Closed storage w easy access..

Secondly add baskets or rolling carts under the play table. Or check this out at Pottery Barn kids, Restoration Hardware makes one too.

duchess, your photos didn't attach, but the colour combos you mention all sound fine. Good luck with your project; I hope you will post when completed.

Duchess, wow, I see your dilemma! Studio1001, you are right that the organizational issues need to be taken care of first, especially the laundry ones. I spent some time looking at creative furniture options, so I'll post them too. Studio1001 is right - your new furniture should be less bulky, more streamlined than the current pieces. For starters, is it possible to move that bookcase to the other side of the sofa, or do we get too close to the laundry area there (still trying to work out the layout in my head)? Or, could it go into the dining room - is there a spare wall in there? From the pic, the DR looks a little sparsely furnished, so maybe there's room for that big guy in there. Then you could move the sofa (or put new sofa) closer to the window/patio doors and still have an armchair angled into the room the way you do now, only you will hopefully gain some space behind this arm chair to create a play area for the kids. But back to the family room - you could place a long storage bench across the front of the patio door (a couple of feet in front of it), and this will give you a bit of toy storage in this room.

Over to the play area - you could run one or two Ikea cubbies perpendicular to the wall so that they form a kind of divider between family room and this play area. The cubbies would go behind the arm chair. You can fill the cubbies with matching bins to hold more of the toys. And, I probably pushing my luck here because I'm not sure if you have the space, but could the play table also go here, a couple or three feet from the cubbies? Kid zone established, fingers crossed.

For your laundry sorting, this may sound bizarre, and I'm not 100% sure it would work! but what about an Ikea credenza, or some kind of closed cupboard or sideboard to hold laundry, keeping dirty separate from clean by placing on different shelves. Actually, it probably wouldn't be big enough to hold dirty laundry, but a nice wicker hamper with cloth liner (or two even) next to the credenza/cupboard could be the laundry area. You can do the folding on top of the cupboard. So, I'm going to post some pics that might help you to visualize all this. But, yes, storage storage storage is what you need!

So, pic one is Ikea credenza. Pics two and three are storage ottomans just to help keep living area somewhat uncluttered. Pic four is the Ikea cubby with bins.

Arley- I love that idea!! I wish DH would build something like that. That would help a lot!!!!

I used sterlite plastic bins for my sons trains. Label each bin with a picture and the word describing contents. I had a box for straight track, curved track, trains, etc. I had at least 9 of these. They stacked nicely into a small bookshelf. Teach your little ones how to put the toys away themselves. I know it seems easier to do it yourself sometimes, but they can be a big help. Start now while they are still young, make a game of it. When they get older they will realize it's cleaning! But it will be too late, they will already be in the habit. This is one habit that doesn't get easier to teach as they get older.

If hubby doesn't have time, I think it's worth taking the picture to Home Depot and asking them to help make you a kit. There is a DIY on some website. I will try and find it for you.

You could always pay someone make it for you. It's not complicated most handymen could do it.

I need to retire, I'm going to catch up to you tomorrow. I have some more ideas.....

This room would look good with a big comfy sectional (see pics). Are you able to also lighten the wall colors & rather than bulky curtains you could try sunscreen blinds, they allow the light in whilst providing privacy.

Actually, read your longer post, can you do a floor plan of this space with dimensions. I think we'll need it to make it a multi-purpose room. Also, I'd love to see some of your finished projects you talked about.

KareMore50- I love that idea (of the credenza or bin- in fact I used to have a storage ottoman which worked great till my eldest son tore it in two. I think he could be curbed now.
Are you suggesting I move the kids to the pathway/entryway from the front door and bump the couch back to the sliding glass- I'm not sure I have a clear idea of the layout- maybe I'll draw it out tomorrow and post.

Sure Arley, I'll make a layout with dimensions tomorrow- and I'll get some good pictures of the finished rooms on Friday...when the house is cleaned up : )
Believe me I am trying with the cleaning up- its hard, it is really freaking hard. Some days my eldest can make his own bed and other days I have to be like a drill seargant to get his legos in their bins (forget about it- you haven't even see the multiple big plastic bins of teeny tiny legos in his room. His room was the nicest in the house because it had very little furniture and no excess crap on the floor- now there are bins of legos : ( he and my husband are obsessed.

actually both of my kids have rooms without a lot of junk- I'd like to get at least one more piece (or furniture- maybe two) out of my youngest sons room- but really the whole house gets junked with storage and boxes but I keep it out of there- actually there is an interesting storage possibility in the baby's room.

ok so this painting is the only thing I am attached to in this room- the rest of it could burn if it were up to me but we'll have to repaint and reuse what we can. My husband gets that we will have to have a new rug, couch, paint, and window coverings though- I also have a cute little credenza- it was probably a buffet piece once with storage on both sides and a bank of drawer in the middle- I have always wanted to paint it a color and put it somewhere- maybe it would work for some of the storage- it is just crowding us in the bedroom- problem is- it houses my scarves, yarn, and knitting doo dads.

Duchess, yes, if you could draw out the floor plan with dimensions, it would help immensely.

ok here is the picture of "the girl" which I want to keep in the room. I was thinking of a decal- maybe like this for behind the couch (so the kids don't pull a heavy picture over onto themselves).

and maybe use some of this paper somewhere- maybe to jazz up some of my existing furniture with paint and paper in the backs of shelves?

I am drawn to something in these pictures-

I really like these pictures and maybe I can pull off some of the thigns- but it seems like I might be reaching a bit high considering my space and situational requirements

love it!
Love this family's whole apartment
how about if I slip covered the end chairs in the chinoise fabric and use coordinating fabric on the others. I was imagining a more raspberry color but I could probably get to like the pink- not sure how it would tie into the kitchen. I'll have to post pictures.

ahhhh Never going to happen while I have tow little boys living with me


It seems like this would be do-able, maybe find a smaller scale couch though

this gal has lots of ideas on how to shift your decor without breaking the bank

Duchess, with your boys being so young still, any new furniture you buy now is not going to be your "forever" furniture. But, you can still have style! Consider a white slipcovered sofa from Ikea (the one in pic below is the Hovas). This will give you the look you want, while being washable and bleachable. It's super,cheap, and you should get about 10 years out of it.

Buy an inexpensive small leather chair, something that suits the scale of the sofa. Could be from Pier One, Ikea, Grandin Road.

Paint your walls a light neutral grey. This will be your background for the look you are after. Keep the walls and furniture neutral and use the sofa pillows and art to get your color and pattern. Go to tonicliving.com for the pillows you are after. All those patterns in the pic you listed - they're all there, in lots of different colors.

Some examples of tonic living pillows:

Karemore55- I love it - and I totally agree- this is not the forever set up. This is the trying to make it thru the next few years set up - : ) I have never been to tonicliving before- love it! In fact I havent been to several of the sites you mention- looking forward to some browsing.
Has anyone had good or bad luck with the ikea slip covered couches? I have heard that white slip covers with kids are actually not as bad an idea as they sound. I'd love to get a smaller chair- I would have to move that big one out while my husband sleeps most likely (just kidding, sort of- he loves that chair).

I like the rug the teal chair is sitting on (though I hoped for something squishier).

Duchess, I have an Ikea slipcovered sofa, as well as two Pottery Barn slipcovered sofas. They are all holding up fine, although the Ikea one doesn't get as much use as the others. None of them are white either, so bleaching isn't an option for me, but I have washed up the slipcovers and they always come clean. The beauty of the slipcovers is that the sears and backs have their own individual slipcovers, so you just wash them mostly. The larger piece that forms the "skin" wouldn't get washed as often.

Tonic Living is, I believe, only an online store, and they're also Canadian. But their prices are cheap. Honestly, you could go on an organization and shopping spree, and have a complete transformation within a month. You're just going to need a babysitter while you paint lol! Paint and kids - bad mix!

Lots of rugs on wayfair.com in that look you are after.

And more.

Thank you for the support- best part of my day (seriously having a bad week) so coming here and finding more posts is like getting a package in the mail- love it!! Plus my husband saw me measuring- I thought he would give me some grief (of the we need to wait a bit variety) but he told me to hurry up and get it planned cause he also wants to do it soon- then he said he would take his favorite huge chair to the office, caved on the slipcovered sofa (he thought leather would be best with kids) and said he wouldn't paint the bookcase and entertainment center but we could replace them.....um ok.
I tried to make a map of the room but with a 5 yer old helping me measure things don't exactly add up- but it does give a strong idea of what is happening in there... if the pictures are clear. I'll ask my husband to scan it in tomorrow.

my husband says he prefers the idea of a sectional with a chaise over having a small chair and a small couch- still not clear on the best set up though and if I should rearrange everything entirely or keep things basically where they are.

oh snap I also have a time sensitive design need- I have to choose window coverings for the dining and kitchen areas asap because we are having a huge pine taken down that provides shade to that part of the house- we are going to be baking after that- with no way to get the sun out. I guess I better take some pictures of that too : ) I hope tonic ships to California.

Can you position sectional similar to pic I posted earlier & put tv on wall above mantle piece (again similar to earlier pic), that would free up that corner for builtins or floating shelves.

More builtins

hmm interesting idea Tracy. I like the idea of either hanging the tv or hiding it in an entertainment center that can be closed. Can a flat tv be hung on a bumpy rock fireplace?

Karemore55 - would this kids area be along the wall that currently has the pic of the girl on it? There is 7'10" of walll space before it is interrupted by the closet but they would be in the pathway to the rest of the house (not the end of the world but definitely a consideration). Or are you suggesting we put play cubbies along the longest wall that currently is home to the couch and rehome the couch to either Tracey's set up or floating along the slider- not sure if I have ever seen that done.
I would love to have an adult space for entertaining, a girl can dream....right? When the little guy gets just a little bigger (and tougher) I am going to grant their wish to share a room and turn the other room into a play room- regaining an adult space- unless my husband makes a strong case for an office - we shall see.
in some places the sum of all the smaller parts did not equal the total measurement I got for the wall- so that concerns me- but they aren't off by too much. I included the frame and trim as part of the doors and windows by the way. And like I said, a very excited 5 year old helped me do the measurements- but I think they are pretty good. I'll redo anything in question tomorrow when I have husband power at my service (he had a pretty long honey do list today since it was trash day.

I'm getting really excited but wondering how to just start ordering stuff since I have no place tp put it until it just goes in the room... I'll have to do some thinking on that.

"You're just going to need a babysitter while you paint lol! Paint and kids - bad mix!" luckily there are grandparents near by : )

Duchess, I think you have room for the kids play area in front of the window that is next to the door. I've attached a very crude sketch to show what I mean. The cubbies would go in front of the window, then the little table in front of that. So, it is beside - but not right in - the LR area. I still can't picture a sectional in your space because they are so bulky, butmthe sofa with chaise could give you an extra seat for company, plus someone (you?) could stretch out on the chaise side when watching TV. You should be able to fit a small side chair into the space somewhere in front of the FP.

I've been a little confused about this laundry area, but I assume it is along the wall with the pic of the lady? So, here is where you need some kind of closed storage to hide it all. I initially thought of a credenza, but you could also do an Ikea,Pax wardrobe cupboard with some shelves for folding and sorting the laundry, and a laundry basket on the bottom to hold the dirty stuff. Your pink lady pic would have to be relocated though:(. This also assumes you can find another room to put the bookshelves - DR maybe?

Ok- I see! I like the idea of relocating the kids to under the window and reclaiming the area next to the slider- it would be weird to be over there! If the couch got pushed over there- where would we put an entertainment center? I'm going to see if I can get my husband to move the leather chair to his office now and move the existing furniture into this arrangement to give it a try- obviously it will work better with new stuff but its a start. Under the window we have a bench with three cubby/baskets for shoes so that could double as a sitting spot for them, If I can move the shoes somewhere else then those baskets could be toy storage.

what about doing an actual pax storage system on that blank wall (where the girl resides) to use as closet space and laundry organization- like just use the wall as a closet basically since my husband and I are sharing a small closet and then half of his wardrobe is in the baby's room which is not functional for us. It's not ideal but it might make things less cluttered for us. I think the clutter is making me .....lets just say I dont like it and its all over. There is no garage or storage here.

Duchess, yes, the Pax wardrobe could go on the wall beside your closet - it would be your storage/organization area. If you can spring for the larger wardrobe, it is 6 1/2' wide, and would fit nicely there. Should take care of the shoes storage also.

I'm not sure what you mean about your entertainment centre - that looked like a bookshelf to me, to the right of the sofa. Do you have DVD's, etc. on it also? Again, ikea could come to the rescue. Maybe you could put the TV on a media cabinet with closed storage, or the Ikea PS credenza posted above, and keep your media stuff in there?

hmm i like that idea. i spoke with my husband and he said he rather we just bite the bullet and get what we want rather than try to get the least expensive option- so...... maybe an entertainment center that hides the tv? I defintely like the idea of a pax or pax style wardrobe- it could help so many issues in multiple rooms. We are short an entire closet- my husband doesnt have a closet- it doesn't worl : )

Hi Duchess. I can sooooo relate to the work involved with little boys! And the obsessions that they have over legos and trains, and balls, and the list goes on.......

You mentioned you live in CA, I'm hoping you live close to one of the Restoration Hardware Outlets, here's a link that give you there locations: http://www.restorationhardware.com/store-locations/outlets.jsp

If you talk to the sales staff you will find they are very helpful. They have lots of furniture, drapes, and bedding, and a RH kids section too. Our outlet gets a lot of leather sofas, sectionals and chairs. Also, they do sales of 15-25% off of the outlet prices all of the time.

I got the large media unit, for $2000.00. I love it! It doesn't hide the TV but those doors hide several toy bins! They have them in few sizes and lots of other stuff like it too. My sons books and school stuff fill the bottom right shelf right now. It's so much bang for the buck. If you want something that's not on sale, they do a Friends and Family sale a couple of times a year that is 20% off.

I like the RH cause it has a distressed look to it. There's nothing like distressed with small children around!

This unit may be too large for your space, but they have all sizes of storage, and much of it you can configure. It's more the style that is what I'm looking to share.

Also, we had both a leather and a Pottery Barn couch. I always took off the cushion covers and washed them. And they did great! I did notice if I scrubbed the area first, that sometimes it looked lighter until I washed it in the washer. I always wished I had purchased a full slipcover in denim!

I do like leather for kids, it just wipes right off. Again, I like the distressed leather. You do want a nice quality, because one thing that cheap leather does is crack and wear along the edges. My girlfriend's Navy Blue leather Natuzzi looked awful in just 5 years. Sometimes they end up gray edges and small gray cracks because the color rubs off after lots of use. And in just a few years.

Another nice option for kids and pets is the micro-suede, Pottery Barn calls it everyday suede. Almost everyone offers it now. It cleans easily and wears well, but you have to like the look.

Just caught up on the posts, I've been MIA while I've been picking out my appliances.

RH has nice wardrobes too, not exactly IKEA bargains though. They are much cheaper if you can get to an outlet. I was at my nieces last month, and we went to the Vacaville outlet near Sacramento. I don't think their pricing was as good as our outlet in Vero Beach, FL.

What do you think your budget is, and what do you want to accomplish with it? Your dream list?

Hi Arley- lots of great suggestions. I'll check out the closest RH outlet. here is the obnoxious annoying truth of doing a redo with my husband- he plans the finances but he will not give me a budget- he wants me to choose what I want and then he'll figure out how long it will take to get it- which makes no sense to me- because I don't need to have exactly what I want, I can compromise. He says show him what I want and we can compromise later(get the first choice on the sofa but the second choice for the rug or whatever) - its annoying and a waste of time to plan a project with no budget(in my mind).
So funny though cause when we sat down to discuss the redo I asked him what budget he has in mind and he immediately went on and on about how annoying it is that every time we do a room the first thing I want to know is the budget and he just wants to know what I want. Hard to get mad at him for it, I guess.
. The other annoying thing is that he thinks you can choose paint first. Arghhhh I can't tell you how many times I have been in the position of choosing paint in 48 hours and before purchasing any decor- hence the fact that I dislike the paint in every room of our house except the kids rooms and I don't mind the kitchen.

So where does that put me- well he says an ikea couch will be uncomfortable and he would prefer I get my aunt (who is a designer) to take me to a place that does slipcovered couches and get something of a higher quality(I have heard the ikea couches are pretty good). I think all around he wants to go for quality on the larger pieces or anything I am just in love with and we can save on the decorative touches that don't really have to last anyhow.

HaHa yes distressed helps- did you get a good look at my dining set? It is made of a barn door a zillion years old. You can't even tell where my kids have drawn on it- thankfully/

Karemore55-- We rearranged the living room according to your suggestions and I like it already- I'll get some pictures in the daylight- there is less of a bottleneck right when you walk in the door.

duchess, I have not read through every post of this thread but wanted to share my experience on storage needs in a combined living/kids' play area. I currently use a 120cm wide Ikea Besta system almost all the way to the ceiling for living room storage. The top of the Besta is covered by doors but the bottom area accessible to kids is set up with open shelves with toys stored in transparent Ikea Samla boxes. The smaller Samla boxes stack so you could fit 2 levels depending on shelf spacing. So trains go in a box. Little cars in another. I don't however suggest that you use the Ikea system if your husband is open to more permanent higher quality cabinets and you are certain of your longer term needs. The Besta, which looked good at first, hasn't held up very well and the veneer (which looks more like paper to me) at some of the visible edges are peeling (and this is not due to abuse by young kids). The Ikea kitchen cabinets may be better quality. The good thing is - the lower cost and quicker set up served our needs while kids are very young. The amount of storage we needed took us by surprise and we hadn't planned for the mountains of toys we landed up with. LOL. It was just tough to manage young kids and plan a major furniture purchase at the same time so Ikea did come to the rescue. I do plan to replace them with higher quality cabinets soon.

Oh regarding sofas, if you have access to sofa makers, you should consider getting one done in Krypton or Sunbrella fabrics. These are not cheap fabrics but there are some online deals if you look around.

interesting I have heard of people doing sofas in outdoor fabrics. I guess if I think about it I hope we won't need the storage forever- ontop of that cross my fingers we will move into a bigger house in the next five years. I got dear husband to do a little rearranging according to Karemore55' suggestion- here is where we are at the moment. It isn't exactly how you drew it out since the train table seemed really bulky in front of the window- might change when we get rid of the leather chair but we can't do that till we get a different couch since we won't have enough space for our whole family to sit at the same time without it.

Hi Duchess. I never really work from a budget either, but neither does my husband. We have fixed deposits to various savings accounts, and the rest is for expenses and stuff. I don't know how we do it, but we both seem to have a sense of when something sounds like too much. Also, we don't use credit cards, that's probably the biggest help!

Anyway given the way your hubby works it, you could try what I have done in the past. When we moved into our first home we had so many things to purchase it was overwhelming. I took a stack of 3X5 cards and we wrote down absolutely everything we wanted for the house. One item per card. Technically we had everything we needed, so the list was just of the things we wanted. We then put the stack in order of purchase. We also added approximate prices for items we knew we wanted but hadn't picked out yet, like a dining room set. We didn't always stick to the order, sometimes we would find a great deal on an item and we would pick it up. But the system was quick to do and easy to rearrange and add to. We kept them in an index card box. These days it would be just as easy to do on a smart phone, but I like the hands on feel.

I found a few pics that had the plastic boxes that I organized my sons trains in. They were Sterlite boxes from Walmart. I would only stack them 2 high per shelf so they wouldn't get knocked over. I must have had 20 boxes full of various toys when he was younger. I used the taller boxes for the larger toys and the short boxes for the smaller stuff. The short ones are just a bit large then a large shoe box.

You know that's a (the cards) good budgeting idea-- we don't have a budget either. We use one credit card that gets points and pay it off in full every month. I have no idea how it works either but after ten years without any debt I stopped making a stink about the budget I thought we would make when we got married.
I guess I just need to choose what I want- write it down on a card with a price and put it in a shoebox- and then it will all magically arrive : )

but I still refuse to choose paint first- ever ever ever the frick again.

I've made that mistake too! Never again! I guess I just get excited about color, and it is the cheapest (all be it, labor intensive) part of design!

Now-a-days I just get a general design idea in mind, like right now I'm working with the concept of "coastal, with light tones of green, blue, and beige. With painted furniture and cabinets. A wood floor that provides some contrast...." And that's about as far as I've gotten, LOL!

I have never done this, but you could make a design board, with color, pics of furniture, fabrics etc. Better yet, throw it in the shoe-box with the cards!