Here’s my blog post for the year. Enjoy!
We do not have a large home. At 1300 sqft. space is at a premium. When we purchased our house there was a small room off the kitchen that used to be a porch. The previous owners enclosed it to incorporated the space into the main living area. After moving in we gave this room a quick facelift that I posted about here. Before Nora we honestly did not use the room much. Now the room provides a much needed play space and storage for all of Nora’s things that would otherwise take over the rest of the downstairs.
This room was actually 90% completed two years ago when Nora was still a little baby.
Here she is now enjoying the room.
The main hold up on posting this was the window treatments. I did a DIY project that was way more work than expected and I put it off for months. This week I finished the last window.
To make the room baby friendly Mark built radiator covers and toy chest for storage/seating. This happened over several months, working a few hours every night when Nora was just born. Our downstairs was a mess and our hallway was piled full of stuff and unusable for months. Mark also added some insulation near the windows and quarter round on the trim to finish the space. The shelving was here and only needed a new coat of white. We used a grey deck paint for the floor.
I wanted the room to be really colorful and fun. I found a reasonably priced rug on Overstock and it inspired the rest of the color choices for the space. I was worried that the rug would not hold up and feel rough but it has held up well and softened even more over time. I upholstered the seat with leftover fabric from the living room curtains.
This room has six windows and I tried to keep costs down. I found an idea here for DIY roman shades using cheep mini blinds. I went with the same print as living room curtains but reverse and in turquoise. The fabric is from Etsy. This project required a great deal of precise measuring (not a strength of mine) and time. Each window took about two hours and cost about $100 total including blinds and fabric. The shades work well enough but require a lot of fidgeting to get them to look even when pulled up. I am not super satisfied with them but with a twelve hour time investment they will stay awhile.
The chalkboard is a family heirloom from Mark’s grandmother, out of an old school building. We repainted the frame a cornflower yellow. Nora loves drawing on it and pointing to the ABC’s like a teacher.
For displaying Nora’s art work we borrowed some inspiration from Etsy and because Mark is so boss he made them for free from wood scraps he had. I painted the clouds and clothes pins. 
The bookself holds all of Nora’s toys, books and craft supplies in storage bins and wire baskets from Target.
The room did not have an overhead light so Mark wired one. The cloud light fixture is from Ikea.
The Lemonade sign was relocated from Nora’s nursery .
The light switch cover was decoupaged with an Eric Carle picture.
I never thought 12 X 7 room could have such an impact on the function of a home. We have made the most use out of this room than with any other. It’s were babies real and pretend get diapered, soups of all kinds get prepared and endless games of dollhouse are played. With a house this old and small we are lucky to have the bonus space.
Up Next: Walk in closet upgrade.
Here is a sneak peek!
Coeur&Foyer 