Play Nice

 When we moved into this house, the basement was a blank canvas.

Well, a blank canvas filled with boxes upon boxes of my teaching stuff, camping equipment, ski gear, and mostly junk. (This is after we cleaned it!)

It got cleaned out and finished by our contractor friend and I spent hours, days, weeks agonizing about how to decorate it for our family. It is for kids and adults to use, so we couldn't go too far in either direction. Now, we have divided it into two distinct areas, 

one for us 

and one for them!

I wanted some whimsy, hence the stripe and clouds, but I wanted it to all coordinate and flow, enter the orange. (The guest bedroom down there has 2 orange walls too).

I love the idea of decorating with the kids art, and these simple curtain rods do it with a bit of style.

As a teacher, reading is my favorite and something I am passionate about. In my classrooms I always had a cozy nook to cuddle up with a good book, so I had to create the same thing for my own kids.

Why, yes! Those book shelves ARE plastic rain gutters!

Here is a tute on how to install them.

Of course, the toys are already overflowing out of this space and in a constant state of disaray.

This is how it usually looks!

But, at least the big mess is confined to the basement and I can close the door and pretend it isn't even there!