Hi everyone! Where are all of your kids toys? We were very fortunate in both homes we’ve lived in- we had separate play spaces. The kids have some toys in their rooms, and we do have some toys for Tiny Tallman especially in the TV room/family room, but our basement is our designated playroom. The basement was one of the biggest selling points of our current home- we descended the stairs and found that the basement was finished, with cheery, yellow walls, and a perfect space as a playroom. Plus, it’s right off the kitchen/den, so it’s super convenient. It’s a pretty large space (most of the footprint of our home), and there are 3 separate rooms on the edge for utility spaces. It’s basically awesome, and I am still extremely thankful that our kids have this fantastic space to play- and we don’t have to live among all the toys in our main living space!
The downside to our basement was the staircase itself. We nicknamed it the “death stairs,” because there were no walls on the sides, so a young child, or anyone really, could slip and have quite a spill onto the hard floor. We moved in when I was pregnant with Tiny Tallman, so I knew when we had a toddler roaming around, walls would have to be built. Last winter, my DH did finally get to it, and started the process of not only building walls, but building a space under the stairs. We had originally thought closet, but then he had this cool-Dad idea of building a nook type space under the stairs for the kids. He framed it all out, and included a short doorway on one side and an ice cream/puppet show window on the other side. And an outlet for a small TV someday, or to charge a device; and, a light.
So yes, he framed it out. Spent several hours getting it started. Then life happened, and there it sat. Luckily, most of the walls flanking the staircase were built, so at least it was safer, although incomplete and unattractive. I can’t really knock the guy though, he does work a ton of hours, and he took on a couple of side gigs shortly after starting the basement playroom project, so whatevs.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I get a random text- M is coming to finish the basement!!!! Say what?! M is a contractor that we’ve hired in the past to work on various projects over the years, and he does a lot of work for the garage. He was in his office that day, and the Tallest Tallman asked what he was up to, and he said he was currently in between jobs, so he said how about you finish our basement project. UMMMMMM HI WHAT?! Usually, when we do something like this it is all planned out and deliberated upon and all that, so it was quite a surprise to me that M was coming to check it out and would be starting the next day. Yes, we had discussed the possibility of hiring him to finish, but it certainly was not something that I thought we were doing anytime soon. Sometimes- well, rarely- but sometimes, my DH surprises me with wrapping something up quickly.
So, M came, he finished hanging the drywall, patched the seams, sanded the seams (worst part, ugh), painted, and trimmed it all out. That stupid trim! I hate trim work. It’s like, you think you’re done with a project, but no, you have to add the stupid trim. And you do kinda have to, otherwise it looks really bad.
OK, coming down the stairs. Now, you can only fall straight down, instead of off the sides lol! In the distance, you can see the railing that we can’t fit back on the stairs, now that it’s closed off. Whoops.
From one angle…
… and the other angle. As you can see, this is still very much so a work in progress! But having the main structure painted and finished, I couldn’t wait to share!!
Yupppp there is a play space inside!
Close up of the puppet show/ice cream window! 😀
Take a peek inside!
The little doorway. Maybe I’ll add a curtain; what do you think? Or will it just always be falling down?
The basement is just one part of the Dad-builds-cool-stuff-for-our-kids list. Get a LOAD OF THIS. The Tallest Tallman really does win at being that dad. That dad that builds cool stuff.
It is indeed sided now, but there it sits until spring when it will be completed!
Hail to the Dad!
(And Hail to the Mom that tolerates/supports the Dad’s projects. There is glory in the finished product :-D)
Someday, when this monstrosity is completely finished, I’ll post a big ole’ post about it. Right now, it sits, with its gorgeous exterior, and it’s incomplete/unusable interior. It seems these larger projects just have a half life of at least 1-2 years… Good thing I’m ten years into this marriage experience, so I have realistic expectations.
What cool things have you done for your kids spaces? I love to see creative play spaces and bedrooms. If the Tallest Tallman and I had a mission statement of parenthood, I think we’d include “add magic as much as possible” to it.