MOVarazzi

Saturday, March 10, 2012

704. Design Weekend 3-- Boys' Room

Hi!  You are in for a treat today.  I am going to show you one of my favorite rooms in our current house:  the bedroom Tall and Short share.  Let's get to the good stuff.  I'm going to start with the "After."  Here is the finished product:

This room just makes me smile.   
When we bought the house, this room looked nothing like it does now.  Here is the "Before" picture below, as you can see, it was a blank slate: 

Yes, it is a picture of a picture.  Queen Virgo ran out of time to find the right disc.   
Let me walk you through what we did.
  • Installed beadboard about 42 inches up the wall
  • Purposely chose a trim piece (on top of the beadboard) that was wide and flat so the kids could set their robot and cars, etc.
  • Also installed new baseboard--thick and chunky
  • Painted above the beadboard red.  We picked Heritage Red from Benjamin Moore-- it is featured in their paint fan deck as an exterior color.  On the chip it looks very dark, with a ton of blue undertones and NO orange-- exactly the color we were looking for.  In real life, it makes me think of a child's red wagon, or a firetruck. 
  • Painted the beadboard white
  • Painted all the trim white
  • Painted the ceiling a very pale gray to show off that white crown molding
  • Refinished the hardwood floors with a very dark stain (so happy with this--it is dramatic!)
  • Went to Next-Day Blinds and ordered the bamboo custom blinds with black-out shades underneath (it is all hooked together as part of the same blind).  Makes the room super-dark for sleeping. 
  • The sheets are from Pottery Barn Kids (the duvet cover was made by my mother-in-law by sewing two sheets together).  At the time, (this was almost three years ago) I asked Tall and Short for their decorating input.  One said "cars" and the other said "airplanes."  The pattern on the sheets was a good compromise because it had both.     
  • Cannot remember where we got that rug.  Most likely Target, but could have been Ikea. 
  • The bed was a cast-off. The Husband painted it a high-gloss white (it was a medium-colored wood before).  We bought a new mattress for it. 
  • The chair and quilt are from Pottery Barn Kids (remember, I used to get a 40% discount.  The chair was actually a discontinued floor model, and I got my discount on top of that.  I think they paid me to take it.) 
  • The palm tree painting on the left is one of my favorite things.  It is a vintage paint-by-number that I scored on eBay.  The best part is: the artist never finished it, so you can see some of the numbers!   

Quirky, like me

  • Tall drew the car pictures above his bed.  Anything that is in a frame and "appears" to be leaning on the ledge is actually nailed to the wall.  Don't worry!  Nothing will fall on him.  
  • One thing that is so nice about this room is that it is a corner room and there are two windows.  
Before you think that we make Short sleep in the closet, I will draw a floorplan of the room for you: 

You just can't really see his bed from the angle that I took the photo.  His sheets are the same as the ones Tall has.  His bed is plain because Sammi only had one bed to sell me, not two.  (Why, Sammi, why??  What do you have against pairs?)  

This room was so fun to do!  I knew that I wanted to do something with beadboard and also I am crazy about the color red (in small doses).

One thing I would like to point out is that the room is so tiny that it makes for very little play area.  That is okay, because we made a playroom for them next to my study on the second floor (converted attic space).  The reason we did not give them separate bedrooms is because we did not want one child upstairs and the other child on the main floor (our master bedroom is also on the main floor).  With the house set up this way, the bedroom is mostly for sleeping or reading.  The upstairs playroom (we call it the "Toy Room") is where they have all their Legos, trains, dinosaurs, cars, games, drawing stuff, etc.  They can get that room as messy as they want and I do not have to stress about cleaning it because it is removed from everything else and not very visible (especially if friends or neighbors happen to just drop by). 

Anyway, I love the finished bedroom.  I have been known to go sit in that chair when the boys are at school and snuggle up with a good book.  Don't tell anyone. 

MOV

19 comments:

  1. Love it! What a perfect kids room. Strong work!

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  2. I still cannot believe you gave up that discount, nice job on the room. Love the paint by numbers.

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    1. *sigh* Oooh, I do miss the discount! and the paint-by-numbers is fun, huh?

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  3. You and I have the same tastes, Sista! Love, love, love!

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    1. I'll be right over............ (can I bring some wine? that always makes design planning so much easier)

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  5. That is the most beautiful boy's bedroom (not that I've been in a lot of boy's bedrooms, you understand) that I have ever seen and that really is no exaggeration.

    you really do have a knack for interior design.

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    1. thank you, lily! I appreciate your kind words!

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  6. Cool - you did a nice job. I could spend a dreamy night there.

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    1. thanks, julie! The Husband and the boys went camping without me one night last summer, and I seriously considered sleeping in that bed while they were gone. :)

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  7. Love the room. With the two windows, I would probably sit in there as well. Perfect reading room, oh, I mean boys room ;)

    Sewing two sheets together to make a duvet cover. You just helped me find a solution for my daughters room. Thanks!!!! She is getting a room makeover for her Bday in June! That totally helped me.

    Great style you have!

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    1. Hey, J.R.,

      Thanks for your nice comment.

      I wanted to let you know that we did a Velcro closure on the duvet, but in retropsect that was a mistake (it gets very messed up in the washing machine and dryer as everything, including itself, gets stuck to it). The duvet in our master bedroom has snaps (it is also 2 sheets sewn together), and the snaps are purchased from the fabric store as part of a strip of snaps not individual snaps (easier to sew on this way). I think the strip of snaps is intended for maybe a lady's shirt. Anyway, The snaps are 100x better than the Velcro.

      So do snaps. Or buttons!

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    2. Thank you, thank you!! Honestly, so excited. My older daughter had a room makeover for her bday in November. So of course her sister wanted the same thing this June. Maybe after the June Bday, I will put up both rooms pics.

      But honestly,the sheet idea has helped me a ton!!! And Snaps.... Got it ;)

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    3. yay! glad you came back to read. :) you should totally post the room make-overs when the other one is done in june. fun!

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  8. What do you do with both boys clothes? I have a 6 year old and 2 year old moving in together into a tiny room and I am trying to figure out how to get all their clothes in! We will be moving my 6 year old's toys to the playroom, so the 2 year old's stuff will fit!

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    1. Hi!

      Great question. In our case, we installed two rods in the closet, one a normal adult height (for the older son), and one at child level (for the younger son). We went to Target and bought a ton of kid plastic hangers. We hang ALL the t-shirts and jackets, and then we also hang all the pants on those wood clippy hangers (I think I got them on eBay, they are kid-sized). The shoes are on the floor. On the right side of the closet (our closet is a little bit deep on the side), we installed 16 inche deep shelves and put their pajamas and swim suits there.

      The best tip I can give you is this: go to Target or the container store and buy one of those long clear plastic hanging pocket things designed to hang on the inside of the door for shoes. It is probably almost 6-feet long, it takes up the entire length of the door. We do not use it for shoes. We have all their underwear and socks in it. (The higher pockets are for Tall, the lower ones for Short.)

      This is what works for us. Oh, also, the top shelf of the closet (above the rod) has their sweaters (which I have to reach for them). And, we installed a few hooks immediately inside on the left of the closet (as you face the closet) for them to hang a jacket or baseball hat.

      The main reason we did not do a dresser is because there is no space. I actually like all the clothes hanging because they can immdediately see what is available. With a dresser, I think you can forget what you have in there.

      I also want to mention that we have an open bin/hamper thing inside their closet too.

      Hope this helps! :)

      best,
      MOV

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  9. Brilliant! I love the bead board. Seriously love. When are you coming over to help me with my house?

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    1. thanks, couse! the beadboard was super-fun. If the room was 100% red, it would be too much. plus, I think the beadboard makes it look like an older home (which it is) with character. ("character" of course translates to "spend lots of money rehab-ing it")

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