recessed lights are either IC insulation contact meaning insulation can be in contact with the housing. or ICAT insulation contact air tight meaning insulation can be in contact with the Air Tight housing. it isn't the insulation but the air leakage through the insulation into the holes that enters the room bringing attic temps, insulation particles and de-rating the insulation for 1 sq ft around each recessed light to R-0. can you access this area to deal with them from the attic side? if not, then getting the model number & name brand to shop for both air tight baffle inserts & air tight trim kits will work. lots more expensive. you can forego the trim kits if you use a mastic tape to seal the cut in the sheetrock around the recessed light. but will need the insert/baffle to make housing air tight. Juno/Halo inserts are $13-17 per light, and a pita to install. if the walls are sheetrock, that is the fire barrier. use high R-value foam sheathing boards to seal attic side of these kneewalls. thinking that you have to sheetrock over foam board is a common misconception. the interior sheetrock provides the needed fire rating from the attic into the interior of the wall. where we live. here is an excellent pdf from southface inst. http://www.southface.org/default-interior/Documents/airsealingkeypoints.pdf the info for kneewalls is on page 5. but look at all pages. great info. best of luck.

Your built-ins look very nice. I like the white doors with the dark knobs. Our TV will be over on the left side, and I think on the right, we're going to be stuck with all cabinets, no open shelving, because we're "hiding" some pipes and other basement-y junk behind them (in addition to the games and art supplies!). Designwise, it won't be ideal, but there's not much I can do. Keep the pics coming...

We have two IKEA Hopen units in our playroom now. Each unit has four sliding wire drawers (that hold a TON of toys) with three shelves above to hold bigger toys and baskets of toys. I love this system because the wire baskets pull out so I can remove a single basket (say one full of wooden blocks) and place it on the floor for the kids. When they're done they load the blocks back in the basket and it gets tucked back into the unit and behind closed doors. In our last home, we also used some wardrobe/pantry type units that we found at Lowe's. They were huge and afforded a lot of storage. My preference is always for storage that is hidden because I don't like looking at the visual clutter. If that doesn't bother you the shoebox size toy bin shelves (available at Target) are good options too. I've included one of the favorite systems I found when I was looking for playroom inspiration. The IKEA cabinets pictured though have since been discontinued. If you run your mouse over the second pic you can even see how the items are organized in each cabinet! Here is a link that might be useful: Playroom Cabinet Pictures

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