My sister Rachel came to visit last week. We had a wonderful week of talking, playing Scrabble (I won’t say who was the big winner….ok it was me winning 3 out of 5 games), bingeing some Hulu, shopping, eating and swimming. She also managed to paint two incredible paintings for our newly decorated playroom during her visit. We changed the playroom to an activity room with plenty of desk space for the kids to do their projects (and perhaps some homework in the future). The toys are all neatly stored in baskets, bins, and cabinets.
We purchased the furniture for this room from Ikea. We measured the space and created our own custom wall unit. That is the great thing about IKEA; you can purchase different items with the same finish and they look great together! This furniture and layout gave us the custom look we wanted at a fraction of the cost of a custom furniture piece. The key was measuring down to the quarter inch for every wall space, window space, and door space. I didn’t want to get to Ikea and wing it. We had a drawing of the room with the exact measurements when we went to shop at Ikea. This helped us choose the exact pieces to fit the space.
After we set everything up, thanks to my handy husband who constructed every piece of furniture for the room, I then organized the space. I used my Silhouette Cameo to make custom labels that went on the fabric baskets. That way the kids can put things back where they belong. The playroom closet is thankfully very big and stored most of their toys to start. That space was already organized and labeled. Storage space is essential for a children’s play area. All kids have toys and they need to go somewhere. Out of view when being stored is ideal. It leaves the room looking clean and neat when everything can be stored behind doors or inside bins after being used.
We love this new space. We even purchased a small sofa at IKEA that folds out to a twin bed for guests. The twins have a lego table in the center of the room. That still gets daily use, so it will remain in the room for at least a few more years I imagine.
What finished the room off was my sister’s paintings. I literally planned the purchase of the furniture to allow for a large canvas artwork to fit in the center space above the double desk. My plan was to get my sister to create some artwork for the space. We had to wait for her to come and visit. It was worth the wait! The artwork looks incredible! Not only did she do one amazing painting, but she painted a second during her visit because she had enough of the paints remaining. The big painting is a bison. The second painting is a longhorn. Both are perfect for our Texas home. Thank you Rachel for the amazing artwork!! If you want to check out her artwork her website is: https://www.byrachelpierce.com/
Rachel is back on air next week, anchoring the morning news on Southwest Florida’s NBC2. https://www.nbc-2.com/story/26283074/rachel-pierce
She has been on maternity leave for baby #4. We were lucky to meet Daphne this past week and enjoyed having both Mom and Baby for the week. Thank you to my parents and sister Jessica for holding down the Pierce fort so Rachel could visit! It was an amazing week!! And now we have beautiful artwork that will always remind me of this wonderful week we had together!
