I recently got intrigued in caring for another child of Dash's age. And upon this interest, I researched (and by research, I mean pinned my heart out on Pinterest...) play rooms, or play spaces for tots.
I found quite a few that caught my interest. Mostly the ones called "Montessori".
Here is a bit of what Montessori is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_education I did find a few adorable montessori-inspired room/spaces:
And here is Dash's new play area:
It's a start. Still needs a little more uncluttering and a bit of art work to add, but that will come with time :)