Ewan and I went to visit our friends Hugh and Colleen this week and found this inspiring play area with a backdrop of Launceston to boot. Set on the most gorgeous built in verandah, Colleen has made Hugh a outdoor play area which is still within eyes view of the kitchen. She flings open the bi folding doors and Hugh can play happily whilst she gets on with something in the kitchen. Genius!
I love a great idea and I just couldn't get over the "pretend grass", such a fun idea for the kids and nice and soft if there is a bit of a tumble. Colleen is also a fellow thrifty type and has restored the wooden blackboard which was acquired off a family member. She also informed me that most of the toys are second hand pick ups or hand me downs. I love this as it's not only good for your hip pocket, it reduces the amount of plastic toys which go into landfill each year.
Ewan is sitting under the kitchen table which Colleen has so cleverly made into a cubby house with just a bit of fabric and a few hours on the sewing machine. The table is actually inside the house but becomes part of the play area when the bi folding doors are opened up.
Removable wall stickers add a bit of colour and can be changed around at a later time if they want without ruining the paint.
Love the wooden train!
Ewan was in heaven and has been asking me for a play area just like this one ever since (if he could speak I know that's what he'd be saying!) I am completely blown away with the idea so I'm going to steal it and make my own version.
We don't have a lovely secure verandah like this one so I might buy a cheap secondhand playpen off Gumtree, put the pretend grass in the bottom and put it outside on the deck under the undercover area. It will be a great place to play when the weather is wet and we're sick of being stuck inside. Thanks Hugh and Colleen for the fun play time and your inspiring ideas!
I don't know which I'm coveting most: the play area, the converted kitchen table, the wooden train or the verandah itself! I put most of my books into storage to convert the book room into the play room, but it's hard to get a photo of it (it's a long, sort of narrow room). It's not as spiffy as this one though!
ReplyDelete(and this is the first other-Hugh-baby I've come across. Haven't met anyone here who's used the name; instead everyone says "Oh I have a grandfather called Hugh!")
i just wrote a reply and then lost it, don't you hate that!
ReplyDeleteHugh must be a popular Aussie name at the moment because I've discovered 3 recently (maybe it's because us Aussies all love Hugh Jackman?). It's a great name, you made a good choice.
I'm quite ashamed of what I presently have for Ewan to play with (not much) when I look at this awesome play area. But it has given me inspiration and some ideas to copy and adapt to our house. I really love the table cubby house, it's really cool!
What do you have in Hugh's play room?
It still has the changing table in one corner, the filing cabinet in another (probably impossible to move!), the old couch along one wall and my desk against another. But I have a small bookcase full of his books and toys - most of which are stored in two fabric open-top boxes (um, I'm embarrassed to say they're Martha Stewart storage boxes, but they work so well!) - and a section of the floor is covered with those jigsaw-piece rubber mats. He has a standalone African-themed jolly jumper thing that he loves, which his nanna (my MIL) got him for Christmas (I put a photo on Facebook). We have one of those wooden things with the wire and beads, oh what are they called? The room gets lots of sun and is very central, being between the lounge and kitchen, and there's a gas fireplace in winter that makes it cosy. :)
ReplyDeleteOh and the wooden truck with animal cut-outs, I have something similar, it's a wooden bus with luggage shapes cut out, from France. He's a bit young for it though. And wooden alphabet blocks. I try to get wood whenever I can.
ReplyDelete