have “sight lines.” I wanted to be able to see my littles easily. I can see a lot from my kitchen sink, which I love, and spend a lot of time at! However, having such an open concept has proved challenging at times, too. We have used this room as a playroom, a dining room, a craft room, a school room (thank you, 2020), and combinations of those as well! No matter what, it is a kid space!
Here is where we are now, a craft room and a playroom. No matter what we do it is always a kid space!
Kid Space Organization
I know pops of color, or bold colors are not for everyone, but I do love color! We love being able to have a name for each of these pieces of furniture. It’s funny, but it’s so handy to say go put this back in the “red cabinet”! It has also been so helpful to have so much storage from these cabinets. There isn’t a closet or shelving of any kind in this (dining) room. Everything is closed storage which really helps things feel less cluttered. Even the yellow piece with glass window panes feels more put together than if it were just all open shelving.
The green cabinets are (I think obviously?) three pieces pushed together. This is a great solution for a lot of spaces and purposes! We have two tall dressers pushed together in our bedroom as well. Definitely saves money, and I like the look. If you are looking to buy, you just have to make sure the piece has flat sides. A lot don’t, actually! You could also always cut the furniture if it has an extra lip or something. And, if you need to be thrifty then work with what you have. It can look cute to just line up whatever pieces you do have together. I would try to think of a way to tie them together, like paint for instance. I think it could look really fun!
There are toys in all the green drawers at the bottom. Art supplies fill the green cabinets and red cabinet. The yellow cabinet is for all the coloring books, drawing books, workbooks, and things like that. I also keep more baby friendly things like Water Wow, crayons, Color Wonder, and stickers on the open shelving. It is more accessible so it helps to try to keep the messes at bay. It doesn’t really work, but I try!
I recently added a caddy to our supplies and we have loved having easy access to multiple mediums! Otherwise we store like items in clear bins. I DO NOT label them! I am constantly shuffling things around depending on what quantity we have of things or what new supplies we add. Since they are clear, it doesn’t matter! Then it makes switching or rearranging much simpler. My favorite are the Container Store shoe bins. They are super affordable, last (through four kids so far), and are kind of baby proof- for a while anyways! We also use some smaller pencil box containers, and I always like the Sterilite Clip Boxes.
There is a big basket for the kiddos to put anything they make in. We actually used to use more of a tray and that looks really nice too, it just wasn’t substantial enough for us so I grabbed this one from my laundry room and used the tray in there instead. More switching! But, a tray might work just fine for you. This helps contain the chaos physically and visually as well. Our basket fills up so fast. One of my kiddos in particular makes So. Much. Art. But, it’s a good problem to have. I think this is a pretty good system, but it is still hard to keep up with them.
When the basket starts to overflow (everywhere) I go through it and save anything I want to save, and try to discreetly toss the rest. It is always hard for me. I move the keeps to a drawer in my bedroom. When things start to get out of hand with the keeps, I take pictures of everything, and then toss more, and keep only a few special things. Each kiddo has a long under bed storage bin under my bed for school and art keepsakes and so far that works. That is what my mom used to do! I even got the bins from her, and still have some of my own keepsakes under the bed, too! Sadly, I haven’t done anything with all of the photographed artwork, and it is such a mess I don’t know that I ever will. Someday!? Is anybody else disorganized digitally?
I don’t have anywhere in this room currently to display their work, I used to have a string to clip work to between their bedrooms. Then, I moved that to our breakfast nook which at one point was the craft room (I’m crazy). So, I was just taping some of my daughter’s preschool work up in the corner for a while, but it didn’t really look great to me there. I did love the colorful tape I found to hang it though, but now the kids have claimed it as their supplies and it doesn’t look as cute. So, I need a solution to display their stuff, again. How do you like to display your kid’s work?
Kid Space Decor
Decor wise I don’t like to have a lot in the way of the function, especially since this is a kid space. We changed out the builder chandelier to a fun, cheap, large IKEA shade.
I needed something BIG for this wall, and finally found this piece I love from Anthropologie. I think one big thing also makes things feel more organized and less cluttered when their is so much going on in this room. It also makes a statement, and I love that it is art. For a while we just had it blue taped on the wall, ha! But, we eventually got the idea from my father-in-law to use quilt hooks and they have worked great and are a unique touch, I think. They also didn’t break the bank.
These lamps used to be our bedside table lamps, and I think I have even had them in my daughter’s room at one point. They are from Crate and Barrel a long time ago, but I love the yellow and these are similar lamps!
On top of the IKEA kitchen we have a little initial name train for each kid that my husband got when I was pregnant with our first, they have been fun to add to.
The blue pot on the red cabinet was an antique find that I got for our last kitchen, but I just think the scale is right on top of here and needed the pop of blue, it is from Scotland!
Our curtains and rods are simple and continue into the family room. We need the 108” length for all of our windows which is so expensive, but these are from Target and are super reasonable. Does anybody else run into funny windows and issues with hanging curtain rods? This was an odd spot for us, but I like the way the one big rod looks over it other than getting it for each window. It makes it appear as if it is one big window, and everybody loves a big window! I also think this helps things look tidier and keeps with the scale of our ceilings and open-concept.
The table is one of my favorite parts of this kid space. When we were first looking for a craft table I didn’t like any of the toddler tables because there didn’t seem to be enough room to work to me, even for one small child! So, this is actually an IKEA dining table, and my husband just cut the legs off and there is a lot more space to work. We didn’t want to finish it and did not want to have to worry about anything getting on it. It definitely looks like an artist’s work space. We thought one day when we were old and gray and our kids were grown it would be special to seal it and use it as a coffee table or something, we’ll see!
Poufs are always nice for seating and can be a way to add some fun pattern. Ours have not always held up, but we still have one that is in good shape. We had the white plastic IKEA stools for a while, and I really loved the look of them, and the price was amazing, but they just didn’t stand the test of my children (noticing a patter?)! They kept breaking and then we would have to warn people if it was a stool that a leg was going to give out on, yikes. We finally got some more stools so they aren’t quite as well loved looking as the table, soon I’m sure, but they work great!
Play
So far, it has been really fun having a kid space with an IKEA play kitchen in the mix of the craft room. It has been a bridge for the artist and pretend play! My daughters have even played together more, and more creatively as one tends to gravitate towards art and the other pretend and this allows for both simultaneously. It is a lot easier to set up shop, literally!
This space is working for us right now. I am a rearrange-aholic though, so who knows what its future will hold. I was just telling my mom the other day I think I do my best cleaning when I switch things up, and for some reason it doesn’t feel like a chore to me then. As our family has grown and kids enter new stages or come out of certain stages our needs just change. With four young kids there has been a lot of moving things around, haha! Everything in this room is pretty flexible and can be used in other spaces in our home too which is really helpful.
One thing I am still wondering is if I want a rug? I know I would love to look for one…but I am not sure I want one because of cleaning up purposes. The amount of scraps that end up on our floor is a huge problem right now, not to mention paint spills, Play-Doh, etc. It would for sure have to be something that wouldn’t show anything. I love that a rug would help anchor the room (and the table). This is one I have been eyeing. What do you think? Rug or no rug?
