The Grimace Room..

For quite some time I've had 4 big square paint swatches on the playroom wall. Two were bright neon like greens and the other 2 were dark/bright pinks. I really wanted to put chair rail in the room and do the top half one colour and the bottom half another co-ordinating colour, but after what we went through with the chair rail for her bedroom, Owen put his foot down and said "No more chair rail!". Plus the more I looked at those 4 colours, the more I decided I really really did not like them. Owen was totally opposed to pink in case our next child is a boy and I was not too keen on the greens or even the pinks for that matter.

The marvelous Ms. M came over this past weekend and saw my swatches on the wall, laughed at me, but then gave me colour suggestions because she's cool like that. Since I've painted just about every room in the house since we moved in last April, I just happened to have the BM paint chips so she helped me pick from them.

I decided on (Violet Stone). For some reason in O's eyes, purple for a playroom for a possible little boy does not bug him, where as pink was a definite no. :p Trust me, the colour looks a lot better then this paint chip sample. Just think of Grimace from Ronald MacDonald and you'll get the idea. hehe

Her other suggestion (because she is so smart!) was to then decorate/accessorize with the primary colours - blues, reds, greens and yellows. The colours from N's stacking bugs are a good example.

It could be just because the room previously was this hideous powder blue colour, but it looks fabulous! For the floor I want to eventually tear up the yucky carpet (it's stained beyond repair) and do a checker board pattern (of red/blue/green/yellow not black and white) with carpet tiles, but for now, I've improvised and am using the foam blocks/squares that are blue/red/yellow/green.

Next I'm going to buy a storage thingy (I have it picked out at IKEA I just need to buy it) and I want to get some chalkboard decals. M says I can buy it in sheets now instead of having to paint it on the wall. I've also ordered this chair from PBKs (it was on sale, my friend in GA picked it up for me and is sending it to me) which is red gingham and will match the room perfectly. I was looking at it and I think I can even make a 2nd one for N's room. It's just 6 pcs of foam. Once I get the chair I can take a look and hopefully duplicate it. I chose the Red Gingham cover too before I even knew I was painting the room purple.

And because M is so awesome, she even said when I was ready to add accessories she'd go shopping with me and help me pick stuff out. I'm pretty excited. Sure the rest of the basement is not completely done, but just a fresh coat of paint on the playroom already makes it look fun and so much better! I love how I just have to smile when I walk into the room. And best of all? All of N's toys are contained in one spot, well sort of. They make their way out into the main part of the basement but at least they are all down there and not on the upper levels of the house.