Home Sweet Garage: Playroom

One thing I think is going to be extremely important in our new home is having a dedicated play area for the kids. I don't think its fair when children are made to grow up in a home that isn't appropriate for them; when they're not allowed to play anywhere outside of their room; not allowed to have any sign of them living there with you. Afterall, it's their home too.
So many areas of a house are designed specifically with the parents in mind: the main bedroom, office, kitchen, entertaining areas such as lounge and dining area, why should the children only get their bedroom - which they're then usually forced to keep in a condition that the parents desire. I want my children to be able to play while still spending time with the other members of their family rather than shutting themselves up in their room. I want to be able to do my work on the computer or make dinner while still being able to hear my kids laughing and playing; I want to be able to look over and see what has them giggling so hysterically.
We're going to portion off a corner of the garage as a play area for the kids, it's going to be approximately 3x2.5m. In this area I want to incorporate a table, a reading nook, open area of floor for playing and of course plenty of toy storage. I've found heaps of ideas that I'd love to include, such as designs for play tables, toy storage units, reading nooks, etc. You can find most of them on my Pinterest board, Playroom Ideas.

I think this toy storage solution is a terrific idea. Since DH is so handy, we're planning on building our own one out of timber and tubs bought from Bunnings (or the dollar store lol), it will be just like this one except we'll probably make it a fair bit longer (we're thinking about 2 metres long), and we're thinking of having it sitting on top of a bench that A can park his bigger trucks under. The bench will jut out a bit to make a step he can stand on to access the top toy tubs.

 

And I love this little table! It's narrow so doesn't take up a lot of space, but is still wide enough for little kids to draw, eat and do arts and crafts at. It's also long enough to accommodate three little ones at once: A & Z and a little friend :)

This reading loft idea is brilliant! I haven't told DH yet, lol, but I'm thinking we should have a reading loft above the craft table. It'll have to be a little higher than the one pictured above though, so we'll probably add a little rail to the edge so A doesn't fall off!

We'll also put little bookshelves like the ones above in the reading loft. The ones pictured above are simply made out of plastic rain guttering, isn't that a fantastic idea?!

Be sure to check out my Pinterest board to see where the original images come from.