play nook show & tell

We have a small landing at the top of our stairs. If I said it was 6ft x 6ft, I'd be being generous. It's probably closer to 5.5 each way. Either way, we've used it as a (very) small play area for Abby.

Over the past, oh I dunno, 6 months? I've been slowly accumulating things for that space. Mostly I find things on craigslist or at a local thrift store I like. Today, I found a chair for Abs and decided to put it up there - this meant I had to rearrange some other things, but I had fun and Abby absolutely loves it. I'm quite pleased with the space considering how much I spent (or didn't spend on it) Some of these pieces, I've blogged about before when I got them. So, forgive the redundancy.

Here's Abby's play nook.

We have an unwritten rule that no battery-operated toys are allowed in her room or play nook, so these areas are full of other activites that keep her busy - without flashing lights. The exception is a cd player that she uses to play her sesame street CD (over and over and over)

I found this PBK clock at the thrift store. They don't make it anymore, but best I can find, it costs $35-$40 new. I got it for $3. This is one of my favorite finds ever.

most of our books are gifts from others, but the ones I buy are nearly all thrift store finds or from used book stores. I think the most I paid was $2 for the Art book, most of the time I don't pay more than $1. Of course, with books like these, I'm obviously working pretty hard to turn her into an English major. ;)

This chair was my big find today. It's from Land of Nod (which I also love). The chair is $99 new, but I got this one for $4. It's a little more broken in than a new one would be I'm sure, but it's functional, clean, and I love the colors.

This was Abby's favorite addition - a simple stained glass star mobile for the skylight. I've had this for years, just finally found a new spot for it.

We got this bookshelf a while back. It's from Ikea and I think it's about $80 new. I got this one for $25 off craigslist with 2 of the drawers included. We keep some of Abby's art projects on top, she has a dress up drawer, a craft drawer, and there are usually a stack of puzzles there too.

Abby's tea table. I paid $4 or $5 for it at the thrift store. It's a cheap IKEA table that somebody else took the time to decorate.

Free art. :) Abby's Caterpillar book sadly fell apart on us. Instead of throwing it away, I decided to make a collage of it. It adds a nice bit of color

This alphabet poster is another one of my favorite parts of this space. This is actually from a paper/craft/scrapbooking store. The poster was supposed to be used as wrapping paper. I think I paid about $3.50 for it. Getting it framed is on my list of things to do...someday

So, there you have it. A functional and fun, although small, play space on a budget. I did some rough math earlier. With odds and ends included I think I saved about $250 by buying things second hand. Abby doesn't know the difference of course, and saving the money makes me that much happier with it all. There are still things I would like to add and change, but there's plenty of time for that.

until then, we'll be here.