A place to work, rest and play (without tears!)

I have seen some amazing ideas by other bloggers for the Tots100 room makeover challenge with RatedPeople.com and I absolutely know I don't stand a chance of winning, but I loved the idea of thinking creatively about making-over a room in your house if you had the money and guts to do it!

So out with sensible, in with adventurous and let's see what we end up with. I make no apologies for  designing our room makeover around Joshua's needs because day to day we have to take his ASD and Sensory issues into consideration in every area of our lives, so in designing a living space, his needs should be a priority too.

The past few days have been difficult for Josh. He has had a major meltdown every day and so my mind has been thinking along the lines of 'what if..."

What if...Joshua had an indoor space where he could get the Occupational Therapy input he needs on a daily basis (the NHS is so under resourced in this respect that he last had a couple of OT sessions in July and the soonest possibility of more sessions is next Easter!!!).

What if...he could have a way of hiding away in his own cocoon when he feels overloaded.

What if...Joshua and his younger brother (who are both homeschooled) had their own space to do their work without distracting each other and with plenty of storage for their school books.

What if...he can practice his handwriting 'BIG' until he has the gross motor skills and muscle tone to help his handwriting improve on paper.

What if ...he can just chill and relax on his favourite character beanbags when he needs some space to calm down...

....whilst looking up at a calm blue sky....

What if....he had somewhere to store all his cuddly toys that are so special to him without mummy always nagging that she is tripping over them....

What if...he has a special play space to learn to develop imaginative play with his little brother and baby sister. Somewhere truly special where grown-ups are not allowed...

(Ironically our understairs cupboard is where we store our old tins of paint and is in our living room which is the only room in the whole house that has not been decorated for well over 10 years).

I love the idea of wall art but have never been bold enough to try it so how about some wall art that says...

And here's plan B... if all the above doesn't work, we need a space for Mummy to escape to instead. So how about a Mummy's Me-Time room. Here's one I made earlier...