Progress - Big Boy Room

Okay, blogging has taught me that I do things better gradually than in 'big reveal' style. Therefore, in the same way as I have started my master bedroom re-do, I am going to start sharing progress on Mark's big boy room now, rather than wait until the finish. I've already completed a couple steps.

Of course, I thought I took pictures of the room as it was before we started but I can't find them. You didn't miss much; there wasn't bedroom furniture yet, and the bedding was white and aqua - non exactly manly. The changes that have been made so far have been simple. A dresser (a gift from MIL) and bookshelf were added for storage which didn't exist before...

With them in place, it was possible for Mark to have all his belongings in his new room, and he moved in. That was when I started work on Susanna's nursery, since it was the room I had a plan for at that point, and how could I put that brand new pink little baby in that old blue room?! Then when the nursery was done, we tiled. Now that's done, and I have been working on the big boy room again. See why I do better revealing things gradually? Because it is how I do things!

The next step I made in Mark's room was to come up with a color scheme. I loved the Anno Unni curtains from Ikea, and decided to go with black, white, gray and beige as the palette...

This Woolrich bedding popped out at me on a trip to Target, and the color scheme was confirmed.

I was happy with the bedding, so I trudged on ahead. In the short wall to the immediate right of the bed is an access door to our attic storage, making it hard to have a side table next to the bed. As I thought about solutions for this, I realized side tables and lamps don't mix well with boys anyway. So I decided to use a wall-mounted swing-arm lamp instead. I liked the Bristol Accordion Sconce from Pottery Barn, but settled on one in a similar style I found on eBay, added an Ikea Ribba ledge to keep a couple books handy, and we have ourselves a nice alternative to a tippy night stand...

Mark is happy with his little reading corner, and enjoyed picking out his books with Daddy Ty for story time. The rest of our books are kept downstairs in the nursery, so we will treat that as a sort of library, refreshing his stash of books on a regular basis.

I plan to frame the Aspen picture I took on my last trip to my Mom's, and see how I like it above the book ledge. I also have a plan to paint a dirt bike silhouette in the room, but I'm having trouble deciding on a location for that. Another project is making some sort of platform bed, and losing the box spring and bed skirt.

But, the very next project I have tackle is this former craft closet, that needs to become a functional closet for the little guy...

And it has to look good, because we can't get doors for that non-standard opening. I plan on taking a unique approach, and look forward to sharing it with you. Stay tuned!