I often come across beautiful images of spacious playrooms. These playrooms have zones for different activities like an arts and craft or a gross motor area. Or I see photos of gorgeous bedrooms with Montessori floor beds shaped like little houses. They have fluffy rugs and the most dreamy decor you can imagine. Unfortunately for me, I don’t have a home with that kind of space.

My daughter shares my bedroom. Her play area consists of a shelf, a front-facing bookcase, and a set of drawers behind the sofa. And that’s it. Many of my fellow city-dwellers here in the UK are likely in a similar situation as they try to parent while saving for a bigger home.

But rest assured, we’ve done pretty well given the limited space we have. I’ve tried my best to create an attractive and inviting play area for my toddler. She doesn’t seem to mind the lack of space one bit!

When my daughter was around 7 months old, she needed an upgrade from her small basket of toys. At that time, I explored various low open-shelving options. This is typical in a Montessori setting. I wanted to set up her toys in an inviting and accessible way. After much deliberation, I opted for the Lovevery play shelf.

I had always assumed I would choose the more economical Ikea Kallax unit which is a perfectly good option. However, the in-built storage of the Lovevery shelf swung it for me in the end. It was an expensive choice. I agonised over it. But a year and a half on, I can honestly say I have no regrets about it at all. It has provided an attractive focal point for her toys. It is great for creating displays on special occasions as well as providing me with much-needed storage space.

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The shelf came with two Lovevery trays to display activities. I added some colourful baskets from Respiin*, and a few from Ikea and Amazon. I think the tray with three sections was just an impulse buy from Flying Tiger that we use for colour sorting activities.

*If you want to get them from Babi Pur as I did, feel free to use my referral link for a discount.

I was also on the lookout for a front facing bookcase to display just a handful of books for her at a time. Again, I searched high and low for the best option for the space we had. I opted for the one created by Montessori and Me, a family run business from the US. It’s worked out perfectly for us and displays around 8 books at a time. Just enough for young children to cope with.

For extra storage, I bought an Ikea Trofast drawer unit to keep out-of-rotation toys. The toys and activities are organised with all the pieces together in zip bags. The felt flowers from Lovevery’s ‘The Helper’ playkit and their colourful pat bells from the music set enhance the decor of the space beautifully.

I picked up a 1.8m by 1.2m foam play mat with a Scandi design on sale from Soft Floor kids which fits the space perfectly.

Lastly, I have the Ikea Hol (storage unit that doubles as a coffee) which sits alongside my sofa to hold the bigger toys my toddler has. These include things like her ball trackers and Race and Chase ramp from Lovevery. It’s a nice solution to keep bigger items neatly stored away when out of use.

I hope this post shows that you can set up a beautiful and well-loved play space even if you live in a small space as we do. What about you? Have you got any tips or ideas to share on making it work in smaller spaces?