populuxe

A few weeks ago I was surprised to find a new playroom on the ground level had opened up for the kiddies. They threw us a party including juice, cookies and toys galore! I am so amazed by this playroom. We have a playroom on the 3rd floor but it was starting to get a little too small for all the kids. There are so many kids who live at the Octagon. Most of the kids are from other countries. A lot of United Nations families live here. Grayson has friends from Japan, China, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, and more.

The kids sure do need it in the winter time when they can't go outside to play. The playroom is huge and filled with the most amazing toys. The furniture includes Ikea sofas, funky beanbag chairs, blonde wood bookshelves and oh my gosh, Eames Eiffel Chairs by Herman Miller. Wow!

Grayson and his buddies enjoy the playroom so much. We go there almost every day to play. I had to find out more about the playroom and how it came to be.

more after the jump

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An interior decorator was hired to design the furniture and walls. It was one of our own Octagon moms Kylie Gildea who brought the playroom to life by choosing the toys for the playroom.

Kylie was kind enough to answer a few questions for my blog. Kylie is from Australia and her husband is from England. Their girls are Paige who is 3 and Ava who is 1.

Kylie says:

I have lived in the building since the year it opened and the the playroom was originally supposed to be down there. The 3rd floor playroom was supposed to be temporary and just ended up staying that way. It was clear last year (this time actually last year) that the playroom was getting too busy for the building and the small area wasn't working well at certain times so I tried to encourage management to seek down there or elsewhere where possible. The answer was not going so well back then and so a few of the mums in the building (some of which have now moved out) helped me to push it and it finally worked.

The 3rd floor playroom toys were done my myself (with help from other mums) last year and the ones that have held up well are the wooden ones and I guess they look great too, so that is why I tried to keep them that way downstairs too. I spent a lot of time on the web looking for sites for this playroom that have these kind of toys along with brochures that I keep for myself for ideas for the girls too at special times of the year... ie for xmas & birthday gifts.

I have put forward a wooden bus which would be great and I know everyone wants it, I have just been asking everyone to contact the manager Barbara and push it if we can and she is still thinking about it...

http://www.guidecraft.com/product/20536/G82101/_/School_Bus_Playtime_Loft

I also have a list of some other toys and I think she wanted to hold off at the moment and see how the room goes.

Thank you Octagon and thank you Kylie for the wonderful new playroom.

Grayson, Shusuke, Cameron and Margaret.

Grayson loves the ride on wheely bug and bee. They can be found at Sensational Beginnings. $79.95

Grayson likes to chill out on the Eames Eiffel Chair by Herman Miller DWR.com $249

An alligator see saw, what fun!

Grayson and Shu are like King Arthur and his knights of the round table.
Anatex Mini Circle of Fun from Simply Kids Toys $224.99