Wouldn’t it be great if we all lived in extra large homes where we could turn one whole room in to a play room? Just imagine never having to see those toys strewn all over the living room.  Maybe some of you are lucky enough to have a dedicated playroom for your kids but for most of us the reality is that we share spaces as a family.  Living rooms and kitchens often double up as play spaces as well as homework spaces as well as entertaining spaces and so much more.  And actually, I love that.

Apart from the mess factor, there’s something so cosy about your whole family in one room with each person doing their own thing.  On a Sunday afternoon, you can often find us all in the kitchen where Richard is cooking, Anya is playing and I’m reading a magazine.  We each indulge in something we love but at the same time we chat and enjoy being together.  Even if I had a spare room, I would always opt to have some kind of play space within the most used family rooms.  Having a dedicated or defined space within a room will help with the mess and you can all still be together.  Here some great ways of creating a play area in a living room or any shared space:

I just love how this space combines a home office with a playful and cosy place space next to it.  When space is tight, a slim bed canopy like this one is the perfect answer as it fits snugly in to any corner and a small wall shelf can hold books or toys.   I also love how they’ve combined different types of wall art – some childish others more grown up.  While this little corner is perfect for a child’s adventures, it fits in seamlessly with the rest of the decor.  

When living space is abundant, there are so many ways to carve out a play area for a child in a living room. Like in this example above, they’ve got a large tent, a play kitchen and some fun art.  This only takes a corner of a room again but it has to be a fairly large room.  Here again the colours are neutral and simple so while the play space is playful, it won’t stick out like a sore thumb within the living room.  

For slightly older kids, a desk space is in the living room is ideal as they can do crafts on it or do their homework or read.  A big storage box like they’ve got in the picture above is ideal for keeping all their things out of sight.  And it makes tidying up easy and quick.  The shelves above the desk are a great idea too as they maximise the storage space without actually taking up any more room. Again the colours are kept really muted here which fits in with the rest of the room.   

This is the simplest idea of all.  If you don’t have any free corners or have very little space, a small rug is a great way to mark out a play area in a living room.  The rug defines the space and yet can be put away when you need all the space available.  I love how they’ve simply put a poster and a star light at a low level to make the space playful and cosy.  This can be done in any room no matter how small.  

Do you have a play area in your living room?  If you do, I’d love to hear your ideas on creating one.  

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