Playroom

Over the Christmas break Craig and I got a TON of stuff done around the house.  Upstairs we have a great open loft space that was previously just used as a dumping ground for junk that we couldn't quite find a space for.  Natalie got a ton of great toys for Christmas and we had to find a spot for all of them.  Here is what we came up with..........

Grand view of the playroom from the top of the stairs.  Craig's mother bought Natalie the floor mat that is made of different "puzzle" pieces stuck together.  All the numbers and letters come up out of the rug so that will be perfect for learning the alphabet and how to count.  We moved the entertainment center to the corner so that it would block the internet cable cord and the outlets from little hands.  The four drawer small dresser used to hold almost a hundred of our DVD cases.  We emptied those out, tossed the cases and stored all the discs in a large CD case downstairs.  I did keep her Disney and Harry Potter movie cases stored in one drawer. 

View from the man cave door - once Natalie gets bigger and is drawing things for us, I'm going to hang some lines of string over the couch with some laundry clips and it will be her own personal "art gallery."

For Easter Natalie got a few different Easter baskets and up until now they had just been sitting in her closet taking up space.  I rearranged her bookcase in her room and took out the small board books that she can get her hands on......and not ruin by tearing or eating the pages.

Another view of her toy storage area - complete with a tub full of stuffed animals.

Her walker and basketball goal - the basketballs are mostly used to chew on (either by her or Angie) and the walker has only facilitated a few steps as of right now.  She'd rather just take the flaps off the front.

Her Little People toy center - the zoo and the home.  Favorite parts?  Chewing on the ostrich's head and flushing the pink toilet.

Downstairs in the Living Room we still have a basket of assorted toys down below and then some stuffed animals up above.  She really leaves pretty much everything else on our entertainment center alone.  She knows where her toys are and what she is allowed to play with.

The activity table, ride on scooter and rocking horse that she received for Christmas.  She rides that scooter all over the house now.  Much faster than crawling and it supports her to "stand" and be able to try and reach things on the kitchen table.  Yes.  The kitchen table - she is tall enough that her little hands can reach all the way up there.

  

A view of Natalie's "corner" of the living room.  I've really tried to keep all her stuff organized and in one location because I definitely don't want baby toys strewn throughout the house so much that it doesn't feel like a place where grown-ups can hang out as well.

So there you go!  We really got so much done over the break - I was nervous about the amount of toys that she was going to receive and having to find a place for all of them.  But we worked together, cleaned things out and still have room for all the toys that she'll be getting for her birthday in a few months!