My favorite parts of my favorite room

Well�the time has come. Sniff. I decided about a year ago it was time to start transforming the Bub�s room into his �big boy� room. This one has been a hard for me. I told you here how I worked on this room for weeks while I was pregnant, doing most of the work with my Dad.

It is an understatement to say I love this room. Almost every day of our son�s three years, I�ve sat in here at one point or another, looking around, relaxing in the serene that is this space:

I�ve made a few changes over the past month or so in preparation of the changes, but it�s still the same lovely, bright, calming room you see here.

I�ve struggled with what I want to do in his room, so it stayed in it�s nursery state well after I decided to start changing it to a big boy version a year ago. I knew there were certain things I wanted to incorporate, but nothing was really hitting me and making me want to paint over all the calm�

Until now. :) Over the weekend, the pieces kind of came together perfectly in my head, and now I�m READY. Excited. I want to start and finish the room in one day, excited. I made a few purchases yesterday and it has me even more ready to get moving.

I have to say, I�m going in a direction I never thought I would, but in my head, it�s going to scream boy and be totally classic, which is important to my husband me. ;)  Do you know how hard it is to create a boy space? Hard.

So today I decided I would show you a few of my favorite parts of my favorite room, because some of what I show you will be changed�not all, but most. :)

I know a blabber on and on and on about the beauty of painted ceilings, and if this room doesn�t convince you of it, I don�t know what will:

The blue ceiling will most likely stay�so I should probably go ahead and paint that vent. ;)

I put a couple phrases on his walls using my stencil technique I showed you here:

For a little texture, I took some wood star shapes, painted them and then stacked them on the walls in a few spots and just nailed them in:

The whole room was inspired by the Pottery Barn Twinkle Twinkle bedding � it�s a beautiful mix of greens and blues, cutie patootie lambs and bunnies,  stars and moons. Weird mix. But cute. :)

Someone on eBay was selling gorgeous prints with names and birthdates on them, but they were not cheap. So I decided to make my own:

I just painted stripes on a canvas, then stenciled his name in the middle. LURVE. And it was about $7! A little better than the $100 on eBay.

I fell in love with this acrylic lamp at Target, (which I think they still have!) and covered the shade with a super soft star-speckled fabric:

I couldn�t find a dresser I really loved, so I ended up getting an unfinished piece that I painted bright white:

 

The knobs were from Menards and I used them on the built ins as well:

 

For some reason I was obsessed with pulling the cutie animals from the bedding and putting them elsewhere in the room. So I sprinkled a few of them here and there:

    

To get them just right, I scanned the fabric into our computer (have you ever tried it? It works fabulously!), then used the stencil method I mentioned above to put them on the walls. I added the whiskers and eyes with a toothpick. :) These little guys  and their fluffy butts make me smile every day.

I kept looking for cute, functional storage but the only thing I found that I loved were boxes from PB that were, again, NOT cheap. So I bought a few different sizes of the cardboard boxes you can find at any craft store, and painted them in the colors I wanted:

 

Then I put the labels on with the cutest little star brads youeverdidsee! Obviously, the bibs are long gone. But the boxes are still going strong, so I�ll probably change them up to work in the new room.

Later I layered frames (from Michaels) throughout the built ins:

   

The �mats� aren�t mats at all � just poster board. I printed off the photos at home (on regular paper, mind you!) and just used double stick tape to center them on the poster board.

Just the look I wanted for el cheapo. That is what I�m talkin� about. 

I saved the best for last�my very favorite part of my very favorite room�the stripes:

    

Sigh. Sniff. Then sigh again. I lurve the apple green stripes! Big. fat. puffy. heart. LURVE.

It took some time�but I really am ready to transform this room. I think. I�m pretty sure. OK, I am. But someone may have to hold my hand for that first brush stroke. Or hold the tissue box while I paint.

It�s going to be a true transformation. :) I�ll keep you updated along the way.

 

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