From Office to Office/Playroom to Playroom/Office

I love our house. It's open, light, and has plenty of room for a growing family. One of my favorite rooms is the loft:


When we moved in, we designated that as our office area, which was great since it meant we didn't have to give up a bedroom. After Ethan was born, it still remained largely an office, but gradually some of his things began to creep in as I sought a way to keep him entertained while I did school work. First it was just a couple of toys. Then we moved the Jumperoo in. Finally, I bought a piece of furniture with cubbies for toy storage. And up until recently, this sufficed to make for a mixed-use office/playroom.

However, I only have about a year left in school, so my need for a designated office will not be as acute. And Ethan's toy stash is growing. And I really wanted him to have a train table to play with, but we didn't really have any room for it. After some brainstorming, we came up with a redesign to convert the loft into a playroom/office, and we FINALLY finished it this weekend! So, without further ado, here are the before and after pics:

Before:


After:

The sofa bed is the cats' new favorite hangout, but once you brush the cat fur off, it makes for a nice place to sit and work or play with Ethan.

A close-up of the train table Ethan's daddy made him. He put four drawers in so we have storage for Ethan's train set, wooden blocks, and any other toys/supplies in years to come!

The original bookcases were from Target, but he made cabinet doors and put them over the lower three shelves to provide baby-safe storage for office supplies! We had one of them in the office originally, but the other was sitting empty in the guest room so we pulled it in. The structure inbetween the bookcases is our original filing cabinet/printer storage, and our black and white laser is behind the upper doors. The only thing that might still possibly be changed is the relocation of the records or a replacement of the record table.

The office portion of the playroom/office, plus the original toy storage from when it was an office/playroom

A close up of the office section. We sawed our original table (which was actually a dining room table) in half and mounted it to the wall. It fit PERFECTLY in this space! All of the cables, router, modem, etc. are secured underneath so there aren't wires hanging out.


And finally, just for fun, the playroom/office from Ethan's view:

I couldn't be more thrilled with how it turned out, and I look forward to many years spent playing and working there!