Garage Play Space
Wouldn’t it be funny if this mini fridge used to be filled with cold beers but now it’s filled with cold juice boxes? In a classic case of trying to make something out of nothing, I have turned Boss Bar in our garage – where the goal was to have more hang out space for adults – into a play space for kids because always trying to make magic for Gus is practically all I do now.
As you know, I’ve been focusing on cleaning out and organizing and got very into cleaning up the garage. Boss Bar has been in existence for a while, but having a two-year-old means just about every space becomes theirs one way or another, so I wanted to turn this area into an extension of his indoor playroom as a way to keep him entertained outside when it’s nice out.
The idea came to me when neighbors gave us their old play table and chair set that their kids outgrew (she thinks it might be from Pottery Barn Kids, but couldn’t remember). We don’t have space for it inside the house, but I knew it would be useful somehow so I stored it in the garage for a few months.
We used to use a TV stand from Ikea as our media console, but after I made this one, we no longer had use for it inside. Since our garage acts as a waystation for larger items on their way out, the media console as well as the play table and chairs were being stored in the same spot and that’s when I realized I could do something with it all.
Thanks to these used items, I had everything I needed to make a play area in the garage but I wanted to cozy it up a little bit, so I bought an outdoor rug from Mercury Row on Wayfair. When I unrolled it, I had to really study it to make sure it was an outdoor rug, the quality was just that good!
The old Ikea cabinet serves as toy storage and Gus loves going to it to find toys to play with in the backyard.
The only other update to this space was rearranging the Boss Bar sign to make room for a puzzle of cocktail recipes that my mother-in-law sent me last year to entertain myself in the earlier days of quarantine. I finished it last year but was waiting for spring to hang it up. And maybe we’ll actually use this menu as inspiration for our #ThirstyThursday cocktail nights!
So there you have it, made something out of nothing and now there is a garage play space, which acts as an extension of our outdoor hang out space, which acts as an extension of our indoors. The cozy cottage may be small, but she’s mighty.
