Our playroom comes to life!

As I've mentioned before, I've been trying to come up with a solution to deal with all the shoes and jackets (and hats, and mittens, and STUFF) that piles up by the entry to our house...which is also open to the playroom/den/sunroom area. I have also wanted to create a fun area for Jake to play, us to be comfortable, and a way to store all the toys so that the first thing you see when you walk into the house is some type of order. Ambitious, right? Perhaps I'm delusional, but I recently spent a few fun days finding inspiration online and figuring out just what to order to accomplish this daunting task.

These are some of the photos I found that inspired me...

I love the built in benches here, and the storage underneath. One of my goals has been to make space in the playroom to accommodate the adorable table and chair set that my sister painted for Jake:

I like the light shades of white on the walls and trim with the bright red accents:

I think these window treatments are adorable and I think the vertical shelving is nice, but probably too hard to reach for kids:

This was just an ad, but I loved the colorful striped rug, and got me searching for one that would work for us:

I've shown this before, but I can't stop thinking about those great book shelves, and I'm hoping we can work something like that into our room. Also, of course, the bench is great, and I like the simple bamboo shades:

(Photo from Black and Spiro Interiors)

Again, I've shown this photo, but the storage will work for us (with space for baskets underneath). The fabric on the bench is cute too...anyone know what it is???:

(Photo from PS Erin)

While it's true that I probably didn't need to start this project the month before Christmas, I just wanted to get it done, and I knew if I didn't do it while I had some excitement for the project, it probably would never be finished. So, I ordered what we needed, and last Tuesday, I arrived home to an enormous pile of boxes "some assembly required" furniture sitting on the front patio. Yikes! Now what?

I ordered this bench and shelf from Pottery Barn to store all the shoes, coats, mittens, etc. I'll make the cushion for the bench because I didn't particularly like any of the fabrics they had:

I originally wanted the handyman to create a half wall that would divide the entrance area and the playroom and provide storage. Once I discovered how expensive it was going to be, I decided to use this storage "system" also from Pottery Barn Kids to create the half wall. I'm going to have our handyman create a backing to the shelves to finish it off since it will be visible from both sides. Also, all the pieces are separate, so they need to be secured together somehow:

I got this fun rug (20% off, but backordered) from Garnet Hill to add some color to the mix: 

The rest of the room will start coming together once these major elements are in place which will hopefully be by next week!

Wish us luck!