Santa’s Workshop

A  couple of months before Christmas my mom came up with the idea to re-do the kids’ play room on the night of Christmas Eve. I was all over it. So for the next couple of weeks we sent ideas back and forth, back and forth, until we each had a list of things to do/get. And of course those lists were modified about 24 times.

I really wanted to have as much done ahead of time so that night would just consist of room assembly. And of course I had to do all of this without nosy kids figuring out what I was up to. So I would do my sewing, and painting and gluing and assembling what I could when they were at school. Add those things to all my all list of growing projects and as you can imagine I was somewhat of a crazed mom. That says nothing of the lengths and stores my parents went to to find on our growing lists. (Did you know that everyone in the free world is getting Ikea spice racks these days?")

The night of Christmas Eve though once the kids were good and asleep we set to work. David’s brother and his girlfriend were here as well as David’s mom. They helped us rearrange and clean. My dad and David went to work hanging while my mom and I sorted through other projects.

Here’s our list (of course) of things we had to for the room:

• Long table (kid size, that was actually just sitting in my basement waiting to get used) and kid size chairs
• File cabinet (from my garage, it was also waiting to get used)
• Frames for kids to hang artwork
• New shelves
• Book holders
• Floor pillows
• Lots of hooks
• A new mirror
• A Lego board to hang on the wall
• Lots of other odds and ends that I’m probably forgetting

Here are a few before pictures to give you an idea how badly something needed to be done in this room

After spending half the night working on it we turned it into this

Amazing, no?

Those chairs remind me of a funny story. That night as we were all working away it really felt like a Santa’s workshop of sorts. David was sitting on one of those little chairs at that little table with a little hammer and nail working on the picture frames. He was like Buddy the Elf. I was laughing so hard I did have time to take a picture.

My goal for the room is to provide a space that they would utilize more and spend more time in. We definitely achieved it.

Christmas morning, when all the presents had been opened, I gave them each an envelope with a puzzle inside. The puzzle said “Wait! You are not done, go downstairs for more fun.” Once they figured it out they knew exactly where to go. And they were completely surprised by it. My trickery paid off!

Here’s a little clip of their reactions to the room.

A huge thank you to my parents for their help. Couldn’t have done it without you!

And to David, for being such a good elf.

**If you have questions about any of my playroom projects just leave a comment or email me**