Our house has a bonus room above the garage. It’s a odd room, 40 feet long, and 12 feet wide, with eves. One end has larger bookcases, that we have filled with our grown up books. But the other end (which is the first thing you see as you come up the stairs) has smaller shelves that held games, most of Ada’s picture books, and a couch where we read her stories at night. It’s kind of a low-tech second living room, and Jim often likes to hang out up there with Ada in the afternoons.
A few weeks ago, Ada parked herself on the floor, and started “reading” every book she owns. Jim came to ask me if we still had her tiny kid-sized bean bag, so she wouldn’t be on the floor. Since the bean bag had been tossed during a potty-training accident, we decided to replace it.
After a little searching, I found a giant fluffy pink one on Amazon. It can be used as a traditional bean bag chair, or laid flat as a bed, or folded against the wall as a chair. And when I saw them, I just had to add a matching Moon and Star pillow to my order too. I couldn’t help it. They’re soft and fuzzy, and my kiddo would lose her mind when she saw them. I dug through my stash of extra housewares stuff, and found the blue down pillow, my mom gave me.
At that point, this turned into a full-on project. I started digging around the house for artwork that hadn’t been unpacked since the move, or had never been framed. I thrifted and ordered a few frames from Amazon and Michael’s (thanks $30 in Rewards vouchers!), and started hanging my treasures above the shelves. There’s an embroidered hoop from @kittykill, a watercolor of the night sky from a friend, a print of a cool assemblage art piece that I bought at Universal Studios with @Abbeeroad and @FiberAlchemist, a poster given to me by my awesome MIL @Millykay that says “a well read woman is a dangerous creature”, two watercolors my husband painted for me, a big canvas of Hogwarts that I made at a Wine & Paint night, and a print of a little girl having tea with a dragon that I bought from an artist on Etsy years ago. All things I loved, but could also work well in a little girl’s space.
I rearranged the books like at the public library so Ada could see the covers. They are arranged alphabetically by Keyword, rather than author, since that’s how she asks for things. “I want the Goblin book!” So Nobody Likes a Goblin, is under G for Goblin.
I added some battery operated star string lights with pastel pompoms along the uppermost shelf, using tiny clear Command hooks. (The battery pack is hidden behind the Susan Boynton books). I bumped into a 6’ long garland of embroidered and beaded felt leaves in shades of pink, purple and turquoise at Homegoods, so I added that to the string lights. Ada loves decorating for holidays, so I think I’ll find/make various garlands to swap out seasonally in that spot. Since our end of the library has art and knicknacks along the top shelf, I filled hers that way too, shopping around our house for stuff. The faux plants in dinosaurs were a gift for her from my mom. The white owl bookend came from our end of the library, which she loved and used to go visit to give kisses. The toilet paper tube cricket is one we made together over the summer.
Beside the “Story Couch” I added a spare side lamp, as it’s always dim up there when I’m reading to her at night. Then I finally, FINALLY, set up the star projector that we bought for Ada’s second birthday party (she’s now 3.5) behind the couch. It projects stars and color-changing nebula up along the wall and eves above us as we read stories at night. And I added a quilt rack I found at Goodwill beside the table, so there are plenty of cozy quilts to snuggle with as we read. The pillow was another from mom, and the rug was from our kitchen in the last house.
Here’s an example of how the colors change with the projector.
Finally I added a black & white runner in front of her shelves, and another in front of the reading chair in the grownup end of the room. They came out of our guest room, when I bought a new rug for in there a few weeks ago. While we didn’t do any painting or true renovation, I really love how this project came out. Someday we’ll paint, and replace the overhead lights, but for the time being, soft lighting and cozy touches make it a much more comfortable and welcoming space. Ada now spends most afternoons up there, reading books, and daydreaming on her bean bag, neatly avoiding us saying “no” to more tv.
