I have a five year old daughter at home.  And that means one thing: a mess.  There is stuff everywhere.  It’s as if she’s genetically designed to leave a wake of destruction behind her.  Clothes on the steps.  Crayons under the table.  Barbie’s on top of the TV (the sacrilege!)  It goes on and on.

At first we thought this would be a never ending battle.  It might even be the equivalent of Star Trek’s Kobayashi Maru (an unwinnable test.)  But then we bought a house.  Realizing a house was just a larger place for a mess to develop, we decided our very first DIY project would be to get her room organized and painted.

It was our (apparently foolish) belief that our daughter would want to play more in her room, and therefore bring less of the mess to the rest of the house.

While I think that was a good strategy, it hasn’t completely solved the problem.  And on some days, it hasn’t even made a dent.  The challenge we have is that our house is 101 years old, which means limited storage and play-space in that room.

That’s when I came across this house.

While it has many normal features for a house, there’s one feature that really stands out.  One of the bedrooms has a built-in playroom/fort/cave!

The moment I saw this, I realized it would be perfect for anyone with a young kid.  You could easily turn it into a fort, spaceship, castle, Barbie-ville, or whatever your kid is into.  Plus, this is something I always wanted as a kid.  I forever was planning (or building) tree forts.  I never dreamed I could have one in my own room.  It’s just too cool. 

Do you have a Neat Feature of your own?  Consider submitting it, and we may post it.

It’s funny how your perception changes.  I’ve seen pictures of painted walls before.  But until I wrote a few weeks ago about “what kid wouldn’t want to sleep and play in this room?” I never really paid attention.  But now, of course, I realize that they are everywhere!  It seems that I can’t help but turn around and see a kids room with playfully painted walls (say that three times fast!).

Take, for instance, this great image of a frog playing.

This particular image is in a Cape Cod house.  Now Cape Cod’s tend to feel a little on the small side.  Add the fact that the room itself is only 12x10, and you have a recipe for claustrophobia.  But with the image, and the added sense of depth, it makes the room feel much larger. 

I’m starting to wonder if my parents didn’t hold out on me when I was a kid!

Do you have a Neat Feature of your own?  Consider submitting it, and we may post it. 

The great thing about Neat Features is that they can be anywhere and be just about anything.  Take this room for example.  We all have walls, but not all of us have jungles!

Even the ceiling gets into the act with some nice blue sky and clouds.  I don’t know about you, but with all the grey snowy long winter we’ve had here in Cincinnati, I think I could live with a nice sky blue ceiling!

Do you have a Neat Feature of your own?  Consider submitting it, and we may post it.