Creative Spaces {Lucas Land}

We have this great three seasons porch at our house that has never served a specific purpose. In the summer, it turns into a storage room for the overflow of Lucas's toys. In the winter, we put the Christmas tree out there to keep it away from curious hands and climbing toddlers. I was actually working on unpacking the spare bedroom upstairs when I had a brainstorm/moment of insanity. I have always wanted an art room, aka a space where I could be creative and not have to worry about the mess or being in the way. Now that I have Lucas, it was the perfect excuse to have a creative space in the house. 

Here is how we turned our not-so-purposeful room,  into an affordable, fun, creative, purposeful creative space!

I found an old, beat up desk on the side of the road a few months ago and it was a great place to get started. It is a little big for Lucas now, but it worked well for storing supplies. In time, Lucas will grow into it.

We have most of the art supplies stored in plastic drawers and a 4 sided art cart. I love that the supplies are all accessible to Lucas. It was a big risk to take, but he is very good at asking for help to take out the paint and I love the independence and responsibility it teaches him.  

We are currently using an old toy box by the window as his table. I love that he can lookout and be inspired by the great outdoors (and maybe a truck or two driving by) We were using an old TV stand, but that has been re-purposed as a seed sprouting station. My little guy is becoming quite the gardener this year and the art room is a perfect place to make a mess with dirt and a great sunny spot to grow!

For those less messy days, I have set up a flannel board corner for Lucas to be creative in. He loves retelling the stories with me, as well as making up his own. Creating them is a great creative outlet for me!

We have a child sized easel, but the funny thing is, we have yet to use it now that the art room is set up. Lucas can usually be found at the station by the window or he loves to unroll the kraft paper and get to work on the floor. 

I love that the art room is inviting to everyone in the family, even if that means coming home to a naked child, covered in paint from head to toe. Since putting the art room together, I have noticed Lucas is more inspired to create both at home and at school. Hopefully some ideas have inspired you too!

Creative Spaces {Welcome to Chuck's World}

We moved into our home when I was six months pregnant with Chuck.  Our home is "an adorable hundred and six year old cottage"(at least that's how the realtor described it).  I instantly developed an intense crush on the house; I imagined my soon-to-be daughter experiencing so many of her firsts in this home. 

A hundred years ago, there was no such thing as a "family room", a "living room" and a "play room".  The ground floor of my home consists of 3 main spaces: the main room, the dining room, and the kitchen.  I'm an "organizer"; I attempt to keep my sanity by having "a place for everything and everything in its place". I am happiest in my home when the beds are made, the laundry is folded, and the clutter is all as it should be (by that, I mean pushed and piled into its appropriate corners and areas of the house).  

For the past two years, I have attempted to maintain a harmonious relationship between Chuck's stuff and Mom/Dad's stuff; however, there is no mistaking that a toddler lives in my home. There is a play kitchen in my kitchen, toys where books should be on shelves, a teepee on my front porch, and a booster seat firmly attached to the head of the dining room table.  There was also an unorganized mountain of arts and crafts materials stored under my kitchen counter.  Not only was it "taking over" my kitchen, but Chuck couldn't safely or freely get to any of it.

A couple of weeks ago, she stood by the gate at the kitchen entrance asking for "Pay-nt, Mama.  Pay-nt".  While I was elbow deep in dinner preparations, I had a one of those mommy a-ha moments: 1) My daughter wanted to paint, 2) My daughter wasn't asking to paint with me, 3) My daughter could be painting happily while I was making dinner.  

As you've probably picked up, I don't have much space, so I had to be very thrifty with the amount of square footage this endeavor was going to take up. We bought Chuck a little table a while ago, but until this moment it pretty much acted as an end table in my main room.  Sure, Chuck sat at the table and colored, but I also put my coffee on it in the morning.  If I wanted Chuck to play and be creative, I needed to give her a creative space. I also had to think about what materials I wanted to let Chuck have free reign over.

One day during nap, I decided to tackle this project. For my own sanity, I needed to maintain that balance between Chuck-land, and Mom/Dad-land.  In other words, I didn't want my living room looking like my class room. I started simple; I moved her table away from the sofa and gave her a space of her own. So, this is Chuck's Creative Space.  It's pretty simple, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Small Creative Bins:

I bought some Kraft Paper bins from the Dollar Spot at Target.  I didn't know what I wanted them to be, then I remembered that I had some chalk board paint, so I decided to label them.  Using the chalk board paint also allows me to change the label any time.  Right now they are filled with crayons and Do-A-Dot Paint Markers.  I also labeled some mason jars and filled them with small art materials such as plastic gems, pom poms, pipe cleaners, and stickers.

Large Creative Bin:

I've been saving these fruit crates for years for no apparent reason, until I realized that they made great art crates.  I filled the large bin with paper, paper scraps, recyclables, doughs, etc.  Basically, anything that is to big for the small bins goes in the big bins. 

Art Work:

In order to define Chuck's space as her own, I decided to give her some art work to look at while she's at work.  I found some pictures of her favorite books, framed them, and hung them on the wall with Command Strips (this way, if we decide to move her space, I won't have to fill in any holes).  I placed these on the walls while she was sleeping.  The next morning, she immediate noticed her beloved "Via" (Olivia) "Mad-a-lye-in" (Madeline), and "Choo-choo" (The Little Engine That Could).  Yes, she tried to pull them off the wall, but I am happy to say they are still firmly in place! 

Chuck happily explores her Creative Space independently.  My favorite is when she notices that I've placed new things in her large bin.  She is usually very good at keeping the art materials away from the furniture.  Last week she told me she wanted to "Pay-nt like Via", and I caught her trying to use her Do-A-Dots on the wall.  I'm not going to lie, it took all my motherly instincts not to laugh out loud at my creative little lady.