Day 3 - Toy Room Makeover

Day three was all about bringing the toys back into the room which were in there before and pulling out the rest of the toys from storage to see if we had enough room for everything. I must say I had a really good time playing with all the fabric bins moving them around and changing them up over and over trying for a pleasing look to go with the rest of the soft goods going into the room later.

I had a wonderful time sorting toys for the large bookcase; I wanted all the dolls, Barbie dolls, clothing, dishes and books for my 6 year old granddaughter up on the top two shelves and all the toddler toys on the bottom two shelves and in the fabric baskets under the two benches for easy access.

I placed all the art supplies up on a high shelf, out of reach for little hands, so they could be used for supervised project/art time, meaning no crayons or paint on the walls when we were not looking. All the special puppets and antique toys were placed on the highest shelf for easy admiration and to add a pop of color, taking your eyes up making the ceiling look higher then it actually is.

More toddler and infant toys were placed in baskets and shelves under the bench so the little ones could pull them out and onto the floor, great for easy clean up too.  The light weight fabric boxes can be easily transported around the room or downstairs when needed.  Two car track carpets were placed in front of the benches for color, added softness and lots of creative/fun playtime.

There are still several more items to go into the room which are full blown projects.  You are probably wondering what else I could possibly put in there?  I am giving you a few hints with the above photos but I won’t tell you what they go with, you will just have to keep checking in to see what I am up to next.

Thanks for letting me share day 3 of the toy room makeover, the rest of the makeover series will not happen until after our grandson is born and we are back from southern California.  While I am gone I will be remotely sharing my apron a day series, at least that is my plan, I have not done this before so keep your fingers crossed that the technology actually works the way it is suppose to. Giggles!!!

See you soon.

Laurette

You might also like:

Toy Room Makeover – Day 1

Toy Room Makeover – Day 2

Fun Fabric Animals

I found these cute little handmade fabric animals while going through the old baby toys I saved; they belonged to my children when they were babies.  I kept a lot of the toys thinking someday my grandchildren would want to play with them and I was right.  My first granddaughter, now 5, loved each and every one of them; she played with the toys whenever they came to visit until she outgrew them.  Now she has a 7 month old baby sister who is ready to start enjoying all of the baby toys, which is why I dug them out of the closet.  We will have another new grandchild who will be born in October, those much loved toys are going to get quite a workout, talk about recycling things.

Back to the fabric animals, I made them for my daughter while I was pregnant with her, in those days we didn’t know if we were having a boy or girl so I chose a yellow and white gingham check print for her curtains and bedding and used basic colors for toys and clothing.  I designed and made the little animals from original 1970’s fabric scraps leftover from sewing projects my Mom and I made for our craft shows.  Because they had hand embroidery for their faces and paws they were too delicate and probably not safe for a baby to play with, I hung them on the wall over the crib to add color to the walls and also hung them over her baby brother’s crib when he came along a couple of years later.  I remember making and hanging several more animals but so far I haven’t found the rest, too many house and storage moves, they are bound to be around somewhere, I am sure the rest will be found in due time. I need to look for the old pictures of my daughter’s room to see just how many of the animals have gone missing.

It was a great trip down memory lane, one I wanted to share with you once I came across those cute little animals and realized how popular they are again.  Soft stuffed animals seem to be all the rage among the newer creative sewing community, which means my cute little critters are in vogue, who knew?!  I think I will make a whole set using updated fabrics; maybe my daughter will want to hang them on her daughter’s wall.

Thanks for letting me share my journey into a past creative project; I hope you enjoyed taking a visit with me into the world of 70’s fabric toys, I believe 2012 will be yielding some newer soft stuffed animals to keep their retro buddies company in the very near future.

See you soon, Laurette