Room to play

A quote attributed to Maria Montessori is that "..play is a child's work". As parents we can see that in the faces of our little ones when they concentrate with great intensity on their task at hand. Be it building LEGO creations, dressing up dolly or racing around at the beach, our children are doing the work of childhood & it is wonderful.

My sister, Esther, has her own little Maria...

{ Maria-Leticia playing on the beach }

... & has decided to convert a maid's quarters at the back of their home in Quito, Ecuador into a playroom.

Although Esther has great style & a knack for making any space look fabulous she has asked for my advice on putting the playroom together without too much expense. Here are the before pictures (will post "afters" soon I hope!):

{entrance to playroom}

{ interior space }

Not wanting to do a theme that Maria-Leticia will grow out of quickly, Esther's idea is have a lot of areas for creative play. The bottom half of the walls will be painted a sweet soft yellow colour similar to Winter Sunshine (Benjamin Moore 345) & Esther's sister-in-law Patricia will paint a garden-themed mural on the wall. I've suggested possibly adding some inexpensive light fixtures from Ikea like these cutie-pie flowers that come in pink or white:

Floor covering will either be a large rug keeping with the garden theme like this one from Rosenberry Rooms online:

or perhaps puzzle-piece foam numbers & letters.

Mosquito netting will be hung in one corner over a couch or a pile of pillows to create a secret hideaway place to read or make-believe with dress~up clothes nearby similar to these:

The existing bare light bulb could be covered by Chinese lanterns (this Paper Lantern Store has a fabulous assortment online) such as:

{ but maybe hung closer together... but not too close to the

light bulb so as to cause a fire hazard!! }

{ love the multi-colours & vintage look of these lanterns }

or a hand-made floral ceiling fixture like this (click here for 'how to'):

{ for Maria's playroom I'd use tone-on-tone yellow paper for

the flowers or do a mix of yellow & green & pink }

I'm getting so excited to see this playroom in progress & after. I just want to hop on a plane to Quito & craft & laugh & paint with my lil' NetBet & her family and see Maria-Leticia in her new space. For now the virtual world will have to suffice. Will post more as the project progresses....