DURING: I love my blue ceiling--it feels like the sky! There were originally only plug-in sconces in here, so we added overhead lighting (thanks to our friends the Porters who are electricians!). I liked the horizontal stripes, so I kept them on one wall. Thank goodness for the TV to keep children entertained during all the work!

AFTER: The brown paint made it feel so much larger! The carpet is made with tactesse fibers, so it's wonderful to just lay down on (or wrestle on as is usually the case in our house!). The couch was a $500 steal at RC Willey--it can be climbed on and ate on, and I don't care because it all wipes off with a damp rag!

This room ended up taking a lot of our hand-me-down furniture, but for as hard as this room gets played in, it's just what it needed. The old drawers hold my fabric, diapers, puzzles, the laptop, and play-doh stuff. I love drawers!

We would love to add a center fireplace with built-ins on either side one day, but for now the hutch we got when we were first married (plus a coat of red paint) work just fine.