My favourite conservatory playroom ideas

conservatory playroom ideas sponsored by The Range

My favourite conservatory playroom ideas

Well, we are on to room no . 2 of our home makeover on a budget and the room we are focusing on next is the conservatory/playroom. It is a conservatory but is used as a playroom. Except it is not used as a playroom really either because it’s such a mess. It has an identity crisis and too much stuff in it!

At the moment it is a complete and utter disaster junk room.

Fancy a peek :

The current state of our conservatory playroom

 

conservatory playroom ideas

This cupboard was supposed to solve all my storage problems!

Storage problems with our conservatory playroom ides

 We have so many toys a combination of a generous family, too many toys from car boot sales, not getting rid of things and toys sent for review.

I am embarrassed it’s got into this state! So embarrassed we just usually shut the door and forget about it.


So you see the problem.

 

How to implement our conservatory playroom ideas

I need a 3 stage plan of attack.

Step 1. DECLUTTER our conservatory playroom

Step 2. Design and plan what we want from this conservatory playroom

Step 3. Get this conservatory play room in shape

 Off to The Range for some storage boxes! A lot of this stuff  HAS to go.

 

 

conservatory playroom ideas

So now we have a plan we can move to step 2 of our makeover

Clearing the clutter

Well, we have been decluttering madly and hugely reduced what we have in there. It was so silly really so much of the stuff was just ‘stuff’ taking up room with no purpose

  1.  completed workbooks and colouring books
  2. dried up paints
  3. out of date face paints
  4. dried up mixed up playdough and plasticine
  5. old drawings and models
  6. jigsaws with bits missing
  7. broken toys

 

The above just needed sorting and throwing away all of it, except for the old drawings and junk models. I just didn’t have the heart to part with them.  They represented part of my children’s development and they had put so much time and effort into them. They couldn’t, however, stay clogging up the playroom so I popped to The Range and purchased these fab art folders. One for each of the kids. These can then hold their precious pictures and be stored easily up in the loft.

For the models they had made, we took photos and popped them in portfolios too then the models were binned in all but one case and for the one that wanted to keep it was properly displayed on a bookcase in the bedroom. Yes, this did take some negotiating.

 

The second part of the playroom declutter

This was trickier!

1) toys no longer played with (except very occasionally, but still wanted)

2) outgrown toys no one wants to admit are outgrown

3) 3 dolls houses!  (it’s a small room)

4) 4 footballs (living in the dolls cot)

5) All my work files and personal documents mingling on a dusty bookcase with games and kids books.

Playroom storage solutions

I used some great Lego storage

 

Playroom storage solutions, lego storage

 

as well as some brilliant storage trunks and a gorgeous rainbow tower for all the kid’s craft stuff – such a fun and colourful way to store bits and bobs

 

playroom storage, rainbow tower

 

Conservatory playroom ideas and some tough decisions

So…out grown toys and those rarely played with? Into a storage box with them clearly labelled up the loft. Daddy promises he will bring them down whenever the kids request to play with them. What’s the betting they never do.

One of the dolls house up the loft. One in the shed for garden play and one can stay. Footballs went into the shed too, 1 to be kept in the boot of my car. 1 in the book of daddy’s car.

Decisions are needed when it comes to decluttering. Some people believe it is the putting off of decision that makes clutter in the first place. Well, I tried to declutter by involving the kids but that didn’t work because they kept saying they wanted everything. So cunningly I waited till they went back to school. They barely noticed what I had decluttered but they did play in the room lots more because what was left in there worked, was complete and relevant to the room and they could get to it.

Decluttering merely cost me time and a few storage boxes and cases it has made a HUGE difference.

A vision for the conservatory playroom

Next, we needed a vision for the room. I have picked a few key new pieces from the Range for the playroom. and we need to somehow pull this together. The chair was key. We wanted a relaxing chair that we could sit in to read ( we all adore reading) and look out into the garden. So we chose a gorgeous black Derry  swivel chair

We already had white IKEA storge shelves but they looked cluttered and messy. We wanted the room to be fun but still look stylish. We love red and I had my eye on a red rug to warm this room.

We decided to take some advice from Jen at Love Chic Living. Jen is an interiors stylist and lucky for me an old friend. here is her advice

“In terms of styling a playroom, the colour of toys and toy boxes can often overpower the look of the room, so use one accent colour, in this case, red, to create a harmony in the design. Keep everything as streamlined as possible and add lots of fun cushions to complement the colourful storage drawers. Great for the children to lounge around on and to help encourage their play.

Now we need to clear, clean and paint the room. We needed to fix all those little issues such as a plant growing through the ceiling and some electrical issues, then we can shop and style. It’s great to have it clutter free and a picture in my mind of how it could look before we begin the hard work though. It gives me something to hold on to!

 

The conservatory playroom reveal

Would you like to have a look at this post to see our final conservatory playroom reveal

We are a bit proud!

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10 Comments

  1. February 21, 2013 / 08:40

    Wow Becky, those shelves are full. This is going to be a very exciting transformation, I can’t wait to see it!!

  2. February 21, 2013 / 09:59

    I find when things get messy I just keep piling more mess on top! Good luck with your decluttering, you will feel amazing when it’s done!

  3. mum of 2 :)
    February 21, 2013 / 11:59

    i had this problem… i solved it by a declutter when the kids were not at home (avoiding the i played with that 2 years ago don’t throw it away).
    Then we went to ikea to buy the storage box cubes that fit in this bookcase and organised the toys into them i.e one for crafts one for dolls one for cars etc and a year down the line its still the same šŸ™‚
    goodluck looking forward to seeing it all done …

  4. February 22, 2013 / 16:57

    Becky I have the same shelves from Ikea and the same problem. I don’t get it, they just don’t look like this in the Ikea catalogue, I think there is something wrong with the shelves. Best take them back to Ikea for a refund šŸ˜‰

    Good Luck! We can do this!

  5. February 22, 2013 / 16:59

    Like Mum of 2 I have mine (only half the shelves ) with storage boxes, they are jammed full of stuff the kids never play with, or they empty the whole box on the floor to get something at the bottom. I think you can get perspex ones so kids can see what is in the box? They do look MUCH tidier however Mum of 2 is onto something there!

  6. Mum of One
    February 25, 2013 / 20:15

    Eeeek, good luck. It is amazing how much stuff you can acquire in a relatively short time isn’t it! A good declutter is good for the soul!

  7. sarahhillwheeler
    February 26, 2013 / 12:46

    Good luck. Decluttering is definitely good for the soul….speaking as somebody who has transported their clutter to two “new” homes inthe past year (and is about to have another sort through….)

  8. February 26, 2013 / 22:17

    Great blog, Becky
    … I look forward to seeing your transformation –
    It’s going to be fantastic to reclaim your room for play, crafts and quality time –
    Good luck and keep us posted!

  9. March 2, 2013 / 14:02

    My dining room is exactly the same so I’ll look forward to seeing how you get on to give me a good kick up the bum!

  10. March 9, 2013 / 06:59

    That looks like a great big load of things that could go to a salvation army or goodwill or even a homeless shelter. There are so many kids out there that would love a lot of what I was seeing in these pics. I hope your decluttering goes well.

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