Squeezing In Playroom Into The Office

As if our 10′ x 10.5′ home office / guest bedroom did not have sufficient requirements (must accommodate two bloggers 50+ hours a week and sleep two people comfortably every now and then all while keeping our paper clutter tucked out of sight) we ambitiously chose to force yet another function on the space: playroom. We wish we could dedicate an whole room to that playroom title, but with three small bedrooms – one serving as the master, another as the nursery, and the third one being this room – we had to face the music and make it work a la Tim Gunn. So we chose that along with making a lot of rug space an absolute necessity for Clara (think tummy time, bouncy seat, play mat, etc) we also hoped to dedicate this little sliver of wall to her as well in the form of a small already-had-it bookcase full of her go-to toys and books.

Not only is the new setup a fairly sweet deal for Clara, it is also especially convenient for us. Because we are switch hitters over here at YHL, which means that one of us is on “entertaining duty” while the other person writes posts, coordinates giveaways, answers comments, and does all the other blogging stuff we have come to know and enjoy. So having books and toys at arm’s reach truly keeps the back-and-forth trips to the nursery to a minimum for whoever is hanging out with Clara. Anything to make it easier, right?

All it took was a few more half-priced baskets from Michael’s (simply like the ones we used for our bookcase makeover) and items that we already owned (from stuffed animals and wooden blocks to books and even a lively little alligator pull toy that mesmerizes Clara every time we show it to her). And simply as we mentioned, we already owned the bookcase which used to live in our sunroom. Oh and do not worry, we plan to anchor it to the wall well before she’s mobile sufficient to pull herself up on it. Safety first!

Perhaps the best part of moving it into the office was that something that used to live in the office (before it became an office) found a ideal spot out in the sunroom to replace the bookcase we stole. Note: stay tuned for our mini sunroom makeover after we finish tackling this office project.

So for the price of two deeply discounted baskets (which are full of more toys, books, and stuffed animals) we worked in a sweet little baby-focused area for our sweet baby girl.

And since we cannot get sufficient of the whole multitasking thing in this room, we also hung an old mirror and seized the opportunity to make it work as a To Do list of sorts with the addition of a blue dry erase marker. The most lively thing about our little mirror presto-change-o is that we also enjoy that we can erase our list and write a “Welcome To Casa Petersik” message for our guests whenever they come to stay with us. Plus every guest bedroom should have a mirror so family and friends can check their hair before emerging in the am.

So that is the latest office / guest room / playroom news. Now we will pick your brains. Have you folks ever brought in a small item of furniture to a room and in doing so fully expanded the function of that space? We’d enjoy to know how you make your rooms multitask with minimal effort and expense. Do tell.

Psst- Wanna follow the whole office/guest bedroom/playroom makeover? Click here for the intro post, here to read about the big sleeper sofa hunt, here for the Hands-on desk play-by-play, here for the homemade light fixture project, here for our hacked Ikea bookcase, and here for how we brought in some file storage.