Total Time: 1 hour + a trip to Ikea
Location: El Cerrito, CA
Meet our 2.5 year old pal Ben.
Zozie & Ben met when they were itee-bitee ones at Gymboree.
His parents? An ER nurse & a printer..the fancy stationary old-school type.
They are one of the sweetest couples you'll ever meet.
They are also one of HapaLab's first followers! Actually, THE first.
Thanks guys...
" I love your idea for your home school and blog - your design background really shows, as you've set up such a lovely space for Zo and the design of your website is so simple and clean - love it! you've inspired R and I to carve out a little "office" for Ben in our seldom used dining room. Though Ben has his train table & toys in his bedroom, his new little table is going to serve as his work and creative space where he can have all access to his art and learning supplies. Still looking for a softer carpet to replace the rough woven one we had there and possibly going to add a bookshelf. We're having so much fun with this! Will keep you posted ~ Lily"
We showed up for a playdate and could not be happier... to see all THIS.
C'mon..let's take a peek at what L & R have done for Ben.
We'll start in the Dining Room, the "seldom used" one.
Ben's Office:
Since they eat in the kitchen, they saw great potential in their formal dining room for "Ben's office."
Like the parents, every kid needs a place to work too right?
Shifting their dining set down, they opened up a corner for a new work table, a pair of chairs, and an adult "helper stool". They also added some floating shelves (spice racks) for storage and display. Ben's own artwork now dress the walls. Nice work Ben!
Spent: $50 Table, $20 Chairs, $30 Stools, $4 Spice Racks
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Furniture that have hidden storage compartments are AWESOME!
The helper stool doubles as extra office storage as the red top comes off.
Extra crafts, games, puzzles...you can never have too much storage eh?
They left out markers, crayons, and other supplies in fun tin cups on Ben's work bench. Having open access to his art supplies allows Ben to draw whenever he feels the creative bug, without mommy or daddy's help...
Book Bucket: Our every popular Front Facing Book Display is here! L used a cute canvas basket to display his favorite reading materials. Placing books in size order is EXTREMELY helpful in having the child put the books back on their own. Where does this book go? The size of the book is their hint.Book Nook: L managed to reuse an existing comfy chair for Ben's little Book Nook. The OX Ugly Doll is kicking back and waiting for Ben to come read him a book. Beautiful natural light flood the nook through the dining room window.
After reviewing HapaLAB's post on Le Grand Foyer...L decided to add a few hooks to Ben's room for his backpack & jacket. A smart stepping stool let's Ben turn the lights on by himself...instead of grabbing a book and pushing the switch up with the corner! Daddy showed him that trick. Nice, dad.
For the heck of it, here's a view into Ben's sweet bedroom.
It's geared up with a great TRAIN TABLE in the center!
The extra storage buckets below are a space & mess saver, and the neat rug really grounds the space and adds a fun pattern that reminds us of railroad tracks...Choo Choo!
Again, love extra storage. Love trains.
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So there you have it.
WELL DONE L & R!
Just a reminder...
This is a SELF Transformation, NOT a HapaLAB Transformation!!
They read the blog...
They went and did it.
Yup. On their own.
No holding back now...go do YOUR own!
Please. Be a copy cat.
wow! pictures look great! thanks for including us on hapalab - we're having a lot of fun with this, so thanks for all the great ideas :) lily
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