We’re touring the custom playroom designed by Noelle Bryant of Oh Happy Play, complete with a playhouse built under the stairs and an indoor jungle gym. We’ve shared many of Noelle’s children’s spaces before (see links at the end of this post), and just like those rooms, this custom playroom is not to be missed!
Hi! I’m Noelle, the children’s design expert behind my KIDspiration filled blog, Oh Happy Play. It is here you will find unique spaces designed by myself with lots of fun family moments along the way! I’m a wife and mom to four little ones all six and under. Our days are nothing short of chaotic, and I hope you enjoy the fun we try to bring to you each day!
Where did you pull inspiration for your playroom design?
I started designing this playroom two years before I ever stepped foot inside of it. We built a totally custom home and while working with our architect and builder I focused heavily on this space. I truly designed the house around it in a way. I wanted to make the best use of space possible and that meant utilizing as much of the under-the-stairs space as possible. I discussed with our builder the importance of having our playroom share a wall with the stairs for this reason.
I came up with the idea to create an actual playhouse while scrolling through pinterest. I saw many people do this in basements, and while we don’t have basements in Florida, I knew this was the best use of space. Then in typical Noelle fashion, I took an idea and made it extra extra! I thought it would be super fun to have all the makings of a real house (kitchen, dining table, bedroom, nursery) fit in this space and all be kid sized. I went on the hunt for products that would fit perfectly inside this unique space. It truly is a house within a house under our stairs. It even has a LOFT inside, yes an actual loft! I love everything about how it came out!
The playhouse focused on pretend play, but when it came to the outside or main area of the playroom I wanted to focus on movement. This space would be for their open ended play items and would be a space they can move around in. It can get warm here in Florida, and on a hot sunny day, I wanted to have a play haven my kids would enjoy indoors. I think I accomplished just that.
Did you have any unexpected obstacles when creating this room? How did you overcome them or spin them to your advantage?
The biggest obstacle was making this space fun and exciting but also preparing to change it down the road when the playhouse is not desired anymore, or the toys start to dwindle. We came up with the great idea to make the playhouse exterior an entire wood panel that when removed creates a large 8×8 square in the wall leading into the under the stairs area. The reason we did this was the entire house facade can come off easily down the road, and we can revamp the purpose of the under-the-stairs space. So stick around in ten years when I make this room a sick teen hangout!
What is your favorite part or detail in your playroom? What do your kids love most?
While the playhouse is pretty awesome I think we all love the EZPLAY jungle gym. We have had both their Panda playset and now their Koala, and it truly is all of the kids’ favorite thing! The girls love the monkey bars and climbing on top, and the boys love the slide. They use the slide for their toy cars and then, of course, love to slide into their super fun ball pit. We screwed this set directly into the studs in the wall, so it is very sturdy. We’ll get many years out of this one!
What is one thing that you would tell other parents to consider when starting to design and organize their own playroom?
If you’re planning to redesign or start to design a playroom, I highly suggest taking a look at what you routinely see your kids playing with and focus on that. My girls LOVE playing house, and my boys love their cars. I pretty much focused on those two things when it came time to purge toys and plan for their new space. Everything in their playroom gets played with daily, and what does not get played with daily will be purged as we go. It is an ongoing process now. When I start to notice something isn’t getting used, I take it out of the room and store it in a bin. If it doesn’t get requested for a few weeks, it gets donated. This has worked really well for me, and it keeps the items in their playroom to the things they actually play with.
Photography by Noelle Bryant
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Check out some of Noelle’s other room designs below!
