Turning Small Open Den into Two Year Old's Room.. Need YOUR Help.

If the opening for the room is the size of two doors..you can do what my folks did for me when i was a child, they installed closet doors to the opening. My room was the small dinning room which was next to the livingroom, den and kitchen. And I had a box type fan to drown out the noise at night. Also they put a large hook on the wall so I could hang up the few clothes that NEEDED hanging as to the tall dresser (chest of drawers)plus i had one of the hall closets too.

I read what everybody has said about a door. There is obviously an opening or open doorway into the apartment, and as long as there is a window, I see no reason why you can't turn the den into a room for your 2 yo. I'm assuming this will not be your home forever, so for now, I think it's fine. An armoire is a good idea. A set of shelves and a toychest. And of course a cute little bed. If you need to hide the clutter, the rod and curtain idea will work, or get a decorative screen.

You can also use a curtain to make it private. I am not sure how large the space is between the 2 walls, but a rod and some curtains can make it all her own! Good luck

Safety wise, a bedroom should have two exits. A door and a window that she can fit through... those are the only bedroom requirements.

I would suggest putting up a shower curtain rod (or similar rods can found in the curtain rod section if the shower curtain rod is too long). You can hang curtains from the shower curtain rod or even a blanket with saftey pins attaching it around the rod would work if you can't afford curtains. You wouldn't have to "install" anything this way and it would give your daughter some privacy. You could make signs to put next to the "door" that say "come in" or "I want my privacy right now" so that your daughter can choose when she wants someone to come in (if she's old enough for that). For inside the room, if she is old enough, I would suggest letting her decide what is most important to her to have in her room. For sure, her bed and a dresser for her clothes. If she has hang up clothes you could do a similar layout as with the door; use a shower curtain or similar curtain rod and use her dresser and bed as support and put her hang up clothes between the two. Shoes can always go under her bed. Hope this helps!

T., the curtain idea sounds good but your description of the room makes it sound like you may need a larger divider. You could, if you're allowed to put anything on the ceiling, drape fabric (as opposed to hanging curtains on a rod) by using heavy-duty tacks to attach very lightweight fabric to the ceiling--? That might cover a larger area that a rod just won't handle. But whatever you do, please think about the safety aspect -- if your daugher hangs or pulls on a "tension rod" (the kind held up by its own tension, without any brackets attached to a wall or doorway), she could easily pull the rod right down onto her. Yep, the tacks could come down if pulled too, but that might be better than being hit with a rod. Also, using furniture to build a wall could be an issue if she ever climbs on or rocks the furniture; it could tip over on her and a dresser tipping over on a small child could be extremely dangerous. I'd avoid the furniture and find some way to use fabric, preferably with a rod mounted with brackets. Sorry to sound like a safety cop but I know a family whose toddler was hurt by a tipping dresser and they were fortunate it wasn't more serious...Let us know what you try.

At our weekend place, we have, litterally, a cubby space (originally was to be used for storage, but we decided not to enclose it as fit a single mattress perfectly) off of our living room that we use for our 3 year old. I hung a curtain up to close off the area if he wants. There is a little extra space length-wise so I added a few small bookshelves (the put-together-yourself kind that you can find at Target) for his books/toys, nightlight. Also put up a poster with pictures of him, his sister, the dogs... It's temporary situation until we finish building, but it works for now

I know I am late responding but also check out Freecycle.org if you are on a $0 budget. People can be quite generous and you might be surprised at what you can find!

Any play area benefits from storage space, not only dividing it or hiding it.

I would use low shelving, about two rows high - those that have square shapes shelves for colorful boxes. That is a great divider, and has storage in it at the same time. It being low means it won't fall on your kid. Ikea sells those with very reasonable price, and you can get it in few colors to match the rest of your furnishing.

Curtains work only if they are made of the same fabric as the window treatments in your living room. Otherwise, forget them, they look cheesy really easily.

She might want to have a small table and chair in there for arts and crafts, as well as an easel for doodling. As long as the middle of the play area floor is empty for spreading out the toys, the space works.

You can also put there a rug that has same colors as the storage boxes on the divider shelf.

She would need some kind of door system but since she is so little what about something like a curtin or shower curtain type of thing, you would not have to worry about her getting her fingers and you can use a shower curtain rod that just uses force of its own to stay up and the only way they fall is wrong instation or hanging on the rod. To if you have company it also makes it so your friends don't see kids toys all over, or in her room. It might not be a classy as a door or what not but it works for her privatice and to hid toys hope this idea helps.

T.,

I know your problem. The solution that we came up with was to use an armoir, dresser, book shelves and toy shelves to be the walls. the armoir works best against the wall that is shared with the living room. Next to that put a dresser or bookshelves to make it long enough. Put her bed in, preferably against the wall opposite form the armoir. and then the "entry" wall can be a half wall using book shelves or toy shelves. We used some fabric that looked like being in an aquarium to complete the wall (stapled it to the ceiling) and for the door we used a fish design shower curtain.The armoir, dressser, if she doesn't already have her own, can be found at a thrift store and she can help you paint it or design it to make it her own. The book shelves, toy shelves may be at the thrift store or you can go to wal-mart, which is where I found the curtain, curtain rod(Tension rod between the bookshelves and wall, and the fabric. If you'd like to contact me feel free. Have fun, I hope that she enjoys her new room. Welcome to the world of "home" improvements.

Hi T.,

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V. B.

If your den is as small as my den, space will be important too. I have seen at IKEA great ideas for utilizing space. They have hanging baskets for toys that will take up no room and are really cheap. If you have time just go walk around someplace like that for ideas to make it a room. I think the curtain rod is the perfect idea too.

Curtains are a wonderful thing. I have made room dividers and doors out of curtains. A cheap and fun way is to use sheets that have kid scenes on them. I bought some cheap tinker bell sheets and plain pink ones. Sewed them together with a pocket and bought a cheap curtain rod and brackets. I hung them from the ceiling and instantly made a new room. My girls loved it. For any materials you may need, I strongly recommend the Habitat for Humanity stores. They have nice stuff really cheap. It cost us under $20 to buy the materials to make my daughter a loft bed. I have done a lot of these projects so feel free to email me with any questions or concerns. Good luck and have fun with it.

P.

You could always get one of those cheap curtain rods that adjust and would fit inside the doorway (without attatching to the wall), and get a pretty curtain to cover the doorway to make it her own private place. You could help in picking it out, maybe give her some choices so that it matches whatever is on the otherside of the doorway as well!
K.

Check craigslist online and see what you can find second hand in your area. I think the idea of the curtain rod and a pretty curtain is great, but if you get a screen that has large panels on it (assuming it is cheap) she could possibly paint her side to dress it up with her art work and you could paint the other side to match your decor.

As far as what to get her for furniture, our children's rooms had a mattress/boxspring (got when they left the crib, low to the ground so no worry about falling out), a small book shelf and a nightstand or small short dresser (for clock, lamp, etc). We kept toys out of the room, but we also had an additional space for them to play.

Kids don't need much, but if it's a multipurpose room and you want to put the toys in it, look for a good second hand toybox and paint it pretty. We have one that was from my childhood. We use those big plastic buckets too. Kids have a hard time at a young age figuring out how to put everything away in lots of little places. We put all doll related things in one and most other things in another. Bookshelves are great for getting clutter up as well. We are huge book people so we have one in each kids room, full. When she's old enough to color, work puzzles and draw... you can get one of those fold away buffet tables that has an adjustable height. Another multi-purpose item. You can use it when you are entertaining or working on a project and it can grow with her.

Good luck. She will love having her own space, so no need to worry too much.

Liz

p.s. We LOVE those large wall stickers. One child has Tinkerbell and Ariel, the other has Dora and a couple of the Tinkerbell and Ariel ones too. They are about $15 a package and they can really transform a space. Lowes also sells large decorative stickers like huge flower shapes and cirlces. A fun way to jazz the walls up without any commitment or wall damage.

you could always get a shower rod(the kind that has a spring in it and it expands and pushes against the wall) and hang some neat little curtains on it. you could get 2 sets and sew then together, one for her side like Dora or princes, and one that would be attractive in the livingroom. Does she have a room right now? if so what I did with my open den was turn it in to the toy room. All of her toys were right there to play with and when she was punished or going to bed in her room there were no toys to distract her. I also used the curtain Idea. if she doesnt have a room already, I would look for a bed on craigslist that has drawers under it for storage or a cheap entertainment center to put all her toys and stuff in. they work great for toys becasue of all the cubby holes they have. Hope this helps!

how about one of those fun hippy beaded curtains?
:) khairete
S.