Well, Will’s room is almost done, so it seems fitting that I share my plans for that little revamp, right?

(Yes, I know it’s a bit late, but for the sake of my feelings, just go with it, okay?)

Right!

So, anyway…my ideas to turn Will’s nursery into a big kid room have been all over the place, really, but we (as in Will and me, not Wyatt and me–Wyatt is fine with pretty much whatever I want) did manage to finally make some decisions as the room has taken shape. So, here’s a rundown of where we’re headed.

 

1)  Book Ledges

We still love our bookshelves that we DIYed before he was born. He loves them, too, of course. 😉  You can see the instructions for how to build your own, here.

But, if DIY isn’t your thing, you can grab some really cute ones from Wal-Mart, here. They even come in fun colors, although they aren’t as long as ours.

2.) White Wall Lamp

We wanted a wall lamp for Will’s room for two reasons. One: we really like the ones we have in our bedroom. Two, I was tired of having to have the main light on for bedtime reading. And I was worried a table lamp would get knocked over too often. Will is not exactly a calm kid.

So, I found this one at Wal-Mart and thought it was perfect. It’s only $40 which is a good price for a metal sconce that can be either hardwired or plugged in.

We went with plugged in so we didn’t have to deal with running electrical for this. Plus, it will make it easier to move if we ever want to rearrange his room again. So, far, it’s working great and I’m so glad we finally have a lamp for reading. We still let him have a flashlight in his bed to help him get ready to fall asleep because this one is brighter than I’d want for that. And he has to stand up on his bed and reach up pretty high to turn it off and on, so for now, we are the only ones who do that.

3.) Upholstered Bed

The bed was the main big choice for the room, and I went back and forth a lot on this. I knew we wanted a full upholstered bed like ours because he likes to help us make our bed each day by tucking in the sheets and quilt. I figured if he had a bed like that, he’d be able to tuck in his own blankets and make his own bed. Plus, I wanted something that would grow with him really well and still be fine as he grows. (I had a small room and twin bed until I moved out and it was just fine, so unless we move to a bigger house with bigger rooms, he likely will keep this bed until he moves out too.)

This one was reasonable priced (from Wal-Mart) but is now out of stock, so I found a couple similar ones. This one is very similar but without the buttons. This one is less than $100! And this one even has storage!

We also made some custom upgrades to ours while I will share soon.

 

4.)  Striped Rug

I knew I wanted a rug, preferably a round one, as an accent to add some coziness and sort of ground the space.

Why?

Well, because even though Wyatt thinks I’m a bit crazy, I have loved having the round faux fur rug in Emma’s room. Yes, we have lovely carpet that I’m very grateful for. So, as I explain to Wyatt, I’m not trying to cover up the carpet, but rather accent it, right?

Right.

This is the one I got from Target and it was a good price (on sale) and I loved that they had a bunch of colors, and even sizes and shapes, to choose from. The yellow was fun and perfect for his space, but I can see me wanting to use the black and white one somewhere, too, probably in the rectangle shape in the entryway! 😉

5.)  Mid-century inspired storage

The nightstand in the image above is lovely, but really, it’s just an image to help get a feel for the mid-century secondhand dresser we scored from a garage sale. It’s actually from my best friend’s grandma. Isn’t that neat? But, if you’re in the market for a sweet little nightstand, I like this one from Target! 

6.) Fun Sheets

I’d love to get him some really fun sheets, like these bug ones from Target, or actually, since I made the mood board ahead, I’ve found THESE  amazing hidden picture sheets (also from Target) and think they are PERFECT because they add fun but don’t compete with the colorful quilt his grandma made him. But he’s been happily using the sheets my parents gave us with the twin bed (it was the one I had in college at their house and was basically brand new since I didn’t sleep on it that often and only for a few years before Wyatt and I got married) so I haven’t felt justified in getting new ones. Maybe if they go on sale. Or if the ones I have get too old and grungy. Or if I have a moment of weakness. Because they really are so cute!

7.) Custom Art

The art has been the hardest part for me because I knew I wanted personalized stuff that was perfect for Will, and I am still working on choosing and framing some of my favorite paintings he has done. I also have a plan for a fun accent wall on the wall opposite his bed working with a partner so stay tuned for that!

The truck piece is a DIY I’m especially proud of.

I was set on saving and using a wooden hot wheels car display rack that Wyatt’s grandfather made him as a kid. A few of the shelves were broken when we got it from Wyatt’s parents’ basement so I had the thought that we could turn it into a cork board so he can choose to display some of his artwork, cards, or other little paper things he wants to save that I would otherwise toss out. We actually finished this one last night and I am so excited about how it turned out! I saved the process to a highlight in my Instagram stories if you want to see how we did it!

8. Painted Closet Door

A couple of weeks ago, I finally finished his closet door makeover and I love that it was something we could collaborate on and do “together.” I gave him a few pictures of different styles of stripes or designs and he chose the triangle style stripes going horizontal across the door. Though I wanted to only use a few colors, he had a hard enough time narrowing his choices down to these six so we compromised and settled on these and I made the triangles smaller.

In the end, he’s a color lover and I respect that. And when he’s happy, I’m happy. He listed being thankful for “all the colors except black and brown and gray” on his Thanksgiving sheet from school this year, afterall. And we can always paint over it later. And the project was free since we used all paints I had in my collection already.

(If you’re curious how I had all these paints, ask Wyatt about my phase of buying all the cheap mis-tinted paint I could find.)

9. Accents

I am trying to keep MY accents in the room to a minimum to make room for a few things Will wants. Plus, I don’t want a ton of extra stuff because it just becomes clutter that gets in the way of playing and makes it harder for him to keep his room tidy.

But, this is the accent pillow I chose for his nursery and I still love it so it’s staying. Plus, it’s in perfect condition because he honestly doesn’t care about it that much. But I like it. It reminds me of the sweet days of planning his nursery and imagining who he would become. Of course, at that time, we didn’t even know he was a he. And now he IS big and colorful and wonderful.

 

It may have taken longer than most people might have taken to make these changes, but I’m glad we’ve taken our time.

(Again, I’m talking about Will and myself here, not Wyatt.)

At this point, the little room revamp is almost complete and it’s been really fun to see the details come together as Will gets excited. At first he was worried about changing things but he’s totally on board now and having a lot of fun with the choices he’s been able to make.

Can you believe we are in the last couple weeks of January already?!? (I need to do a quick evaluation of our home goals for 2019 and, set the ones for this year–last year I didn’t do that until March!)

What are you wanting to do before the end of the year? Other than enjoy your Christmas season, of course!