Advice on Setting up a Play Room for Older Girls

Updated on September 13, 2010
J.G. asks from Baltimore, MD
6 answers

Hi Mamas,
i have 2 girls, ages 7 and 10. 2 years ago we moved to a new house and never set up a play area for them other than their rooms. Their rooms are jammed with everything and getting soooo cluttered. I have a spare room I'd like to convert to a play room/craft room/office. It is a fairly large extra bedroom. I'm envisioning a bright, colorful room where they can take their friends to hang out and play games, do crafts and listen to music. However, we need to have half the room be adult friendly for our office area. Budget is limited but I can buy some storage shelves and a table/chairs (we already have an adult desk).

I'd like to know if you all have such an area in your house and what things are important to have especially for this age group. What works and what doesn't? I am an organized person but can't seem to get this project going as I don't know where to start! Any information or advice would help. Thanks!

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H.L.

answers from Cleveland on

Bright colors will allow them to grow up in the room and make it nice for an office too. Make one wall a focal wall in a different color than the other three. I've even painted the ceiling the same color as the 3 walls. Decals are available on Etsy.com as well as Target (look by the lightbulbs). Or, paint dots (trace a plate, use 2 different sizes, with a pencil, then paint it in) or stripes (use masking tape) on the focal wall. Dots and stripes also look good together, ie. do the opposite design on the curtains. Add colorful organizers you either paint yourself or purchase.

One must have is a table and chairs (4 different colors is fun) where they can do crafts, homework, etc. A lounging area with large pillows with a bookshelf is nice too.

If you are handy, you may want to spend some time here at Ana White's Knock-off Wood:
http://ana-white.com/2010/08/behind-closet-doors.html

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V.M.

answers from Erie on

I would start with a color scheme and do any painting or window treatments etc.
to organize the room, picture a kindergarten room, one area for crafts-- maybe a kid sized table and chairs and a rolling cart of art supplies, another area for listening to music, another area for barbies or ponies etc.

There might be webites you could google to look at other playrooms maybe the DYI website?

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C.W.

answers from Washington DC on

We got a professional organizer to help us turn the downstairs into a playroom (we are hopeless in the organization department). We already had built in bookcases to store the toys on, but my husband's treadmill juts out into the center of the room. He refused to move it, so we had to work around it. We have the toys on the book shelves in categories and we have stations, like dress up, art, etc. We put a bullitin board for each of them to display their art work.

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J.L.

answers from Minneapolis on

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Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.C.

answers from Los Angeles on

Look at the Pottery Barn Kids/Teen and Land of Nod websites/catalogs. I know the prices are outrageous, but their rooms are gorgeous and might give you some inspiration. Take their ideas and then head to Ikea and Target to buy similar products.

Real Simple magazine also has good tips sometimes on putting together a new space to make it seem brighter, less cluttered, etc.

T.F.

answers from Dallas on

My almost 16 yr old has the entire upstairs. She uses the room which connects via jack and jill bath as her "entertainment" room. We have a trundle bed in there as a couch, plasma tv, wii, keyboard and one of those big comfy chairs from Pier 1.

Our real game room has a couch, pool table, plasma tv, aquarium and her sewing machine.

I didn't go with a "theme", she pretty much did it all herself.

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