: : The View from Here part 1 ~ a look around our home : :
Our home is becoming more organized and beautiful every week. We are slowly working our way through the To Do list, and starting to feel comfortably at home here.
This post is a peek into our playroom. It is the first in a sporadic series I plan to write on where we live our busy lives. (Let me know what you think and if you'd like the more stops in the tour! Soap studio? Live food-zone? Homeschool chest? Family bedroom? Craft space?)
Between our living room and our dining area we have a pass-through room – a glorified hallway really – that is our playroom. It had been a narrow office, but now is where our playthings dwell. Toys in the children's bedrooms are kept to a minimum, so this tiny space contains most of what occupies their playtime.
Recently I reevaluated the play room and the sheer volume of stuff crammed within. (Where did all of these toys come from?) Books, games, toys, silks… so much to play with if you can focus on one thing long enough (but how can you focus in such a space?). Not so long ago we had a one-in-one-out toy rule but it was discarded somewhere along the way, and our playroom has been swelling ever since.
Late last night Pete and I dug into the play room and narrowed it down to six open-ended play areas. The remaining toys are stored in a former linen closet to be rotated in and out of play as we wish.
The space that previously contained dozens of toys now consists of the following stations:
1. The play table (which was always there, but is now clear of clutter and the shelf above is open, awaiting daily toy rotation);
2. A rainbow of playsilks;
3. Another (wild) rainbow of costumes;
4. A doll corner with our pram, cradle, two dolls, and clothes;
5. The farm (animals, people, and fences are stored in the nightstand that had belonged to my great grandma and the playmat is rolled in the hay loft); and 6. Our home-made playstands/play kitchen (top).
Somehow removing the tall shelves and replacing them with just a few select things made our whole house feel bigger and more peaceful. The shelves were repurposed in our family room, stocked with games, books, and projects for long winter evenings by the fire.
The simplicity of the set up has created a calm, creative energy in our house today. I'm off to see what our costumed knight and panda bear are up to!
Soap studio!
Soap studio? Live food-zone? Homeschool chest? Family bedroom? Craft space?
YES! Love to see it all 🙂 You’ve been very inspiring to us lately. THANK YOU!!!
Oh! Thanks, Laura. Well do them all (eventually!). Let us know when you want to come by with the kids. Maybe during the Homeschool session break? Unless the holidays are too busy… Talk to you soon.
Rachel
where did you purchase your playstands
Hi Melissa,
We made them. A modified version of the plans from Toymaking With Children (a great book even if you dont want to make playstands!).
Peace,
Rachel
Beautiful, beautiful!! Now I see why google brought me here when I searched “Waldorf unschooling”! I am interested to know how you bring those two philosophies together. I’m intrigued at the moment with attempting just that for our homeschool journey. Doing Waldorf has been making me crazy, and yet there is such beauty in it that I can’t let it go fully . . . anyway, I’m interested in your thoughts on that–please let me know if you have a post that summarizes or lays it out 🙂 or if not, I would simply say thank you for showing it in action!!
I came over via the link on the current post, which is so so good! I have a question for you, I am wondering where you got the wooden hooks/wall rack that the silks are hanging on in this picture? I am in need of something Just Alike! Thank you for any information!
Hi Amanda. We picked them up at IKEA, maybe 8 years ago or so. Hope that helps! Though we made a lovely set ourselves out of split tree branches as well. (If you feel crafty.) 🙂
thank you so much for letting me know. I’ll have a look around, and see if I can get my crafty brain working too. 🙂