Home Tour: The Play Room

This post is sponsored on behalf of Keepsake. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone. Thank you for supporting the brands that make this blog possible. 

One of the really gratifying things about home ownership is seeing all these ideas that you had in your head when you bought the home finally come to fruition. This house, when we bought it, was not our dream home. What it did have going for it was that it was a blank slate, with great bones. My absolute favorite thing about this home was that the kitchen had a large enough breakfast nook that we could fit our eight person dinning room table in there, and then have the entire formal dinning room as extra space. 

I knew immediately that this "extra space" was going to be our playroom. Derek was vehemently against the idea, but at the time we didn't have a large dining room table, so we put our four person table in the kitchen, and then when people were unloading our moving truck, I told them to, "just put all the toys in the dinning room for now". 

A few weeks later, Derek became the Elder's Quorum President at church, which meant that we were going to be having missionaries and other people from church over quite a bit. I convinced Derek that we needed a new dining room table, and then when it came, we just swapped out the small table for the new larger one. All of a sudden, this room became the official playroom without any real conversation about it. 

Sometime over the summer I found this picture and pinned it to Pinterest and instantly knew that this is what I wanted our playroom to look like. Our walls in this room were originally dark green, so I went to our local paint shop and bought a can of Horizon by Benjamin Moore, and painted the entire space while Derek was at work and the kids watched a couple shows on the TV. We already had the white bookshelf from our old house, and then I found the "P-L-A-Y" letters at Hobby Lobby last week and then the entire toy area was complete. 

On the back wall in this room,  I knew I wanted to hang a picture of Jay and Em, but we never really had an amazing shot of the two of them together. Then in October when we took family pictures, Em was finally able to sit unsupported, and I got this shot of the two of them. Once we had the picture that we wanted, I was able to get it printed and framed through Keepsake which is one of the simplest photo apps I've ever used. All I had to do was download the Keepsake app, and email the picture that I wanted to my phone, and save it on there. Then I just opened the keepsake app, picked the size and frame I wanted, and then uploaded my picture and placed my order. It was the easiest process ever. I love that they print and frame the picture all in one shot so that you don't have to make multiple runs to different stores to get a frame ordered, and picked up. All their frames are made in the USA and this is honestly the best quality picture frame we have in our home right now. We got the 20x20 hanover frame for our picture, and I think it adds the perfect touch to the room where our kiddos spend most of their day.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but there are literally no words to describe what I feel in my heart when I look at this picture. This picture represents our two children that we brought into the world. It's the first picture that we have of the two of them sitting together. It silently tells the story of hundreds of hours of physical therapy that it took to make this moment happen. It also has this magic of freezing time, and making it seem like Em can just sit there, smiling for hours, even though we know she can't hold the pose for more than a few minutes at a time. I love how this picture shares the love that we have for them, and the love that Jay and Em have for each other. Their relationship is so unique, and so special. Jay is her protector. He holds her, he looks out for her. He rejoices when she learns new words, and when she does something that's physically challenging. We're all on the same team when it comes to what's best for Em and her progression, and it's so sweet to see Jay excited about that. This picture truly is a Keepsake that I will always cherish.

On the wall opposite of the bookshelf we have our piano. It's definitely nothing fancy, and was only $100 on craigslist, but it works. I've really enjoyed spending time here each day, learning how to play, and filling our home with music. We wanted to keep this space simple so we just put a family picture on there, and then a simple plant and lamp that we got at Target. On the wall above the piano we have this picture of the sacred grove that I got about six years ago for Christmas. It's one of my favorite pieces of artwork that we own, and it just fits perfectly above the piano. 

If you're in the market to get some pictures framed for your house, be sure to check out Keepsake. Their prices are very competitive with other custom framing options and their customer service is amazing. There was actually a small problem with our picture before we ordered, and they had me fix it instead of just printing the picture with the problem on it. You can use the code happy15 for 15% off your next purchase.