I really had high hopes that once it was posted on this site, we would have a large number of people respond. The contest did make it a bit difficult, as you could vote only once in a 24 hour period, and not before the 24 hours from your previous voting. Several times, I would have to go back and check as I did not remember the time I had voted the day before. A friend in Goodrich and I sent out daily reminders to our email friends, so I guess Detroit was just more alert than we. Maybe next time, I hope !!!!

I guess it depends on what your kids are into. I don't have kids, but my hunch would be that it would be best to keep the permanent infrastructure of the room pretty simple so you can change it up over the years to suit their interests. You should probably make sure it's wired so they can have whatever technology they want our there in later years when all they do is play video games. (If they're like my husband, that means well into their 30s : ) I do have one cool idea, though, which sounds a little out there but bear with me: A stage/theater area where they could do performance-type stuff. You could have a raised "stage" area at one end of the room and/or one wall partially mirrored, maybe some cool lights, and there could be a big trunk or a clothes rack where they could have costumes and dress-up stuff. Later when they are older, they could do karaoke or those dance video games and stuff like that with their friends, or if they study dance or music or drama in later years they could practice there. I also think a playhouse area sounds neat. When I was in kindergarten, our classroom had different play areas that we rotated to every day. There was a playhouse area that all the girls fought over because it was so much fun. It had a kitchen area and pretend food, baby dolls, play clothes and an iron, etc. There was also a "construction" area that the boys loved. It had big blocks you could use to build walls and toy equipment, etc. I guess it would be crazy to have a sandbox in there since it's indoors?

Am I the only one for which the playroom concept hasn't worked well? In our last house, we had a daylight basement and I painted murals on the walls, made a castle playhouse in a corner and put a swing up in the beam. They did love the swing, but if I wasn't down there, the toys just migrated right upstairs and they were with me. For flooring, I would look at some of Tarkett's no glue vinyl. It has a cushion and has the roads for driving cars. I put the glow in the dark stars floor in my youngest's bedroom. Spills wipe easily and it is easy to change as they grow. I chose this for my oldest two son's bedrooms and it looks like punched metal. Very cool. Remember that if the toys are all over the house (basement, other rooms for games) you will end up chasing them all over the house. I would want to consolidate storage. I really prefer laundry baskets for most toy storage. It allows for easy change and the dump factor is good, while not being deep like a tradional toy chest. My youngest is now 6, but when they were smaller I kept on of those bigger Little Tyke climbing things in the room. See if you can hang a swing from a ceiling beam. By far the best indoor toy. You just have to keep "stuff" out of the swing zone. The blackboard paint sounds fun. You can also leave the windows bare and use glass markers which just wash off. I have found child sized tables don't always allow for enough room for projects. I have a round coffee table which has small chairs I've picked up different places. If I was going to do it again, I would buy a kitchen table at the thrift store and cut down the legs to use as a craft table. It would wipe easier than my coffee table. If you do use any type of bookcases, I wouldn't have them project out from the wall. Be sure and attach them to the wall with L brackets to eliminate the tip factor if someone decides to climb. And mine always have climbed. I made our inside playhouse out of a 4' x 8' piece of plywood. Cut in half and put at a 90 degree angle with L bracket, it went right into a corner. Since I had 2 boys at that time, I cut it so it was shaped like a castle and painted the wall corner to match. They would crawl in there with pillows. At two, I can't think your child will spend much time in there alone, so be prepared to make a corner for yourself with a rocker or comfortable chair. I would also just pick an easy decorating theme. Primary colors is the easiest. So much stuff is really cute, but they grow very fast. A four year old just isn't thrilled with those bunnies like they are at two. I've seen the splattered paint floor idea. You have to leave the plywood subfloor bare and paint in and seal. I wouldn't care for it unless the paint splatters were planned. As part of the decorating, I would pick a spot for a growth chart. Put in on a board or something, so in case you do end up moving you don't have to cut a chunck of the drywall out. I knew someone who actually ended up having to do that because she couldn't leave the pencil marks behind. I had to paint over ours when we moved. Sigh. Have fun! Gloria

Some suggestions: --Remove, remove, remove gigantic blue chair/beanbag. You have a massive sofa which is sucking up most of the space and light in your room. Get rid of Big Blue today! --Replace the kids' storage cabinet under the window and the cabinet under your TV with a very long, low, wide shelving with baskets, which is the only place the children's toys will go. The shelves should run from one end of that wall right to the edge of the stairs. Rotate kid's toys out elsewhere so that you only have one storage center for them. --Swing the sofa around so that half of it is under the window and the other half is facing the TV and new storage. Move it forward enough so that you create an entryway from the front door with the back of the sofa. --Orientation here isn't right, but here's how to use the entry space you create once the sofa is moved forward, the blue chair is gone. Wouldn't you want your living room to look a little like this? Alternate layout: Bring sofa toward TV wall as suggested but forward enough so that you can use the corner created behind the sofa, that's unused now, for a small play area for the children. Put easel there, some small chairs. We don't have measurements, so I'm not sure how much space you might have to work with. --Decluttering should come first, but if you see some examples of layouts that would really work for you, then move that sofa now. Forget about pillows, throws, etc. Down the road get a really nice art work and those lovely Roman shades Nancy suggested to pull the eye away from the massive sofa. --Going forward: Get two small leather storage ottomans, not one big one. (Measure how much space they'll take up--I'm just showing this one as an example. They're not hard to find in all colors. You want soft corners for the kids' safety.) Pick storage ottomans in a light, pretty color that will echo some art work or Roman shades: