I have had this playroom on the back burner to show you guys for so, sooooo long! This year I have made a goal to finally share all the spaces that I have finished but was waiting because I thought I might add something, or change something. I have problems! Ha! I shared some before pictures of this space in a remodel update back in May of last year.
Back then it was home to our zoo of animals, but I am HAPPY to report that the animals have all moved outside. It’s been HEAVEN. My dogs look at me through the back door with sad eyes, but then I just send a kid or two out to play with them and they’re back to being cool with being outside. I know some people will think that’s mean, but having them in the house was causing me some serious problems, and they are very well taken care of and kept warm when the temperature drops. So, try not to rip me apart in the comments for that mmmk? I will just delete it and you can’t make me change my mind. Just know I love them, I just love them so much more when they are outside. 🙂
Back to this super fun playroom/game room/guest room. Grab a cuppa something tasty and get comfortable, you know how I get when I reveal a room!
Playroom Reveal
When we have people come to stay with us, we have PEOPLE come to stay with us. My mother in law, and Chad’s sister’s family all came for Thanksgiving. They have 6 kids. That was 9 extra people to find spaces for. The bunk room was able to house all 6 (my 3 and her 3) boys because of the way we set up the beds. It was fabulous! In this room, the couch actually turns into a queen size bed, but my mother in law is 4’10” on a tall day, and was perfectly content to sleep on the couch the way it is. Then we had plenty of room to put out an air mattress for the 3 little girls. This is a tiny room, but with some careful planning we were able to make the most out of it!
My kids are getting older and when my husband built in these shelves I was absolutely determined to get rid of anything that didn’t fit. I am happy to report that we did just that. I went through all of their toys first and got rid of anything that was broken or that they were too old for (yup, got rid of ALL the baby toys!). Then I sat with the kids and everything that was left. I had them select their favorites, that they couldn’t live without and then the rest we sold or gave away. Let’s just say we DEFINITELY got rid of a LOT more then we kept. It’s AHHHMAZING!
Want to know what made the cut? Remember I have three boys ages 9, 7 and 5. They are the main users of this room and an almost 12 year old daughter hangs out in here sometimes too, but this is mostly a place for my little gentlemen. In the top silver buckets, that I got at Hobby Lobby…that’s all video game stuff! The far bucket holds controllers for the Wii. The second bucket has all the portals for their Skylanders, Infinity characters and Amiibo characters. The final bucket holds all of those characters. Yup, that bucket literally holds probably a thousand dollars worth of those dumb little toys. It’s what they spend their money on and what they want for every holiday. (shaking my head)
The bottom two rows of buckets are drink buckets that I got at Target back in July. They always have some, the colors just change. They are super big, super sturdy, and unless you are buying 8 at a time, they are also pretty inexpensive! 😉 I am really happy with them for toy storage, they have held up and clean up so nicely. In this middle row of toys they have a bucket of marbles and the tracks to build marble runs. In the next bucket there are the random toys that they play with, but don’t go with anything. This is the bucket I have to clean out from time to time because vending machine toys and broken things end up in here thinking I won’t find them. I always find them. The next bucket is Nerf guns and lightsabers. The final bucket is full of some random games that are in bags or electronic…ones that can’t be stacked nicely.
The bottom row is the most used area of my house. With three boys, there are always Lego creations being made or car races going on. To give you an idea of how much these buckets hold, It would be a pretty fair bet that there are over 300 Hot Wheels in that last bucket. My boys all buy one nearly every time we go to Target (which is at least a couple times a week). The two buckets full of Legos… I am always amazed at how much we spend on them, and they all just end up in these buckets. If it they were toys, they would be organized into colors and sizes, but that is just not realistic with my kids. This system works fantastic, I rarely have to tell them to clean this room. The buckets are super easy to just toss the toys in, and everything has a definite place.
Here is a space I know a lot of you won’t agree with me on, but again, this works for us and I have not looked back once! We donated or gave away to friends over 200 kids books. Gasp! These two shelves are all the books we have left and it has been so freeing! We went through them all and just picked out our favorites. We go to the library at least a couple times a month and those are the books they read. If they aren’t reading the library books then they have their favorites right here for bed times. My daughter does have some books that she reads over and over again in her room, like the Harry Potter series (she’s read the whole series 10 times…ahh to have that kind of time!).
For the decor in here, I saw this picture of the fox in glasses and argyle sweater and fell in love! I decided to use this as inspiration for everything else and kind of go with a masculine, hipster kind of vibe. It makes me think of Ron Burgundy and his mahogany line, and that makes me giggle. It is so fun for a little boys “man cave” but doesn’t seem too out of place with the rest of my house. It works as a place to hang out with friends, watch a movie or put up a guest.
I had to get the matching dog print. I don’t know if I will ever get tired of them, they make me so happy! The chalkboard signs I made…the gentlemen is what I call my 3 little guys, so that had to make it’s way in here! 
Lots of white space really makes these pop. The couch was a Costco purchase. I liked the lines of it and piping for this room, and that I could pull out the bottom to make it a chaise lounge for cozy movie time, or lay it down all the way for a bed.
Can we talk for a minute about those blinds? I love them! They are the same kind that I have in my craft room. These Roman Shades are cordless, you just pull them down or push them up. We chose these Blinds.com Premier Roman Shades in Chesepeake Rain. My daughter’s room and this room had to match because their windows are right next to each other outside. I needed something that could go with her beachy eclectic room AND this masculine kind of decor, it was tricky but Blinds.com seriously helped me every step of the way. They sent out samples and called me and gave me suggestions…I would recommend them 100% of the time, for any window covering need, for their customer service alone. Not to mention the quality and perfection of everything I have ever received from them!
We got the blackout shade since this room is used as a movie room and a bedroom sometimes. Pulling this down makes it quite dark in the room! A little bit of light gets in on the sides as you can see, but I was okay with that since I got them inside mounted for the aesthetic. 
I’m obsessed with adding a little bit of shiplap anywhere I can. Hubby built this toy box/window seat right into the wall and I couldn’t be more thrilled with it!
I made the cushion and added some different throw pillows with different textures and prints.
But if you know me…we just can’t have a seat, it must have storage, lots and lots of storage! I had the hubs make two separate openings. First of all, it was really long, so opening something that size when you’re five can be tricky. Second of all, putting this there covered one of the outlets and there wasn’t many to work with to begin with. For the biggest storage area, that is reserved for my nemesis…the stuffed animals. I played the mean mom card again and said that ALL of their stuffed animals had to fit in this box. If they buy a new one and it won’t fit then they have to get rid of a different one. It’s worked perfectly. They were really selective when they narrowed them all down and are super picky about what comes home, knowing they will have to trade it for a treasured one, so it better be worth it. Bahahaha. Evil laugh. The most pathetic thing? They really only play with 2 or 3 each, the rest just stay in the box. But hey, as long as they are not all over the house I’m good!
The smaller box opening is for all of their tablets, phones, DS game consoles etc… At night they all have to go in here. No having them in their bedrooms. If they need to be charged, the plugs are all in here.
This is one of my favorite things about this room. I don’t have to wonder where all of these things are, they are all safe and sound. When things aren’t being charged we can turn off the outlet. I don’t have to search for a charger before a road trip, and I don’t have cords all over the place. And no, none of my boys actually have their own phones yet, those are all of my husband and I’s old phones that have games on them. Do we have too many electronics at our house? Absolutely. No argument.
But hey! Look I can pretend we don’t have any. Just close the lid and put some throw pillows on top. 😉
The light for this room had to be a ceiling fan, because in the summer this room gets kind of toasty and with three boys playing…stink is an understatement. When it’s warm, the window stays open and the fan is going. We put this jar over the light and I love it so much more than the cover it came with.
The last part of this room is the closet, and yes there are a couple more toys over here. A container of Lincoln logs, some magnetic building blocks and some bigger trucks and a boat. There is also a cash register and their banks from Disneyland. I could fit all of these over on the other shelves when someone is staying and needs the closet space, but this makes the toys a little more accessible and we all know that makes them more playable. I also put a small basket of blankets on the floor to encourage snuggling up on the couch or the window seat with a book.
The 1 cinema sign and crest sign I also picked up at Hobby Lobby.
The elephant head was a super steal at Hobby Lobby too, the ear on the bottom is chipped, so I got it for a song, and I knew my boys would probably chip the ear anyway! I keep a selection of games on the top shelves that are age appropriate for all of them, and that’s the reason I decided to not put a rug down. They are always playing a game on the floor or building Legos and without a rug I don’t have to pick tiny little Lego hands out of the fibers. You hear me right?
My goal for this room was completely met! I wanted a playroom that my kids would love and could play in, keep clean themselves and that I would be able to cuddle with them while reading a book, playing a game or watching a movie and not feel claustrophobic with toy clutter. In such a small room, I feel like this was an amazing feat! What do you think?
Tiffany
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This is so great Tiff!!! I love that bench, I need something like that in my house!!
Hi there Tiffany! Love the shelving! Will you kindly share the dimensions??
Hey Sophie, we just built them into the space we had. All the way to the ceiling and all the way to the door (while still allowing it to open). Did you want the inside dimensions for like the buckets?
Do you have the inside dimensions for the buckets? Also, I saw where you got the buckets. Do you have links to those?
Hey Hannah!
Sorry about the late reply, I’ve been out with my kids all summer.
They are 5 gallon drink buckets: Here is a similar one on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2MQ1QDK
I’m going to say about 14″ across and it gets narrower towards the bottom.
Hope that helps!