Ryan and I worked hard this weekend and made some well needed changes to our living room. As much as I wanted to hold onto 'my' living room, I decided it also needed to be a 'family room' space for Jack. He has been very mobile and needed a place of his own. The room needed to be safe for him to travel about. We still have some updating to do, like getting rid of the treacherous TV stand, removing old outlets, and possibly adding a tent for him. We have decided to tackle the most prominent need first, which is a baby gate. I lovingly refer to it as a 'baby activity center'. I wanted to create a space where, not only did it benefit us, but it benefited Jack. Ryan created a 3 panel activity center that separates the living room from the family room. The baby center is made of 2x2's and 1/8" particle board. The panel on the far left has been finished with magnetic paint, the middle panel houses a small chalk board ( I plan to write each day's date or a small note to Jack), and the third board is a peg board with yarn woven through it. The yarn of course is ombre style. In the future we will be able to add pegs to the board, this will allow Jack to interact with it on a 'fine motor' level. My goal with the magnetic board is to place photographs of family members.
The other 'renovation' that we did this weekend was adding an intentional space for Jack and us to relax together. I saw an idea on pinterest that consisted of plastic gutters to make floating bookshelves. I took the idea and ran with it. We transformed an unused space into a small reading nook for Jack, and us too!
