Our New Mama and Me Space | Home Office Playroom Inspiration

one of the first things i thought of once my husband announced “it’s a girl!” when our second was born (besides how beautiful she was) was…sisters!  having grown up with two sisters of my own, i was instantly taken back to the days of dolls, barbies and endless hours spent giggling together in our playroom.  so in the weeks since giving birth to our second girl, i have been spending those countless breastfeeding hours shopping and designing a playroom for our two little girls.  while we have a fourth bedroom available for a playroom, we decided to turn my main floor home office into a duo play space for the girls and workspace for me.  i love that this space is right off of our kitchen, giving it easy sight lines when i am making dinner or tidying up after a meal.  many have asked to see our new space, so here is a little dose of home office playroom inspiration.

because this room is right off of the entry to our home, i had one huge goal…to hide most of the toys.  i didn’t want guests entering our home and to be overwhelmed by toys, and honestly…i didn’t want to be overwhelmed with toys on a daily basis.  however, i also wanted the toys to be easily accessible to the girls so that i wasn’t having to constantly help get toys down or out of places.  below you will see how i hid most of the toys and, for the toys that are out, how i organized them in a visually pleasing way.  for the record, i am flipping in love with how this playroom turned out.  and with two babies under two, it is so great to have a space where we can do everything from work, play, diaper change and eat…all within a few steps of one another.

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Our New Mama and Me Space | Home Office Playroom Inspiration

Our New Mama and Me Space | Home Office Playroom Inspiration | www.bethadilly.com

if there is one thing that our toddler mastered really early on, it’s independent play.  she has always been really good at independent play and is perfectly content playing on her own, as well as with mama.  and since i know i am going to get asked, yes…she is also really organized.  she likes to take things in and out of baskets and knows where everything belongs.  i know, i know…she spoils me.  she is a mini-me, for sure.  when organizing her toys, i wanted to continue to encourage the idea of sorting and keeping things in their proper place.  and also, having toys disorganized and mixed together just gives me a huge amount of anxiety so it is necessary that we have all the organizational baskets and bins.  i wanted to encourage some sort of organizational harmony in what could easily be a chaotic space of toys.

because i know i am going to get asked about how we encourage clean up and organization with a 2 year old, here is a little snippet.  we have always modeled cleaning up and explaining what we are doing as we clean up, such as “let’s put our blocks in the basket!  let’s put our books on the shelf!  let’s put the dolly on the bench!”  in the early days, it was just a lot of modeling and talking as we did things, but that turned into our toddler now doing it on her own since she saw so much of it.  we have clean up songs and lots of encouragement, and a rule that we clean up after play (because it is so much fun to start another play session in a clean space!).

these days, even at only 2 years old, i feel like all of our toys come with a lot of pieces and parts…making organizational baskets and bins necessary to keep everything sorted.  on this first wall, i wanted to encourage a space where our little girls could easily get to and put away their toys without help.

window panes | purchased at home goods but check out this etsy shop for similar items!  (i love her stuff!)

pink lamp | purchased at target

cube unit | purchased at ikea or similar one can be purchased at target

white rope baskets | purchased on amazon

wooden bins | purchased at target

wooden baby buggy | purchased on amazon, similar one found here

fairy tale blocks | purchased locally, but can be purchased here

train set | can be purchased from crate and barrel

wooden bus | purchased at marshalls, but can be purchased here

knit lamb + knit pink bunny | courtesy of cuddle + kind

Our New Mama and Me Space | Home Office Playroom Inspiration | www.bethadilly.com

we made our 2 year old a play kitchen last year and it is one of her favorite things to play with!  if you want to make one just like ours, check out my tutorial on our rifle paper co inspired play kitchen!  because she spends the most time at it, i wanted it closest to my desk so we could be close to one another while i sneak in a little work and she plays.  part of downsizing my office to be a playroom too included purchasing a new desk that was smaller.  my favorite thing about my new desk is that the side drawers are double the height (while they look like 2 drawers, it’s instead one single drawer on each side) allowing me to store a lot of camera gear, lenses and film inside.  while the longer drawer in the middle is big enough to store my planner, laptop and editing tablet.

i also wanted to have window benches for the girls to sit at, ideally.  we found these benches at ikea and i love that the top opens up, offering additional storage for toys.  i love that they are functional little toy boxes, yet once a pillow and doll are placed on top, they become a visual pleasing piece of furniture for the girls.

computer desk | purchased on wayfair

desk chair | purchased from target

window benches | purchased from ikea

custom ballerina doll on right | courtesy of a princess and a pea

kitchen play food | purchased from crate and barrel

white drapes | purchased at ikea, but can be found here

Our New Mama and Me Space | Home Office Playroom Inspiration | www.bethadilly.com

one of my favorite things about this space is that, while it contains a lot of toys and fun, you aren’t overwhelmed by toyland.  with a little thought and planning, i found a way to hide a lot of the toys, while allowing the space to obviously be a fun place.  it is important that it can also double as my workspace and be easily cleaned up so that i can properly focus too, instead of being swallowed by toys.  it truly is a space for all of us to come together.  that is, us girls.  🙂  okay, okay…we let daddy in too.

SHOP OUR FAVORITE PLAYROOM THINGS HERE

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Our New Mama and Me Space | Home Office Playroom Inspiration | www.bethadilly.com

one of the main places all of the toys are hidden, yet easily accessible, is in this chest of drawers from ikea that doubles as our changing table/getting ready table.  in order to keep everything organized, i purchased a variety of baskets so each activity could be organized within the drawer.  even at 2 years old, our little one can easily open the bottom two levels of drawers and pick out baskets of toys to bring out.  we use the top set of drawers to store diapers, hair bows, and other non-toy items that we need for the babies.  in order to make this chest of drawers really feminine, i simply swapped out the original hardware and replaced it with glass knobs.

crystal cabinet pulls | purchased locally but similar ones found here

baby brush set | courtesy of natemia baby

gold clock | purchased from target

burts bees changing pad cover | purchased on amazon

owl block set | purchased locally, but can be found here

white baskets | purchased at target

area rug | purchased at target

Our New Mama and Me Space | Home Office Playroom Inspiration | www.bethadilly.com

one of my biggest must haves for this room, of course, was family photos.  the amazing bethanne arthur photographed our family in february and these images are my heart.  not only are photographs important to me for documenting moments, but they are also important because i want the walls of our home to reflect love.  in this beautiful space where my girls will giggle and play, i want them to be surrounded by images that show just how much our family loves one another.  as you are putting together spaces for your children, don’t forget the beautiful impact that family images can have.  it’s a simple touch that simply set a beautiful mood on a space.  plus, photographs are meant to be enjoyed.

large wooden window frame | purchased on etsy

small cotton wreath | purchased at hobby lobby, similar one found here

light pink letter board | purchased on amazon

thanks so much for taking a peek at our new mama and me space.  if you have any questions at all about babies, home decor or the products within this post, please be sure to ask in the comment section below!

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