We did go with Ikea, the expedit. I LOVE them! I keep bugging DH to go back and get a couple more for our basement. I think they are great storage. I did think about using some of my DR furniture for storage and keeping it, but I just didn't think it would work for me. There are doors they make for the Expedits and some people paint them. There are amazing pics all over pinterest. I saved some to my playroom board and have it linked below, but there are so many good ideas. Here is a link that might be useful: Playroom pics

Not my Kraft dinner too! Stay away I say...(scooping up all her expensive boxes and holding them tight)...gotta have some comfort food around! Sheesh! First the toys and now my Kraft dinner!!!! Oh,BTW there weren't any crayons in my Happy Meal. Darn it! I grew up learning to cook at home with Mom at a very young age. We ate very healthy meals and junk food was not high on our list until we went through our phases as teens. McD's was too expensive even when you could feed a family of 4 for less than $10.00. I still value a home cooked meal first. I don't have brain damage nor any tics happening in my face...well I dunno about the brain damage though...I still claim I was dropped at birth but anyway I digress.... There is also the valuable lesson of having the not so good things once in awhile and later the right sized portions of treats. My Mom would roll up bologna slices with cheese slices (when they were still made of milk) to give us as snacks when we are out. If ya really wanna get nit picky on food let's not discuss the contents of that either. Growing up surrounded by soft drinks I'm still not nuts on them - they make me burp loudly, especially in public and I don't like washing my teeth in the sugar. Maybe if soft drinks came with toys.....or better yet crayons....I might have a different opinion. To each his own I say. And that includes my Happy Meal with the toy. Aren't they great? Just love those toys - which the old ones are now collectible to others reliving their younger years. So Ha! Don't sweat the small stuff! Cheers, Peggy

Used to sell cork for 6.5 years. I know it very well. The finish on the iCork Floor products can be refreshed. It is designed to be refreshed periodically. That means it can get beaten up and then it can be brought back to life for a few hundred dollars. This can be done over and over again for as long as the floor is structurally sound. Do NOT use glue down in a basement. It is NOT allowed. Use the click together stuff, add a little cork underlay to add more warmth and more sound insulation) and you are off to the races. As everdebz points out, dings and scratches happen. Even tiles start to show the abuse.

My children always had attractive rooms but they were most definitely not "decorated". And they actually did live in and play in those rooms. Two of my grandchildren have had a similar room (they share a huge room), and "decorated" would not describe it, although it has nice custom roman blinds (that are now 18 yrs old!), dust ruffles, nice quilts and nice sheets. But my daughter and I did this together. The rug has been replaced once - always a remnant that we had bound. They boys love their room and at one time, shared it with millions of pieces of Lego (yes, I said millions - they were given the large collection of their babysitter's brother and had their own as well - they filled two huge rolling drawer units). When the cleaning woman came weekly, the Lego had to be picked up so she could vacuum in there. My other two grandchildren have VERY decorated bedrooms - their nursery had Stark carpet on the floors (you don't even want to know how awful it looked very quickly). They have never done anything but sleep in those rooms. Their toys were in a playroom, but they rarely played with them. They had a nanny for the first few years, and part of her job was to "entertain" them; at nearly 13 and 14, they still need to be "entertained" - they truly do not know how to entertain themselves other than with electronic devices. My DS has tried, but he has been divorced long enough that only seeing them weekly for dinner and every other weekend (typical child visitation in CT), he can only do so much. I find that today very few children know how to entertain themselves. They have either had a caregiver who did this, or their mother quickly turned them over to the "electronic nanny" to keep them out of her hair. It's very, very sad. I'm very proud that DD and her husband allowed their children opportunities for "free range playing". At nearly 16 and 18, it has served them very, very well.