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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Playroom Dilemma

I have been putting off creating a playroom since before I wrote this post! The birthday money mentioned there has long since been spent (I wound up using it for an "eating out" stash of $$, a few new clothes and some organizational things for my house). Why do I continue to procrastinate about getting started with this project?

A quick phone call with my sister this morning helped me figure out my inertia when it comes to the playroom. (I am a verbal processor.) In our guest room is a full size bed and frame, a hope chest, two end tables and a rocking chair- all of which are heirlooms from family members that mean a lot to me. We have a large shed for storage but it is not climate controlled and not entirely sealed off (which means sometimes little critters get into it- not to mention bugs and spiders, ick!) so you can see why I would not want to put our precious items into storage there!

Our attic is also not climate controlled or accessible to anything but boxes for storage (large furniture pieces won't fit up the drop down access to it). Loaning it out is also difficult to think about since these are family heirlooms that I desperately want to keep in good condition. I've thought about our parents' houses, but they are stuffed to the gills with nostalgic clutter themselves.

Then there are storage units. I have always disliked the idea of being the type of person who has a storage unit, paying someone to hold stuff that might not be in use for years to come. But what do you do when you sincerely want to hold on to that stuff for your children when they are older (as in they could use the bed, hope chest etc while they live at home), but you don't have space for it now?

I sincerely don't know the answer to this question. However, figuring it out is important to the next step of creating a play space for Melody and other kids that play at our house.

Hmmmm... off to think about creative solutions.

Any dilemmas you are trying to solve in your homes?

Love, Rachel


5 comments:

  1. Can you work the rocking chair, end tables, and hope chest into the playroom design? Then all you would need to do is store the bed, and since the bed frame can be broken down you can store it in large plastic bags in your shed or attic. You may also be able to fit the broken down bed behind a dresser or something, I dunno, just some ideas.

    I'm thinking you could make the hope chest into a toy box and have the rocking chair and end table be a story book/cuddle time moment in the room.

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  2. Those are good ideas, but there are some problems with using the furniture in the play room. The end tables knock over easily and are lightweight (so stuff or the tables themselves would fall on kiddos). The hope chest has very sharp corners and is too tall for small children to reach into for toys- also easy for little fingers to get smashed by the top of it. And if I wanted to do art in there I can only imagine paint winding up on the hope chest and rocking chair. The rocking chair is not that comfy for holding kiddos (no padding on it), though I love it for a good reading-my-Bible time. It was my grandmother's and I would be petrified of having crayon marked all over it! But you are right about the bed frame- it might make it to the attic or behind a dresser somewhere (I like that idea!)... then we would just have to figure out where to put the mattress and box springs (on the floor for kids to jump on? haha)

    Don't mean to be a debbie-downer, like I said- this is a dilemma! (I have been giving thought to how I could move things around in my house to make room for everything)

    I will keep you updated about whatever I figure out! :)

    Thanks for the suggestions!

    love, Rachel

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  3. PS - Keep the suggestions coming. It helps me think of ALL the possibilities!

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  4. Wow..I honestly have no clue. All of our things that don't fit are at my parent's house. Maybe you could help your mom clean out some space over there to store the things??? Sorry I can't help more. GOOD LUCK!!! And keep us posted!

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  5. My mom has been asking me to come and go through my child hood things... :)

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