Our little playroom is the heart of our NYC apartment. Our 3 girls share a bedroom, but spend the majority of their time at home playing in this room! When selecting artwork for the space, we wanted to include large playroom portraits of each of the girls.
Several years ago we hung large photos of Mabel and Matilda. These playroom portraits captured the girls taking some of their first steps during the week they each turned 1 year old. During the week of Margaret’s 1st birthday, we captured photos of some of her first steps also. We updated the gallery wall in the playroom to include her new portrait!
We live in a railroad-style apartment, with a series of rooms that connect to one another in a long line, like train cars. In the middle of our apartment, we have a 14ft by 7ft wide room that we’ve turned into a playroom for the girls. We removed the door that separated the playroom from the living room and added a baby gate. This baby gate helps to separate Margaret from her sisters when the older girls are playing with play sets that have small pieces.
The playroom sets the girls up for hours of imaginative play each day. Their small playroom has no storage cabinets or closets, so we keep a few large items out, and everything else is stored in the toy rotation closet. We installed two shelves along one of the walls as a table and play surface. We also added three chairs to the space, one of which we found as a “Trash to Treasure” find!
Our gallery wall was inspired by a blog from “Chris Loves Julia”. They shared that inexpensive engineering prints can be turned into modern, large-scale portraits! We chose to purchase 24 x 36 inch Craig Frames (also available in a set of 2). These have a modern wood look and complement a large black and white photo. Then it was time to choose photos and print!
First I edited color photos of the girls and turned each of them into black and white. Then I increased the level of exposure and added additional contrast. This technique helps improve the quality of the printing. Then I headed to Staples to print them. When printing the photos, we had the option of printing on large-scale copy paper or poster paper. Printing on large-scale copy paper is a fraction of the cost of printing on poster paper. We printed each of the 24 x 36 inch photos for our gallery wall for less than $5 per sheet.
Our Playroom Portrait Wall is now complete!
Thanks for Pinning: Playroom Portraits!
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This post contains affiliate links. We may make a small commission for purchases made through these links with no additional fee to the customer. We only link to products we use and love! Thank you for supporting our blog!
Tyler Moore is the creator of the “Tidy Dad” Instagram, TikTok, and website. A public school teacher in New York City, husband, and father of three young daughters, he has been featured on Good Morning America and in The Washington Post, The New York Times, New York Post, Better Homes & Gardens Secrets of Getting Organized magazine, Apartment Therapy, and many podcasts including HGTV and Minimalist Moms. During the school year, he lives with his wife, Emily, a pediatric occupational therapist, and three daughters in Queens, New York. In the summer, they spend as much time as possible in their small but tidy cottage in the Poconos.
Our little playroom is the heart of our NYC apartment. Our 3 girls share a bedroom, but spend the majority of their time at home playing in this room! When selecting artwork for the space, we wanted to include large playroom portraits of each of the girls.
Several years ago we hung large photos of Mabel and Matilda. These playroom portraits captured the girls taking some of their first steps during the week they each turned 1 year old. During the week of Margaret’s 1st birthday, we captured photos of some of her first steps also. We updated the gallery wall in the playroom to include her new portrait!
We live in a railroad-style apartment, with a series of rooms that connect to one another in a long line, like train cars. In the middle of our apartment, we have a 14ft by 7ft wide room that we’ve turned into a playroom for the girls. We removed the door that separated the playroom from the living room and added a baby gate. This baby gate helps to separate Margaret from her sisters when the older girls are playing with play sets that have small pieces.
The playroom sets the girls up for hours of imaginative play each day. Their small playroom has no storage cabinets or closets, so we keep a few large items out, and everything else is stored in the toy rotation closet. We installed two shelves along one of the walls as a table and play surface. We also added three chairs to the space, one of which we found as a “Trash to Treasure” find!
Our gallery wall was inspired by a blog from “Chris Loves Julia”. They shared that inexpensive engineering prints can be turned into modern, large-scale portraits! We chose to purchase 24 x 36 inch Craig Frames (also available in a set of 2). These have a modern wood look and complement a large black and white photo. Then it was time to choose photos and print!
First I edited color photos of the girls and turned each of them into black and white. Then I increased the level of exposure and added additional contrast. This technique helps improve the quality of the printing. Then I headed to Staples to print them. When printing the photos, we had the option of printing on large-scale copy paper or poster paper. Printing on large-scale copy paper is a fraction of the cost of printing on poster paper. We printed each of the 24 x 36 inch photos for our gallery wall for less than $5 per sheet.
Our Playroom Portrait Wall is now complete!
Thanks for Pinning: Playroom Portraits!
____________________________________________________________________________
This post contains affiliate links. We may make a small commission for purchases made through these links with no additional fee to the customer. We only link to products we use and love! Thank you for supporting our blog!
Tyler Moore is the creator of the “Tidy Dad” Instagram, TikTok, and website. A public school teacher in New York City, husband, and father of three young daughters, he has been featured on Good Morning America and in The Washington Post, The New York Times, New York Post, Better Homes & Gardens Secrets of Getting Organized magazine, Apartment Therapy, and many podcasts including HGTV and Minimalist Moms. During the school year, he lives with his wife, Emily, a pediatric occupational therapist, and three daughters in Queens, New York. In the summer, they spend as much time as possible in their small but tidy cottage in the Poconos.