The playroom is an interesting room. It has an odd shape, and makes it difficult for design. This room is located at the very end of the upstairs hallway. It’s right next to the butlers staircase. It is one of the two rooms that was used for servants. What’s so interesting about these rooms is that they had never been heated until we came along. Now that doesn’t mean they didn’t have some sort of heat but who knows what they did. Our home is in Wisconsin, and our winters are brutal. Makes me wonder how they survived for all these years.
looking down hallway from servants quarters
So of course everyone that comes over asks about ghosts in this house. Now. Let me just touch on that a tiny bit. Do I believe in ghosts? Maybe? I think so. We had many weird experiences in the bungalow house, a lot more then in this house. However. Interestedly enough, every time guests have been in our home, they have all said how this section of the house made them feel uneasy.
My mother in law was babysitting for us a few weeks after moving into this house, and she told us how she was at the end of the hallway with my older son and became dizzy. My sister the day we closed on the house said when she walked into the playroom, it made her feel nauseus . Neither one of them knew about each others experiences. My girlfriend from Tennessee was recently here and she refused to even go into this part of the house. I took her on a tour and of course the long hallway gave her the creeps. (Which is even more interesting given it’s redone now and beautiful.)
What I find odd about this room and the photographs I have of this room, are that they’re almost all blurry. Strange I tell ya.
playroom looking from entry way
This room was disgusting. It smelled terrible. The room was painted, so we thought. Actually whoever painted it, painted right over wallpaper. So that was fun to get off. Under the carpet written on the floor was “Franks room.” We’ve discovered Franks tag in many areas of the home. He loved to write his name on everything. I believe the previous owners used this room for storage for many years and not a bedroom at all. (Considering until a month before this photograph was taken, they never had heat.) Maybe Frank used a space heater. We requested radiators be added to the rooms missing them in our negotiating with the offer on the house. Thankfully Margaret came through and agreed to have them installed before our purchase was final.
A little bronze spray paint goes a long way. Don’t mind those paint drips behind the radiator, we didn’t freshen up that paint trim yet after Chad had been here redoing the floors. This was one of the only rooms with painted woodwork that was actually a shade of white, and not a shade of pink, blue, or barf color. I love how these radiators turn out as we paint them. I wish they were a little more ornate like Victorian homes have, however this is one of those things where farmhouse comes in and it’s a bit more simple. Not to mention our home would have been filled with fireplaces for heat being it’s a Victorian. Queen Anne Victorian to be exact. Those of you with those beautiful cast iron radiators, I envy you.
Chad our floor guy restored these floors, and beautifully. These wide plank pine boards were hidden under a strange subfloor, which did keep them protected from Franks graffiti. Thankfully.
why are these photos so blurry?
priming away years of grime
Again, I went with a very easy color to work with in this room. I’ve got a thing for Sherwin Williams paint colors in blues and greys. I think it’s because I wanted nothing more then for this house to feel clean and fresh. I associate clean with shades of brightness apparently. I did however make a more daring move, I decided to paint the ceiling black. I’ve seen this done a million times now, but at the time when I did it 2 years ago, I had never seen it.
An interesting 1970’s feature we decided to keep in the house was in this room. The ceiling has a sort of circling design on it in the texture. Think popcorn ceiling yet swirly. It’s not terrible I promise. Considering I was making this room a playroom, the idea of black came to me because I felt like if we painted it that way, it would make it feel like a whimsical swirly night sky up there, and not tacky. It worked. I love the black. It also makes the already very tall room feel even taller. I LOVE it. In fact, I even want to keep the swirls in the other servant room which will become our guest room, and I may just paint that ceiling black as well. Maybe a different ceiling color. Like dark purple. Who knows…..
dirty dusty floor needs to be cleaned
So after the room was painted, I finally was able to get into some decorating. You see, I didn’t have things for a playroom, that a playroom needs. I had never had a playroom in the other house. Well we had toys, but not the kind for picture perfect playrooms like you see plastered all over the world wide web which make my heart pitter patter…..I did what any mom would do. I headed to craigslist. Now one thing I haven’t touched on here yet is my love for craigslist. I would say about 90% of the things in our home are pre loved. They are mostly from craigslist, rummage sales, goodwill, flea markets, estate sales, and discount stores. I Love a good deal. I also love finding things no one else can have. As in I like things to be original or unique. But I also love a great deal. I was on the hunt for one of those really realistic Pottery Barn type play kitchens. Yes, I have sons. But boys can cook too! My husband seemed to think this was a girly thing to do for boys. He also seemed to forget that I didn’t know a thing about cooking when we first met, and he did all the cooking. Looks like that stereotype is out the window. (I’m a great cook now) He didn’t know the men I’d be raising. They’re going to make excellent cooks for their wives someday. I ended up hunting for the perfect craigslist play kitchen for quite some time. It wasn’t a easy task. Apparently this is a hot commodity. I did end up scoring exactly what I was imaging. It’s from pottery barn, it’s excellent quality, and it’s perfect. The seller even included pots and pans and tons of play food. Score! I also wanted a teepee for this room and a great rug and all sorts of things to make a kids imagination run wild. Isn’t that what being a kid is all about?
What kid doesn’t want to play dress up? I thought it would be a neat idea to add hooks for old halloween costumes for dress up. Super hero style. The hooks spell the word “imagine.” I ended up digging for them at World Market, and it took forever to find the right letters to spell them all out. I also found that rug at world market. Super comfy and cozy, just the right size for the room.
I’m working really hard on raising boys with imaginations. I know I can’t avoid this forever, but I really want to keep them way from lots of technology for as long as possible. I don’t want their noses stuck to a tablet. I want them to wear costumes and climb trees and look for cool rocks. I want them to appreciate the simple things. I am working hard on raising kids that are not spoiled or entitled. We do simple things for fun, and I plan on keeping it that way for as long as possible. The sign on the right side above of the mirror reads “let them be little.” I think we could all learn a thing or two from that. We forget so quickly with our own busy lives that our children, deserve to have a childhood and are little tiny humans that we are all molding. The other sign reads “Children only have one childhood.” There is so much power behind those words.
Oddly enough, even though I would say this was probably one of the grossest rooms in the house, It’s probably one of my favorites. Nope, actually they were all quite gross. I find it bright and cheery. Clean and fresh. I don’t ever find it to be spooky, and my kids love being in here. Every time my nephews are here, or when my older son has sleep overs, they always beg to sleep in here. Works for me, I didn’t want to create this picture perfect space that would never get used. Turns out kids do still know how to play with imagination type toys. Food for thought.
