Designing a playroom is one of those projects that sounds straightforward until you are in the middle of it.
What equipment belongs in the space? How should it be arranged? What works with the ceiling height, the natural light, the existing architecture? How do you create something that is genuinely beautiful — not just functional — while also serving your child's specific developmental needs?
These are not simple questions. And for many families, the uncertainty of getting it wrong — spending significantly on equipment that doesn't work together, or a layout that feels chaotic rather than intentional — is what stops them from moving forward at all.
Smart-E was designed to solve exactly this.
What Smart-E Is
Smart-E is Smart Playrooms®' virtual design service — a professional playroom design experience delivered entirely online, at a fraction of the cost of traditional interior design.
Working with a Smart Playrooms® designer, you receive a fully realized design concept for your space: equipment selection tailored to your child's age, interests, and sensory needs; a spatial layout that works with your room's specific dimensions and features; a color and aesthetic direction that integrates with your home; and a curated product list that takes all the guesswork out of purchasing.
The result is a playroom designed with intention — not assembled by trial and error.
How the Process Works
Smart-E is designed to be simple and efficient for busy families. Here is what the process looks like from start to finish:
Step 1: Share Your Space You begin by submitting information about your room — dimensions, photos, ceiling height, existing features, and any constraints we should know about. You also share information about your child or children: their ages, their interests, their sensory needs, and any specific goals you have for the space.
Step 2: Design Consultation Your Smart Playrooms® designer reviews everything you have shared and begins developing your design concept. This phase includes equipment selection, spatial planning, and aesthetic direction — all considered together, rather than in isolation.
Step 3: Receive Your Design You receive a complete design package: a visual concept for your space, a curated equipment and product list with everything you need to bring it to life, and clear guidance on layout and installation.
Step 4: Shop and Build With your design in hand, you shop directly from Smart Playrooms® — often finding that the equipment list includes pieces you would not have thought to combine, configured in ways that make the most of your specific space. Many families find that their Smart-E investment pays for itself many times over in avoided purchasing mistakes alone.
What Smart-E Includes
A Smart-E design package is comprehensive. It covers:
- Equipment selection — every piece chosen for developmental purpose, spatial fit, and aesthetic coherence
- Layout plan — a spatial arrangement designed for your room's specific dimensions and features
- Color and aesthetic direction — palette, wallpaper recommendations from our Wallpaper collection, and lighting guidance
- Decorative elements — including options from The Karri Collection and Neon Signs that complete the room's visual identity
- Product list — a complete, clickable shopping list of everything in your design
Who Smart-E Is For
Smart-E is designed for any family who wants a playroom that is genuinely well-designed — not just well-equipped.
It is particularly valuable for:
Families starting from scratch — an empty room or a space being repurposed, where the full design needs to be conceived from the beginning.
Families who have tried and aren't happy — a space that has accumulated equipment without a clear vision, that feels cluttered or doesn't function the way it should.
Families with specific needs — a child with sensory processing differences, a multi-child household with different requirements, or a space with unusual dimensions or constraints.
Families who care about aesthetics — those for whom it matters that the playroom is a beautiful space, not just a functional one. Smart-E ensures that developmental purpose and design intention are considered together, never traded off against each other.
The Smart-E Difference
What makes Smart-E different from simply shopping our collections — or from working with a generalist interior designer — is the combination of design expertise and developmental knowledge that informs every recommendation.
Our designers understand child development. They know which equipment serves which sensory and motor needs. They know how to design a space that works for a three-year-old today and a seven-year-old in four years. They know how to balance active and calm zones, how to manage the acoustic and aesthetic demands of a high-use children's space, and how to create something that parents are genuinely proud to have in their home.
That expertise, delivered virtually, is what Smart-E offers.
Smart-E and The Karri Collection
For families interested in The Karri Collection — our line of exclusively designed pieces available only through Smart Playrooms® — Smart-E is the ideal way to incorporate them.
The Karri Collection pieces are designed to anchor a room aesthetically. A Smart-E designer can show you exactly how to build a space around them — which equipment complements them, which colors and materials work alongside them, and how to create a cohesive look that feels considered from every angle.
Change the Way Your Kids Play®
Ready to design your playroom with intention?
Book a Smart-E session and receive a complete, professional design for your space — or explore our Portfolio to see what intentional playroom design looks like in real homes.
