This is the room from different angles during the middle of the project. Walls and ceiling were painted white. This room does get lots of afternoon sun and it does not have a tree shading it so this is a nice bright room to begin with. We painted its side walls a darker shade of blue.
The boys moved to the girls room for a few days, Tristan taking over Haley’s lower bunk since she was in NYC and Nathan using Tristan’s mattress in the trundle. All dressers have been housed in the girl’s room for the past several years anyway once we put the crib up for the fourth child. Just the changing table needed a working home for a few days so it went in the hallway in front of the attic door. I can’t remember where we put the laundry basket now but I’m sure it was floating around there somewhere in an accessible location.
My plan was to make stripes of blue on blue with these walls and so I used painter’s tape and painstakingly measured out my spaces, used a plumb line as well as a stepstool and after several hours I had my stripes mapped out. I wasn’t sure I’d be doing that again anytime soon.
The actual stripes that I sponged onto the wall then didn’t take very long and when they dried the painter’s tape pulled off easily and I was left with a wall I was pretty pleased with AND one great big ball of used tape.
Generally there was at least one cat with me in the room at all times. Sandy, seen several pictures above, generally hung out in the window. Spooky got more involved than that and ended up with lots of paint on his whiskers. In his defense, he does have some of the longest whiskers I’ve ever seen on a cat. And by the way, pictures never do this cat justice. He has grown into one beautiful cat.
After the boys got placed back in their room I set out to make some curtains one morning a few days later. The old white half curtains got remade a few years ago and were still just fine. The blue gingham curtains with tiny pink roses that I made when I was expecting Haley were leaving. They are still perfectly good and are put away now for some repurposing project in the future but it was time for a new look. I bought the rest of the bolts of these fabrics last fall when my fabric store was closing so I got a REALLY good deal on these. Originally I was thinking of making a quilt for Nathan’s big boy bed with these but… I changed my mind. It was setting the theme for the room.
Thursday morning, a few measurements and a few stitches later I had new valences for pennies on the dollar!
A new look that is appropriate for one little boy and one bigger boy who are roommates and are growing every day. Given their age gap I had a challenge. I want a nice looking boys room that can grow with them, that is cute for the very young but one that can grow with him and still be appropriate for an older boy. I do not make it a habit of redecorating often.
Next I had a little fun around the side window and the slope over where the bed would be. Staying with the nautical theme of the window valences I randomly painted beachy type objects and phrases or poems on the wall. AND it can easily be painted over if it gets too cutesy for them.
If you see some sparkles that’s because there are some in a few of the paints.
This was directly over the crib (at the time) and now over the bed on the slope. It’s just a fun childhood song.
As much as Tristan HATED having us take down the wallpaper in his room that he loved so much he really fell in love with his new walls. His favorite thing here are the crabs, especially the one that says “I’m not crabby”. This makes him laugh.
Fast forward a few months and now Nathan is sleeping in a big bed, a trundle that we pull out each night for him. He LOVES his big bed. The house is perfectly sized to allow a trundle to pull out just completely from a twin bed to the closet door. Not an inch too much or too few. And during the day the bed gets made and tucked away allowing plenty of play space for them. The white dresser is there to house his blankets and pillows plus extra sheets. The refinished floor from two years ago still looks beautiful!
The boys now share a dresser and have a dresser in their own room. Tristan still finds himself walking across the hall to get his things… habit!
Because of the oddly shaped doorway there IS no door and so when wanting privacy became an issue I made a curtain from a sheet that we no longer have a mattress the right size to use. The little hallway also houses a medium sized bookcase because we always have need of these. Next to the door is the chimney and the décor is plain enough that Tristan can put up a poster of one of his favorite Reds players. On the other side is the reading nook. This is very, very handy for Nathan’s storytime or for reading in bed.
Two boys, all comfy and ready for bed.
And what more could you want in your room than reminders of the sea breezes? How about the night sky complete with the entire solar system. These glow in the dark stars AND planets adorn the ceiling of the room now. The moon is right over the middle of the two beds and Saturn, Tristan’s favorite, is right over his bed. This room looks amazing even at night.
