This has been a loooong time coming. When we bought our house, this room had clearly been a nursery because it looked like this:
And believe it or not, our Real Estate agent almost cried when she heard us say we were going to paint over this masterpiece.
Our kids did, too, but they just had to deal because I had the most perfect room in my head and this just didn't go with the vision I had...plus, I had found the most perfect paint color and couldn't wait to get it up on the walls.
Valspar Woodlawn Sterling Blue
I may have hemmed and hawed about some of my paint colors, but this room was always this color, I knew I would love it, and I totally do. It's perfect.
So, once painted and moved in, it honestly took a long time to just sit down and finish everything I wanted to be in this space. And then it took a while to find the right moment when it was actually clean enough to photograph...but without further ado, here is my little boys room:
Shall we take a little tour?
It all started with this bedding I purchased long ago when my first child was graduating to a big boy bed. I thought it was very normal bedding and didn't think I'd have a problem finding something close enough to match it. I was wrong.
So after a pretty extensive search, I finally decided to go to goodwill and buy a bunch of plaid shirts that went with my color scheme. That's right, I did. I cut them all up into squares and ended up with just enough to make a quilt and pillow sham to "match" the set I had. I am totally ecstatic with the way it turned out! At first, I was a little unhappy with the way the stitching pulled the fabric in some areas, (I should have used a walking foot, they say) but it all looks great to me now, especially since I never get too close. :)
Top bedding was purchased, bottom bedding was made. Tada! You love it, right?
Moving on.
This wall took the longest of all to figure out. I kept getting random things and trying new ways to group them together. I feel like I finally figured out a configuration that pleases me. I ended up painting a few pieces: "Life is a Highway" just happens to be one of my son's favorite songs, so that ended up there along with the licence plates of where we've lived. Found the map and route 66 sign at Hobby Lobby! The airplane print I found on Pinterest, as well as the "Bring the World His Truth" printable which I love, and I might reprint to try to make it darker.
The other two I painted. I'm really in love with the Peter Pan quote at the top. Just painted it right on an old piece of wood from our yard. Love love love.
Right next to the beds, we put our old entry way bench. It's kinda perfect for storing cars in, and also makes a great seating area for the books which happen to hang just above it in our pallet bookshelves my husband made.
Aren't they the best!!? They stack the books so kids can actually see them. And not only that, the kids can actually stack these books themselves. Regular bookshelves are just so hard... They only thing I think I would have done differently is I would have left the wood unstained. I like these, but I REALLY love the shelves on the other side of the room, and they make me wish we'd left these natural too. Oh well. Still great and cute and completely functional.
On the dresser, I have an awesome globe, their treasure chest that actually does have all their money in it. And a few things they're proud of. For one son it's a soccer trophy and a block he got from church, for the other it's McQueen and Mater.
This wall just makes me happy. I am in love with these pallet shelves! They could not be more perfect in my eyes. I love the way they look, and the rustic style they bring into the room.
And I had all these things just waiting for shelves to sit on, so I was very happy when my husband threw these together for me one Saturday. The Cougars printable is so great for our family since we are both BYU grads. We hope our kids choose to go there someday as well. The bear sitting next to it was a decoration from my room when I was little, so it has a special place in my heart as well.
The dinosaur was from a great aunt, the lantern is from Walmart - it's one that actually works and was super cheap compared to the ones at decor stores! Those suite cases have been with us for a while. They are old and tin and totally falling apart from use, so now they're a decoration. Winnie the Pooh, one of my favorite books, sits behind a wooden truck that their grandfather gave them. Then there are the rocks they've collected. can't forget those!
I made that airplane art piece using a frame, a piece of paper, and one of those wooden plane cut outs that I painted. Cheap and easy and goes great with the biplanes I found at Ross. The Mickey music box is from a great aunt, and the boys love it! That tiny canister has been with me since my son's nursery needed decorating. I actually painted those blocks when my first child was born, and I sell sets of these painted blocks in my {Little Craft Shoppe}. I'm in love with this mission printable I found on Pinterest. We are encouraging our boys in many not so subtle ways... The firetruck is another music box I found at an antique store to round out the shelf. And there you have it. Decorated shelves!
This little nightstand didn't really have a place by the bed in our rooms, but we found a place for it in the wall between the window and the bathroom door. It's kinda necessary because it holds all our dress up things. I never thought I'd have so many dress up clothes with little boys, but I sure do! These curtains I sorta made. I found some ready made navy curtains and wanted to add a stripe to give them some character, so I bought a valance from the same set in a different color and cut the navy and sewed in a stripe of the khaki - no need to hem the edges down the side cause they already matched. I love it when it's easy like that.
This little wagon I found at a thrift store and it's a perfect little decoration my kids can actually play with. I've seen a few rooms with children's blocks displayed in clear canisters and when I found this plastic one at Walmart, I knew right away what I would use it for. I think these blocks are such a cute decoration!
Last, but not least, is my ABC wall. When I created this in my last house, I had visions of it adorning the wall in my future playroom. I guess that dream is still alive and well, but for now they adorn the playroom that is also my boys' room. I really love it. But, alphabet walls are hard. It took a long time to collect all these letters and make sure they all worked well together! I had to spray paint a lot of them and it all turned out well, but don't be fooled, it took a while. Below that is just our toy box where we like to keep our toys "organized" because momma's OCD.
Anyway, it's been a long road, but I'm really happy with the way it all turned out!
To hang them on the wall, we found out that they sell those teeth (that are on the back of a lot of picture frames) in a package with 1/2 inch nails included. These worked perfectly, but our letters are 3/4 inch thick. If you got thinner letters, I don't know what you'd do. So, my husband put the teeth on the backs of all the letters. He first stuck a tack in where he wanted the nail to go and then nailed them on. He did this because I was so worried about those nails ruining the front of the letters. But they didn't. Some of them called for two teeth just so they'd hang level. And then he hung them on the wall. This was by far the hardest part of the whole project! He ended up drawing a line on the wall and then measured how far down the teeth were from the top of the letter. Then he put nails in the wall the same distance below the line so they'd all hang in a straight line. It would totally be easier to hang the letters at different levels, but for some reason I wanted them straight. Sorry hun! If I were to do it again, I'd trace the letters on a piece of paper, mark where the nails went, tape the paper to the wall, and nail through the paper. Then just take the paper off the wall. That would have been WAY easier!! But, we did it the hard way. And I think they look awesome. 
However, they do look a little bare on the wall all by themselves. I'm trying to decide if I should put a shelf below them with little boy things on it, or if I should hang pictures around it. Don't know what to do. 
But, I'm sure I'll come up with something! Next time I have a baby, I'm really going to try to get all this nursery stuff done ahead of time! It's way easier before they come...
