Playroom Progress + Upgraded Ikea Cubbies

Happy 2018!  I know... I am a LITTLE behind the ball already this year.  For some reason {#prego} I'm either cleaning out an entire closet or feeling mentally incapable of doing anything.   If you follow me on {insta} then you know we are redoing one of our rooms to be a playroom.  Let's take a quick trip down memory lane...  

This room is what we lovingly called the garage room.  We did almost nothing to it for over two years except fill it with supplies/furniture/trash.  Almost exactly a year ago we finished the room.  

It was so nice having this room finished but we.never.used.it...  I realized we didn't have a need for another TV area and desk.  What we needed was a place for all of Mack's trucks!  

Yayyyy!  The room is already soooo much more practical!  I have a confession... Playrooms are SO hard to design! I wanted the room to be pretty but practical.  Fun for Mack and not make me cringe when I looked at it.  Toys can be just ugly and maybe that makes me sound like a crazy person.  Anyone else agree? 

I started off by looking at storage ideas and I couldn't find anything great.  I'd rather have baskets to put toys in than shelves. Our room is so white and I love that, but that meant no white furniture.  Thankfully I remembered a tutorial done by Young House Love where they wrapped inexpensive Ikea cubbies in stained wood.  

Upgrading these Ikea cubbies was one of our easier DIY projects.  The only annoying part of this project was when we accidentally dumped an expensive paint can from the work table and paint went everywhere.  First you build the Ikea cubbies according to the stellar Ikea directions.  We picked up two of these 2 of these 8ft by 15inch boards from Lowe's.  

1.  Tall Tan Man cut the boards into two - 30 1/8th inch pieces and two - 59 1/4th inch pieces.  

2.  Then he applied pre stain {don't forget this step!!!} then stain the boards your desired color.  I did a stain mixture of Minawax Weathered Oak and Jacobean.     

3.  Now attach the short boards to the short sides first.  Do this by first applying wood glue, using clamps secure the board {you'll have a 1/2 inch lip on the front side of the cubbies}, and then secure the board with a nail gun.  

 4.  Using the same process attach the boards on the long sides.  

Confession time!  I still need to apply a finishing wax... I was a little impatient to get the cubbies styled.  

This project really was so easy and it only cost us $110! 

At some point I would like to get different pillows.  These were ones I already had and I'm not sure I love all the black and white.  Now before you think I am done...

Any ideas you want to send my way would be greatly appreciated!!!