[Hopefulmama]

Our basement has been pretty old and crusty. Dirty and years of cobwebs, full of stuff. We've been purging, cleaning, and painting. I have a few areas for storage that are kind of by themselves. I intend to put up a sheet that I have to kind of divide it off. I also have my washer and dryer in that area. In the largest area there is a carpet on the floor that I hope will be where most of the play will happen. I would like ideas for organizing as well as fun stuff for the play area. I have an old table to store toys under/on. I would love shelves w/ cubbies for storage, but I'm trying to do this on the cheap. We have an old desk to put down there. I don't care if it gets messy. I thought it would be good for art projects/playing office/school, etc. I would like to paint a hopscotch on part of the concrete. We also have a hammock that my DH is going to hang from the rafters, but keep it low to the ground so if the kids fall, they won't get hurt. Anyone have any other cheap ideas for organizing or fun things to play or do? I thought the curtain divider would also be a great curtain for a "stage". Thanks!

 

[Amys1st]

In the same situation you are. We have a rather large space in the basement and its unfinished. When we moved here, DH wanted to keep it as an unfinished space and use as a basment. But as we live here longer, we are thinking along the lines of finishing it for as the kids get older and can have a hang out space.
Right now, there is a laundry area and the exposed pipes are the hanging area. Another corner is a large closet that is now my pantry which I love. Right next to it, the nook with a workshop table and water heater etc. The rest of the space is for toys right now. One area has work out stuff and another larger area is all toys. We have a kitchen area, a train table, a hopsctoch rug (no need to paint it then), a chalk board area and a chair and tables. There were shelves left behind and we had some we made that store all the toys in bins. The kids can literally play for hours and have about 10 kids down there. Its kind of gritty but they are young. We have parties where we will hire a sitter or two down there, and the adults can visit upstairs. One time at a party, we didnt even see a set of kids because they ran down stairs as soon as they go to our house.

As the kids grow older and the toys go away, we will put down a flooring, drywall, etc and have a tv area, an extra room for crafting or office and if I can talk DH into it- a powder room but I doubt it. That way the teen time or before, they can have a place to hang out.

 

[flowmom]

My favourite resource for setting up play spaces:

Together We're Better: Establishing a coactive learning environment.

She's a genius

. She writes about how to support children to play together in creative ways, and how the environment is part of that.

I envy the opportunity that you have with your space

:.

 

[flowmom]

I also wanted to pipe up that working on the lighting in the space could make a huge difference in how it feels to be down there. Also slapping some light-coloured paint on everything -- even if the finishes are rough or imperfect -- will make things feel clean, fresh and bright.

 

[Jess A]

We have an unfinished basement which doubles as our main play area. We do have some toys in the kids' rooms and in the living room, but most of the toys are kept downstairs.

I've done a lot of work on the basement, and I'm proud of it. Yes, I wish it were finished, but that's not an expense we can afford and the kids seem happy with it. When other kids come to visit, they always want to go down there, so I guess it's a kid friendly place.

I did paint the cinderblock walls and floor white to brighten things up. I cover storage areas with cheap sheets from the thrift store. We did "splurge" on rugs for the floor, and we've been slowly covering the main play area with foam squares. Keeps it warm and cushions falls, though it is a little slippery. An 8 pack (covers 64 square feet) is 13.49 at Costco. I think I've bought 6-7 of them so far, and I'm pretty much done.

I try to keep the area separated into zones--especially the art area. Art supplies are not allowed out of that area (unless we go outside to do art when the weather is warm).

Here are some photos with notes to give you a better idea.

I took the photos as is . . . there are some messes around.

Sometimes I get a little overwhelemed with the amount of toys in the basement . . . but we do have three kids with a large age range, and we have friends to play over a lot. And most of our toys are open-ended but with a million pieces so it can get a little crazy.

 

[daytripper75]

Maybe look on Freecycle for shelves, entertainment centers, etc. to place around the edges of your play area. Someone posted a great way to make an old entertainment center into a play kitchen.

Maybe hang Ikea lights from the ceiling to brighten it up?
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00143419 This is just the lampshade and I would be willing to bet that you could find hanging lamps for less than the $20 each they are selling for.

Painting the ceiling white would brighten the space. When we were house shopping we came across a home that had the entire basement sprayed white. It was awesome!

Ikea also sells swings for not too much. That would be FUN!

 

[Aubergine68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hopefulmama I would like to paint a hopscotch on part of the concrete. We also have a hammock that my DH is going to hang from the rafters, but keep it low to the ground so if the kids fall, they won't get hurt. !

We painted a giant scrabble board (used juice can lids for the letters) and a twister board on the floor of our basement (homemade spinner). Didn't use it as much as we thought, but it looked fun.

White paint

Extra lighting is important. We hung strings of white Christmas lights up on cup hooks around the room, concentrating them on the ceiling where it was dimmest and just left them, replacing ones that burned out.

A hammock would be fun.

A kids play parachute is larger and lighter than a sheet and could easily be hung from hooks to define a space/make a "ceiling" for part of the room. My sis's old roommate tacked cheap fabric across an unfinished basement ceiling, had a great look.

The single thing that made our basement fun and play-able before we had it finished was those foam interlocking mats, as a pp suggested. THey warmed up the floor and allowed us to have an area for active play without that awful "head cracking on concrete" happening. We bought a bunch and cut some so that they fit a corner of the room perfectly without sliding.

We still have them on top of our laminate flooring in our playroom -- I'm saving for wool rugs to cover up the garish colors.

ETA the area that gets used most in our playroom is a pile of old couch cushions beanbag chairs, large pillows and a twin bed mattress (for jumping on or sleepovers) I sewed covers for them so they semi-coordinate. They get piled up, jumped on, spread out as a play area -- very comfy, open-ended and flexible. And all but the beanbag chairs were freebies!