Since we moved here, two years ago, we’ve spent most of our blog talking about and renovating the upstairs of our house–with the exception of Greta’s room and the guest room last year. We actually live in what is called a rambler style home, where the home is two levels of identical square footage (1700 sq ft in our case) but you come in on the upper level. They are pretty common in our area, but where I grew up in Pittsburgh, I had never heard of one, let alone been in one until we bought this house. Turns out, we LOVE the layout. There are three bedrooms downstairs (including Greta’s, a guest room and one more that we haven’t touched yet) where we eventually see all the kids’ bedrooms being. And having our master (and Faye’s nursery) on the main level is ideal for us, too. So while we are just finishing the great room upstairs consisting of the living room, dining room, kitchen–we are excited to introduce you to our next project over the coming months–the great room downstairs. Which–you haven’t seen since before we even moved in!
It’s a large room that slightly smaller than all three combined spaces upstairs because it has a storage room (filled with shelves, glorious shelves) through that door on the back wall where we keep all of our seasonal decor and camping gear mostly.
Since moving in, it has become mostly a play area for the girls and all their friends. In fact, anytime we have someone over for dinner with kids, it’s been so awesome to send them all downstairs to play while we chat. We love this space. We love that’s its separate–but it’s time to give it a little more focus and function.
Our plan is to divide the space into two. One side will have a large sectional and projection screen and the side where the window and the (now) fireplace are will be the playroom side. We want to tear out the fireplace and carpet and lay a soft wood (cork?) and maybe even a tube slide coming out of the wall–Chris’s idea, I’m all for it! I put together a mood board so you can get an idea of where we’re headed visually with the rest of the playroom:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11
A good-sized craft table and indestructible chairs are a must; we found both of these on Wayfair and the table is the steal of the century. We’ve been rocking the tiny Ikea Lack table for 4 years now and while it was good when Greta was little, it’s just not big enough for any real projects and if Faye grows anything like Greta did, she’ll outgrow it in the coming year, too. We’ll be giving the fauxdenza some fun new hardware and moving it down here (while putting a fireplace in its place upstairs) and stocking it with art supplies and all the girls’ toys, but having a few baskets around for stuffed animals or larger toys has continually proven to be a good idea for us. I really want to have a few wire cords to hang their art and a teepee (as trendy as they are) to serve as a secret hideout or soft place to chill and read books.
A few of you have asked about the trampoline–will it stay down here? First, for those that don’t know, we do have a trampoline downstairs. You can see it in the left corner of the photo above. It’s not a full-sized trampoline, but a size just below and it’s been perfect for our long cold winters. We are moving it to the 5th (unused) bedroom for now since it still gets used pretty frequently.
Exciting, yes!? We’ve ordered a lot of the things seen here already so they’ll be here in the coming days and weeks, but the larger projects in the space like flooring and the slide and fireplace musical chairs we’ll tackle over the coming months. I love a good winter project. :)
Hi, I echo Lou above- I would love to know where the basket is from! The link is wrong. :) Thanks, so much!
Just updated the link! Thanks for the head’s up.
Thanks so much!!
Great plan! Could you tell me where the basket is from? (the link goes to the rug, I think…)
I love that teepee. It’s awesome. I need one for my son’s room.
Lovin’ the teepee
Regarding cork floring: there are glue down cork tiles and there is floating cork flooring. A floating cork floor has a very thin layer of cork with a particle board layer. I would not do that in a basement because particle board and moisture are a bad combination. Glue down cork tiles have been used for over a hundred years. In some buildings they have lasted that long. I used 8 mm glue down recently. It is soft, quiet, and warm. It comes with one layer of polyurethane. After it is glued down, you add three more coats to seal the seams and protect the floor. It does fade in the sun just like wood, so a lighter color will stay truer to color. It does dent, but it also recovers. I love it so much that I wish I had put it in my kitchen. It is also a very easy DIY.
Thanks so much, Becky! Cork is definitely on the table.