Laura Zastrow
A second-floor kitchen, a remnant from a 1920s two-flat, is transformed as an art room in Annie and Tom Isenbarger's home.
"The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things." That thought is attributed to the ancient philosopher Plato. The Greek sage is not best known for his home-decorating advice. Yet it's likely, given this statement, that he'd be of the opinion that kids, who often learn best through interacting with their environments, can greatly benefit from a terrific home playroom to call their own.
Well over 2,000 years later, contemporary Madison parents Tami and Hamang Patel, both attorneys, couldn't agree more. They had no kids when they moved to their Nakoma neighborhood home from Chicago nearly 10 years ago. But by the time Mira, now 8, and Ana, 7, were born, the couple knew they'd need to carve out a kid-dedicated space somewhere in their stately brick colonial. "The basement was dry, but an absolute disaster when we moved in," says Tami. "I knew, though, with vision and planning, it could turn into something really special."
Tami humorously refers to her basement remodel as an exercise in the "power of paint," as it took three coats of sunny paint to brighten up the lower level's walls. The couple also replaced windows with new energy-efficient models in the interest of bringing more light into the room.
But both Tami and her husband gravitate toward a modern decorating style, so they decided to leave the mechanicals of the basement's relatively high ceilings exposed. "The rest of our house is fairly traditional," says Tami. "It's really fun having a place in our current home that reminds us of the loft we came from in Chicago's River North neighborhood."
The unfinished ceiling is just one of many contemporary touches in the playroom. The floor, also painted, this time with a water-resistant Benjamin Moore epoxy, is covered with multicolored modular carpet tiles from FLOR.
"The brand isn't just eco-friendly, but also gives you the chance to really customize for your needs," Tami says. "And it's definitely handy to have the individual squares when things get spilled."
The playroom's showcase feature is a handcrafted dollhouse Tami fashioned as a surprise holiday gift to house her daughters' impressive American Girl doll collection.
"When Mom was building it, we thought it was just going to be shelves," says Mira excitedly. "We wondered why she was putting a roof on it."
But when they came down Christmas morning and saw the impressive 7' x 6' structure tucked against a back wall, they couldn't wait to start building furniture of their own. The walls are even papered in wrapping paper.
Wallpaper makes a second appearance in the playroom in the form of art on the basement walls.
"I scoured the Internet for end rolls of Marimekko-esque, Scandinavian designs," says Tami, "and then cut and adhered them to fiberboard canvases using wallpaper glue.... Original art, that isn't made by my daughters that is, is expensive. These brightly colored posters create a custom look for a pretty reasonable price."
The room also hosts craft and dramatic play areas. On rainy days, or in the dead of winter, tumbling mats, a mini-trampoline and the roller skates can come out.
But play space at the Patels' isn't limited to the below-ground level. Two years ago the family began drafting a plan for a 7' x 8' playhouse to be constructed in an underutilized area of their backyard. "Having a playhouse was something I always dreamed of growing up, and my dad, who lives about an hour south of Madison, kind of regretted never having built one for us," says Tami.
So when the time came for the family to break ground on their "second home," Tami's father was the first to jump on board to help. The girls pitched in too, taking the lead on painting the interior walls and laying the peel-and-stick laminate floor.
Tami claims that the playhouse, which boasts real windows and window boxes, as well as a working mailbox, isn't just for the kids. "I sneak out here quite a bit myself. I've set up a small desk, and the wireless works. I'm glad the kids have agreed to share their play space with me," she says with a smile.
Erin Arango-Escalante and her husband, Alejandro, haven't found a need to build any special structures in their Fitchburg backyard. Instead, the goal for this couple's playroom design was to bring many of the hallmarks of outdoor amusement into their finished basement space.
When the Arango-Escalantes moved into their newly constructed home in the Oak Meadow subdivision in 2008, the basement was basically unfinished.
"Our oldest child, Liliana, was only about eight months old at the time, so a playroom wasn't our first priority," says Erin, an assistant director with the WIDA consortium in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. "But in 2009, and again in 2011, I got involved in helping design a child care playground and neighborhood park and became really interested in what makes a quality play space."
When Erin got pregnant with son Julian in 2012, the time seemed right to figure out how to convert their lower level into an engaging and interactive playroom.
"My background is in special ed," says Erin, "so I wanted everything we chose for the playroom to be purposeful. Liliana has some sensory issues, so we decided to go for lots of physical-activity choices. She's definitely a monkey bar kid."
The playroom has a trapeze and a covered hanging swing dangling from the basement ceilings, as well as a large climbing wall and 20-foot zip-line that extends the length of the space. "My dad, a professional contractor in New York City, came to live with us for two months and worked with me on getting everything built," says Alejandro, who works in finance at Kraft/Oscar Mayer. "Since you're dealing with safety issues when installing play equipment inside, you really need to make sure everything is properly reinforced."
Lily reports that "when my friends come over they all want to do the zip-line. No one else I know has anything like this in their playroom."
The Arango-Escalantes also made sure there were places for the kids to just chill, as well. In another section of the basement, Alejandro and his father were able to construct an interior playhouse. "It's definitely Julian's favorite spot in the room to cozy up with a book," says Erin.
The kids aren't the only ones who hang out in the finished basement. Adjacent to the kids' play space, they've built a high-tech home theater with over 1,000 feet of speaker wire behind the walls.
"I used an old-school protractor to get the angle of the speakers just right," says Alex. "It's great having both rooms in the same basement space. The kids can play in their playroom, and Erin and I can play in ours."
Not every unique kid space in town is housed on a home's lower level. When Annie Isenbarger, an elementary educator; her husband, Tom, an attorney; and their two young daughters purchased their home on Madison's near west side, they found a built-in opportunity for all-family creativity on their second floor.
"The house is originally from the 1920s, but while it was being built the owner's husband got sick and passed away, so she turned it into a two-flat," says Annie. "It was rental property until we purchased it a few years back and reconverted it to a single-family home."
With the shift back to a single-family home, there was a second kitchen on the upper level among the bedrooms that was no longer needed. "I think it was Tom's idea, when he saw the beautiful antique sink in there, that the space should be an art room. It all just came together from there," Annie remembers.
They saved the original cupboards and moved Annie's parents' former dining room table into the room: "The piece has lots of meaning for me, and it's enjoying its new life, getting stained with new things, as an arts and crafts table."
With a fresh coat of paint on the walls and a large window that looks down on the side yard, the space is cheerful, bright and highly conducive to the many projects, often featuring rainbows and butterflies, that the girls create in the space. Their elementary school-aged daughter says, "My family calls it the art room, but sometimes I call it my office. I come up here every day to do my work."
There is no shortage of materials for the girls to work with. Behind the cabinet doors and neatly placed on shelves are bins upon bins of art supplies. "My friends joke that I am such a teacher," says Annie, pointing to the impressive collection of pompoms, sequins, buttons and decorative edge scissors she has carefully curated.
When asked if the family plans to keep the space an art room, even after the girls are older, Annie says, "I don't think being creative is something you outgrow. A place dedicated to creativity is something wonderful to have in a home at any age."
And while Plato probably wasn't thinking about glitter, finger paint or even Play-Doh when he made his statement about children's education, he'd likely agree with this sentiment when it comes to at-home play spaces.
