journal entry:
This just might be my favorite room. It is full of magical things. Everything is designed to delight children . . . their eyes, imaginations and fingers. Almost everything has come from “somewhere else“. That statement always makes me laugh and think about the scene in the movie Robots ( which I have seen about 20 times) where Piper tells Rodney Copperbottom that if he gets caught by the “sweeper” he will be melted down and turned into “something else“. She says it with such a perfect sinister conviction that I still laugh about it.
There is nothing sinister about my playroom.
(16 grandchildren can’t be wrong)
It is a happy place.
These yellow and red dishes are but a few in my collection. Most are quite small and meant to be handled by little hands during tea parties. All are thrifted.
These are “thrifted” shelves. They were in perfect condition when I found them for $3 each at Deseret Industries. The rest of the thrifted “Tea Party Collection” is in the playroom closet.
I bought this shelf (above) at the same time that I bought the yellow shelves. It was already painted very nicely and was a few inches longer than the yellow shelves. It was $4. It is a perfect shelf for knick-knacks and breakables . . . far above the reach of little fingers. Thus the flying saucer, chicken clock, Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse snow globe, Joan Walsh Auglund baby-on-a-pillow and some very happy and twittery birds can be seen but not “hurt”.
The Mary Cassett painting of a grandmother reading to her grandchildren is a favorite of mine. I did not “thrift” it but have had it for many years.
( The IKEA rug is a perfect car and road rug )
Thrifting and a Flea Market Style really teaches a person to think outside of the box. It is very good for my imagination. I have learned that it may take time to find just the right treasures to suit my personality and style. I found this little yellow table one day for $4. It was already painted and had been distressed. I put it into my cart and kept looking. A clerk walked by and said that she had wondered how long they would have the “wonderful, little, yellow table” on the floor. Turns out it was available for about five minutes before I picked it up.
I have also learned that you can’t go to a thrift store with something specific in mind.
Well, you can but you will seldom find it that day.
You will likely find it another day.
The little white chairs were “thrifted” on another trip to the store. They fit perfectly under the table and between the legs. They are for munchkins and not parents. On the other side of the room is a bigger table which a family member was giving away. Grandpa painted it and cut the legs down to just the right size. The six chairs that surround the table were all thrifted after which I painted them different colors.
Mr. Giraffe still had his original tag around his neck when I saw him. He was brand new and $2. He has been so popular with the little Zoo Crowd that he is currently having a “sleep-over” with Maya. She is the giraffe-lover.
One more quick look at the playroom and then on to more finds for the playroom in another post.
Ceramics can be very inexpensive at thrift stores. Many are homemade and many are not. I don’t really care which is which because I am thrifting for my own pleasure and not with any monetary gain in mind. While children can’t play with everything in the playroom, they can look and be surrounded by magical things. This lamb and mother pig with her little piglets are examples of the “things of childhood” in a “thrifted” playroom.
“The first thing a child learns when he gets a drum
is that he is never going to get another one.”
-Unknown-