Updated Big Boy Room

We were lucky that the paint colors in Wesley’s bedroom didn’t completely clash with all of his stuff, but now that we’re wrapping up Elsie’s room and our room it will soon be time to whip his room into shape! We’re using a lot of the same stuff from our old house, but updating it a little for the space (and Wesley’s opinions because oh boy do three year olds have opinions…).

I asked Wesley what color he wanted his room to be and his answer? “Rainbow!” Challenge accepted! I like me some color so this suited me just fine. I spent a lot of time on Pinterest looking for inspiration and what I discovered that a lot of rainbow rooms are stereo-typically girly–hearts, princesses, ruffles, etc. Now don’t get me wrong, if Wesley was into those things I’d have no problems go that direction but he is much more into stereotypical boy things (cars, dinosaurs, destroying things). I’d show him pictures and he wouldn’t be impressed. Until this one:

Via Historias de Casa

His exact words: “That’s the rainbow room I’m talking about!”

Perfect! It’s colorful, it’s fun, and it’s not too theme-y or trite. I can absolutely work with that! So here’s the plan:

I was already playing around with the idea of a big triangle wall accent in a corner. The walls need something bold, but to cover all the walls with an intense color would be a LOT with everything else going on in the room. We already have a solid blue comforter, and the mostly-blue rug so I’m currently thinking yellow for the wall accent while the bulk of the wall stays white. The plan is to break up the white with lots of colorful pillows (reading corner!) and artwork. The map decal arrived the other day and the colors are just what I had hoped for! I haven’t found any patterned curtains that have jumped out at me, but we already have some white curtains I can hem and add some trim so they pop from the wall a bit.

In terms of functionality, I’m thinking of adding drawers under the bed (because otherwise it turns into a black hole). We can also use that storage for extra sheets and such because our linen closet space is pretty small. In a moment of optimism I figured a toy basket would be good for all his stuffies, but if I’m being totally honest they’ll mostly live on his bed… We have a 2×3 cube shelf that I’m hoping to update with a little more color. I’m going to experiment with contact paper since I don’t think paint will stand the abuse without chipping and craft vinyl is only 12″ wide but the cubes are 13″ (bonus though: if it works, it’s significantly cheaper than craft vinyl).

Mood Board Monday: Big Boy Shared Room

With Wesley graduating out of his toddler bed and Elsie about to need the crib I’ve been brainstorming shared room ideas. We’re still attached to our study/guest room so the plan is to have the kiddos share as long as possible.

The trickiest thing for me has been the ceiling color.  I don’t want to change it because 1) I really like it and 2) painting ceilings is one giant PITA. This has been problematic because that minty color is apparently a “girl” color. Insert all the eye rolls here.

This wouldn’t be a huge problem except that Welsey is really into more stereo-typically “boy” things (mainly cars, cars, and more cars). Since he starting to show a distinct preference for certain things I want to respect that, but I also want to create a room that looks put together.

After a LOT of searching I stumbled across these really cute (cotton!*) polka dot sheets at Target that work with the ceiling color and give me lots of other colors to work with. I’m going to pair them with a solid navy duvet which will hopefully continue to grow with him. I also plan to let him pick out his own sheet set too to get him exited about changing to a new bed. I may have to give up a little control, but hey, compromise.

Eventually we’ll need to swap out our heirloom chifforobe for a dresser since a dresser has more practical storage for our needs. I’m hoping I’ll be able to re-purpose the chifforobe for a dress up closet later on though. I’m planning on getting a smallish dresser for now since it will be easier to use for an individual room later on and I plan to continue the polka dot theme with some colorful knobs. I may also switch out his current curtains for white with rainbow pom pom trim.

To play to his love of cars, I found this cute bus pillow from IKEA and a cute print from Society 6. Hopefully the bus pillow will stop him from bringing all his toy cars and trucks into bed with him.  I can dream, right? The small car touches should also make him really happy without making the room too boyish…although Elsie’s too little to have opinions on decor just yet.

Now I just have to wait for quarantine to end so I can do some more shopping.  His mattress is currently on the floor (which isn’t a bad idea for a toddler anyway) and Elsie’s crib is in our room since she isn’t sleeping through the night yet and I’d rather not have both kids awake and crabby in the middle of night. I wanted the IKEA Kura reversible bed, but I wasn’t able to order it so I got one of their simple pine frames instead.  Based on my estimated delivery date though I may not get it until the stores are back open anyway.

 

*Am I the only person who really dislikes microfiber?