YS Reboot at LPL

For the past few years, we have had a few issues popping up in our Children's Room that were a direct result of how that space is designed.  To begin with, we had this awesome bridge that welcomes you into the room where you would see a great little preschool play area. 

The bad news was that our littles often were drawn back across the bridge and would try to escape.  As you went into the room, you'd see picture book city, then some tables, then the big kid books and a row of computers and ipads.  At the far end was a picture book display space and some puzzles and more tables.  This meant our big kids on the computers had toddlers hanging out doing puzzles next to them. 

Our only reading seating for older kids was down the fiction aisles hidden from view.  Parents checking out, were in the middle of the room behind a pillar, so their sightlines were limited.
So, while we loved how welcoming and cheerful our space was, we felt like it could be better.

We decided to kick off the new year with a bang and completely flip our children's space!

We now age backwards from the bridge with our "to be named" tween space filled with computers, board games, book displays and seating options, to a neutral middle grade zone and into a play space that is squared off and much harder to disappear from! 

The feedback we are hearing from parents is overwhelmingly positive.  They love that the play space has a self check station in sight of the toys.  They like how close it is to the restrooms as well.  Families are staying and playing together more often and longer. 

Our big kids REALLY LOVE their own space and are having a great time suggesting names for it.  And everyone keeps telling us how much larger and more useful the room feels.

The moral for us is to pay attention to what feels wrong in your space, or those little daily annoyances and consider how layout and furnishings contribute to them.  We purchased nothing new really to accomplish this, but the changes we made have highlighted our collection and the third place feel we always wanted.