![\"Playhouse](\"https:\/\/bumblebeelinens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Playhouse.jpg\" "\\"Children's")
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What most people don’t know is that for the first couple of years, our business was based out of our house. My family room was Bumblebee Linens headquarters, where we had two embroidery machines, several packing stations and my home office. And we used to store all our linens in the garage and a large shed in our backyard. But it’s not a typical shed that you would normally think of, because it has a real door, two windows and a skylight. And since we had to store linens in it, it was also fully finished with drywall and electricity.<\/p>\n
![\"Shed](\"https:\/\/bumblebeelinens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/DSC_6370.jpg\")
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Though the business has been moved out for quite some time now, we haven’t fully utilized this shed until just recently.\u00a0 Up until this point, we mainly used it to store Christmas decorations, the kids outdoor toys and odds and ends that didn’t fit in the house. Now finally, we’ve decided to reclaim this space for the kids and make it into a playhouse. And now they are in heaven.<\/p>\n
I love the look of Pottery Barn Kids, but there is no way I wanted to pay PBK prices. So I achieved a similar look by using some Expedit shelves I bought at Ikea for storage. I think every playroom needs a good storage solution because one thing that we or any parents have, is too many toys. And with two kids, toys can easily take over the entire house. So the best benefit of making our shed into a playhouse, is that it removes a lot of the toys out of the house and into a dedicated space.<\/p>\n
![\"Playroom](\"https:\/\/bumblebeelinens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/DSC_6371.jpg\")
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I decided to keep the walls cream and let the kid’s toys give the room the added color. Since I have both a girl and a boy, I tried to make it as gender neutral as possible. I also organized similar toys into separate cubicles so that they could easily be found. I also placed their musical instruments, cars\/trucks, and stuffed animals into wicker baskets. One thing to note: I consciously\u00a0placed the toys with the smaller and multiple pieces (like the wooden puzzles) \u00a0higher up, to be well out of reach of my younger son.<\/p>\n
Since I wanted this place to be for the kids to play and create. I also created an art nook with an art easel and chalkboard wall decals. One of my favorite pieces is the kitchen caddy that I bought at Ikea to store my kids art supplies in. I eventually plan to add a display wall to the room for their art.<\/p>\n On the other side of the room is where I have placed their pretend play furniture. The highlight is the play kitchen and ironing station. The play kitchen is probably the one toy that they still play with the most. If you have young children, I would highly recommend getting a play kitchen.<\/p>\n Our train table doubles as a low table for the kids to do arts and crafts on.<\/p>\n My favorite nod to the space is the hankie<\/a> bunting I’ve created with ladies print hankies<\/a>. I love decorating with hankies, mainly because it reminds me of our business and because they are pretty inexpensive to use. Plus hankies are colorful and can give rooms added color. The hankie bunting I created also helps elongate and balance the room. This is especially essential since most of the furniture in the playhouse is low and near the ground. Hankie bunting is super easy to make and requires minimum sewing.<\/p>\n You really only need a couple of things, colorful printed handkerchiefs, thread and some double-wide seam binding. I used three packets of seam binding and approx 15 handkerchiefs for my 10″X12″ playhouse.<\/p>\n First iron all the hankies into a diagonal. Then iron the binding in half.<\/p>\n Open up the binding and lay the edge of the first hankie in between. Leave approximately 6 inches from the beginning of the binding free. Pin the first hankie in place. Repeat for the following hankies but be sure to leave approximately 2-4 inches in between each handkerchief. Repeat until all the binding and handkerchiefs are used.<\/p>\n Now machine stitch a straight line along the binding, or in my case a semi straight line. Super easy, no?<\/p>\n Hang the hankie bunting into place by nailing it to the wall or use ceiling hooks.<\/p>\n Note: Hate sewing? My instructions for a no sew hankie bunting version can be found\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Toys](\"https:\/\/bumblebeelinens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/DSC_6389.jpg\")
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