Our Playroom & Gallery Wall

February 6, 2022 in Decor, DIY's

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We don’t have a separate room to use soley as our playroom, but we do have a long family room. I was able to use one end our long, narrow family room space to create an area for our kids to play. I actually like that they have an area that is still part of our living space. Since our playroom area is an extension of our family room, I wanted the space to flow with our living room while still being a place my kiddos could enjoy. I achieved that by keeping the wall color the same, the same wood tones and decor style throughout the entire area and then added in my kiddos favorite things.

Let’s take a quick look at what the space looked like before I made the new changes.

A BEFORE view of the space. (from a couple of years ago) It was cluttered and didn’t flow or function well.

I first added these bookcases and turned them on their sides so they would function as storage and double as a long window seat. I was able to fit three shelves total (two 5 cubby and one 2 cubby) to fill our wall space perfectly! The shelves come in several size and color options too!

The beginning of the framing to go under the shelves. I unfortunately didn’t take many pictures.

I did this sketch showing how the 2×4 frame is on all the sides with some braces in the middle about every 12 inches.

Because we have a floor air vent in that area, I did have to raise the shelves up on a 2×4 frame to allow for air flow. I secured the framing into the baseboard (rather than my hardwood floors). I added the 2×4 frame around the air vent, so that air would still flow out and into the room. Then, once the shelves were in place on top of frame, I used long wood screws to secure the shelves to the 2×4 frame, so everything was secure and safe.

To finish the space, I wanted to create a gallery wall to display my favorite pictures of my family. The space on each side of the window was the perfect spot to create the gallery wall I had wanted since we moved in over 4 years ago.

I created templates from craft paper so I could better visualize what each size would look like. The green tape represents the picture light.

I made some templates from brown craft paper cut to the size of the frames I was deciding between. I was trying to choose between 2 sets of two or 2 sets of four. I am very visual, so creating the templates allowed me to see what each would look like. I was immediately able to see that four on each side would be too busy with the square panes of the windows and the squares of the window seat. I went with the two sets of two on each side of the window. The frames I chose come as a set of two and they are 18×18 each, matted to 12×12.

I did a mock up with the two on each side and the four on each side. I could then SEE that the four on each side would be too busy with the windows and bookcases.

This is a mood board of the finished look for the space.

I then added a picture light over each set of frames. Mine are the 16 inch lights in the color antique bronze. The picture lights I chose are intended to be hardwired. I do not currently wiring in that location, so if I want them to produce light later down the road, I will have an electrician run wiring for me. For now they are just decorative- and that is just fine with me. 😉

The picture lights I chose. I liked the clean simple lines.

If you are looking for a similar option, but don’t have wiring either and want the light to function also, I found an alternative that looks almost identical to the ones that I have and they’re battery operated and rechargeable. Click HERE for the battery operated picture light.