Any suggestions

[mac78]

You probably all have me figured out by now, I am constantly thinking about....what can I do next.

I am a home daycare provider. My family room is my main daycare space. It is a large room, approx 16 x 25. I have the back 1/3 split off by my love seat.

I want to come up with something to make a "better" partition so that I don't have to "look" at the stuff all the time, I never seem to get away from it.

I can always use more storage, so I thought about shelving units to form a half wall, but I don't really want the back of the shelves facing the main part of the room which is what everyone will see.

I thought about suspending a curtain divider.....but can just see little Johnny ripping it out of the ceiling.

I thought about wall papering the back of something, but what? And how would I make it stay in place.

Whatever I do, it has to be childproof, pushover proof, etc.

Whatever I do, only has to be about 6 to 8 feet wide, a little higher than what a couch/chair is high. My goal is to "hide" the stuff back there a little.

I think I want to do something white. I eventually want to get a white tv stand. (Well, not from Sauders who ditched my hubby though. grrrrrr

You ladies are all innovative, do you have any suggestions for me.

Thanks for any ideas you may have to pass on.

[shabbychick]

Marie, would it work to put shelves back to back across that part of the room so that there is a front facing each direction? If you got something like the Billy bookcases from Ikea, you could get them with open shelves or doors, or a combination. You can custom order them, I think. They'd fit together perfectly back-to-back. The only issue would be the amount of room they'd take up. If you used a bracket to attach the two backs together, there should be no way even a fully-loaded shelf would fall over. And if you wanted to conceal some of the storage without ordering doors, you could sew little curtains and put them on a tension rod across the fronts. So there's my two-cents worth.

[Heather]

Or.... you know on Craigslist (or similar...) people are getting rid of cupboard doors - you know the ones with the slats - what in the heck are they called???? Well, I'd paint them cottage white (of course) and then hang them from the ceiling and maybe afix them to the floor, if you can. You'd have something that little Johhny (I can't believe YOU'VE got little Johnny to take care of!!!) he couldn't wreck them and you'd get airflow through. Do you know what I'm talking about?

I'm all for the Ikea Billy bookcases, I have them and they cost $$ though. I turned mine sideways so my Boy wouldn't climb them and we use them for toy storage. If you could find them second-hand that would work!

[mac78]

Kind of like shutters? I am actually thinking about painting my family room this weekend. I painted it last year......but not the color I wanted.

[yarborough house]

You could also hit a habitat store and get some kitchen cabinets to use. Get uppers as they are only 12 inches deep then you can either take the doors off or leave them on whatever you want. If you could afford 24 inches of space you could back them to each other and have storage on both sides of the room.
Or you could then paint the backs or even cover them with beadboard - wood or wallpaper. Take a nice slab of wood or some tile to put on top and you are done.

I like Heathers idea of shutters..that would look very cool. You could use plumbing pipe to hook them up. find tall shutters of a couple of shorter ones then put a plumbing flange at the ceiling, hook a pipe a certain size then hook to another plumbing flange that hooks to the top of the shutter. Then do the same thing to hook to the floor.

You could do the same things with doors - they can be made into a wall and would look very cool. They'd be taller but they you could hang things on them..

ahh the ideas that are swirling..must be a new year coming along :)

[Heather]

Yeah, what she said.

[annielinz]

Great ideas so far. Also check craigslist for old TV armoires they are getting rid of due to flat screens.
Heres some pics I found.
The open metal one you could hang curtains on it.

[ChapterTwo]

The ladies came up with quite a few great ideas! I'd think that it is very important that whatever you use cannot topple over. Some kids seem to want to climb lean against anything and everything. And I know that safety is paramount to you!

I just bought one of those tri-fold photo room dividers for a steal ($29.99!) and now I'm worrying that maybe my cats cat knock it over and get hurt.

[mac78]

Great ideas so far. Also check craigslist for old TV armoires they are getting rid of due to flat screens.
Heres some pics I found.
The open metal one you could hang curtains on it.

What great ideas everyone. Thank you. It will give me something to ponder here.

[mac78]

I just went thru my stack of Cottage Living magazines, I came across some room dividers like some of you suggested. Been looking arount the Internet and I found this, and after pricing premade ones, I really like these ideas.

http://www.bhg.com/decorating/do-it-yourself/quick-and-easy-projects/easy-folding-screens/?page=1

[CohenCottage]

Sounds like everyone already had great ideas!! Our Habitat store has lots of shutters and doors for not very much $$, but you might want to test them for lead paint or strip them safely since there will be kids touching them. One of my friends got this tool that heats lead paint and makes it peel off safely. She used it to strip all the doors and trim in her house. Good luck!

[Heather]

Isn't this a cute idea:

[CohenCottage]

I found this picture on the 'life in the fun lane' blog, and it's from the Rachel Ashwell decorating book. Thought it might be a good idea for a screen for you. The textures and colors are so cool, and I love that couch.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2722/4167846692_a080ae9bc7_o.jpg

[mac78]

Thanks for all the great ideas. I sat this weekend pondering what to do what to do. I liked the screen idea, but am afraid it is not "childproof". I love that turning tall white shelf, but have never seen any before.

I thought about a hanging curtain, but because I move my furniture occassionally, I didn't think that would work. Every idea I liked or considered, there was always a safety concern or well if I move the couch it will no longer work concern.

So, Since my biggest peeve is that the toys are always out in the open for me to see, I stole Austin's tall bookcase out of his bedroom. I put most of the toys on the shelves, and decided to put a curtain panel in front of the bookcase.

So, I go to Walmart, find a set of coastal stripped curtains. 2 panels (I thought). I have a tall and a short bookcase to make curtains for. I get home and open the package. My plan was a panel for each bookcase. Curtains would cost under $20 at this point. Get home and there is only 1 panel in the package. Obviously someone took the package back and kept a panel. So now I have to go back to Walmart and return the one panel.

So I go to JoAnn Fabrics website. It showed their decor fabric at 40% to 50% off. So I headed to JoAnns to buy fabric. I knew they had coastal themed fabric and that is what I wanted. I get there, and it was all $9.99 per yard. I asked, and they said it was not on sale. I explained what was on their website, and she pretty much shrugged me off. I bought nothing. I came back home, looked up the site again, and found it again. And it did not say anything about online only sale, just that the Decor Fabrics were 40 to 50% off. GRRRRRR

Why is is that everything I try to do is a disaster.

So, I am going to go buy white twin sheets to make curtain panels for my tall and short bookcase.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I could embellish them a little, I am trying to stay with a coastal cottage theme. I am using a tension rod to hang them.

Thanks ladies. Truly appreciate all your ideas.

[shabbychick]

I'm sorry to hear of all the trouble you've had just trying to get curtains for the book cases! If it were me, I might try stenciling a border along the bottom. Fabric paint isn't very expensive (or fabric pens). I think you can get it at Michaels, and they have stencils, too. You might also consider looking at sheets at Value Village or something. You might be able to find something you could cut up to make a border or ruffle.

[CohenCottage]

personally, i would leave them white...plain white is pretty beachy to me. if you want a curtain that is a little heavier than a sheet, you could also try a canvas dropcloth from the hardware store. i've used them for slipcovers before and will probably make curtains out of them too. i think there is a blog with instructions on how to make the curtains (might be cote de texas, but i'll have to look). tammy/heather/anybody else that is blog addicted...can you remember? it was in somebody's sunroom.

[annielinz]

Cohen I was going to suggest drop clothes too. I made them for the outside and they held up well in the weather.

Heres a blog you should check out she made curtains for her dining room using them and they look great. She a very talented lady.

www.theletteredcottage.net

The first pic is from Laylas( the lettered cottage) dining room

2nd pic is from my yard

[Heather]

OK well I used drop cloths to make my kitchen curtains and then just painted the stripe on them and "hemmed" them with Stitch Witchery (can't sew...).

[mac78]

You ladies are so so talented. What great ideas. I so love your patio and would love to have something like that......thanks for the ideas.