As I continue with the tour of my newly arranged home, today I will share the playroom. This room was formerly Samantha’s bedroom and is located on the main floor of our home. Her playroom was originally in the finished basement but she did not like being so far away from us while playing. Since we were moving her bedroom out, we decided to make it her new playroom. Bonus, it was already painted for a little girl so we didn’t have to change the walls. The original playroom was huge, almost half our basement so we started with a big downsize. We had already moved out some of the larger toys as she outgrew them (this photo is a few years old) but we still had a lot to change out. Some play items like her teepee and baby dolls went upstairs but almost everything else went to the playroom, including a huge dollhouse. Fortunately, we have managed to make it all work and she is already playing better in her new space. Below is her original lower level playroom and her former bedroom which is now her playroom.
To make room for toys, the dresser was moved across the hall to the new guest room, I exchanged the wood knobs for silver ones. The chair was moved upstairs to the loft area and we sold the twin bed. The wall shelves stayed in this room to hold toys.
Here is her new playroom all set-up and ready for hours of play. I think that by eliminating some toys, she is playing much better as it is not so overwhelming. While huge, my favorite item in the playroom is the dollhouse because it doubles as play and storage. My sister-in-law found it at an overstock type store last December and offered to pick it up and meet me with it, I immediately took her up on the offer as it was half the price of retail and brand new. I usually would not buy such a big item so close to Christmas but I knew she was getting the doll kitchen and salon chair and this would be a great place to put them. That and the deal was too good to pass up!
This house for AG dolls was found at a overstock type store, it is furnished with a mixture of items from mostly AG and Target.
Still working on the shelves but for now we have some Disney dolls, photos and a doll ballet studio. This is from the Lori line at Target but also fits mini AG dolls. It came with the piano and little holders to help the dolls stand.
More of the Disney doll collection and a messy top shelf that needs my attention
Various array of toys to keep a little girl busy. The jeep is from Target’s Our Generation line and the camper is for Barbies. The cubical shelf holds various small toys, and the top makes the perfect location for doll school. The desk and locker are from AG and come with great little accessories, the chalkboard is from Michael’s. The townhouse and car are from Target’s Lori line and fit little mini AG dolls. The black boxes hold assorted toys, hoping I can locate the lid to the larger box because they stack nicely. The blue van is actually an ice cream truck from Target’s Our Generation line, it came with tons of accessories and gets played with often. The beach hut was made by me using plywood, dowels and burlap.
This little closet, also by Our Generation holds doll clothes and is topped with other doll toys.
The Barbie house is nestled by the big doll house along with a car and baskets of dolls and accessories. I need a better storage system for this area but it works.
Little peek inside the dollhouse. The kitchen is from Target and came with oodles of accessories, the living room set is from Walmart.
The closet stores some doll clothing and Lego sets. This space is a work in progress as we also have some space to the side that needs to be cleaned out. I may go with a better shelving system in the future but this one I had on hand.
So for now, this is the playroom. I am overall very happy with it, I just want to find some good storage options. However, I do not want to get too crazy with organization and decorating in here because the space is meant for play, not as a showroom. As long as I have containers for all the teeny tiny toys, Legos and doll accessories, we should be good.