Decorating a Child's Room in 5 Easy Steps

My true love, my sweet son.



May you never lose this innocence, the wisdom you already posses, and the ability to articulate what you believe to be.

How did I get so lucky to have such a wonderful son?

This child still loves me, adores me and wants to be with me. Many a night he flip flops into my room, slithers into my bed and snuggles his way onto the side of my bed that has no room for him. Why? To be close to me I suppose. I still sleep on one side only of my new queen sized bed. There is a vast amount of room for him on the other side, the side we've sometimes referred to as "his". But alas, he choses my side of the bed. I suppose I should consider myself lucky for when he does crawl into the other side, he takes over the bed and I end up clinging to the ends of my sheets so not to fall off.

This is how we roll in the morning.


I've had a lot of time on my hands lately. Work has been thin and I'm fortunate to have saved enough money to live on. With all that spare time on my hands, I finally have been able to get started on Oliver's bedroom.


It's a bit cluttered, but the kid has a lot of shtuff.

Here are the 5 steps to decorating a child's room:

  1. Determine what is really important, get rid of all the rest!!
  2. Find a few centers: play, read, hideout, and whatever... To encourage an activity, make room for it!!
  3. Place things in order of how they can be used; find containers and organize per activity.
  4. Pick a theme and then break out of the theme as much as possible.
  5. Have fun and pretend you're a kid too!

The decorating is almost complete. I found the cutest of things and with limited real estate and funding,  I've been able to provide boy’s room that even I myself, girly-girl that I am, would have given my right arm to have as a child.

I'm not done yet by any means. I am in the middle of painting it; I’ll be getting a bit of design assistance with a particular area rug I am considering. If I had an extra $1500, I’d order a custom light fixture (that’s not likely to happen unless I win the jackpot).

This is not our forever home, but it is going to be our home for a while and I just couldn’t resist making it fun for Oliver while we’re here. He had a few friends over this weekend and all was quiet. I found all three boys reading books and playing video games in the tree house. Glad to know the money has been well-spent.




What you can't see right now is that behind the black bin on the right is a secret tunnel to a secret hideout. Behind the locker, Oliver has a hideout area only accessible from the tunnel! No adults can fit there!


To encourage reading, I placed books everywhere!


I bought these poufs for my living room but realized they would be fun in here as well! The orange run doesn't necessarily match the Pirate bedding, but OH WELL!

The road rug gets used quite a bit! As does this Gorilla. Oliver sits in his lap and reads often. Or plays on his iPad (Friday's only). Blue xmas lights make this area really fun. A Pottery Barn book rack holds more books. An inexpensive reading lamp from IKEA makes reading a breeze. (He has one in his bed too. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of his bed...yet.)




Remember the schoolhouse chairs? I found them at a tag sale for $2 each. I painted and/or refinished them! These shelves are from IKEA.


This is Oliver's desk. He loves to draw and create and write. We separate his markers by color, and he has every color Crayola makes. I think this is important, and it's something I would have loved as a child. He colors a lot, constantly. He cuts and tapes and pastes drawings together, so this is something I don't mind spending money on. There above the markers is a shelf from IKEA. I put all of his fun activity books up there so it's super easy for him to reach for them and start an activity. We often color and doodle together.




He even has task lighting. This is most likely because I am a graphic designer and I have always had task lighting on my own desks. :) Tissue too. He loves modeling clay and often comes home from school and plants himself at his desk. I almost am jealous of his cool room.



As you can see he is really into tree houses and little tree house villages.


His room is a bit cluttered, but it's all we really have right now. This kid had a playroom in our other home. So... I decided to sell his dresser and opt for a smaller IKEA dresser.



It fit just perfectly in his closet. All with his arsenal of Nerf "shooters."



This I found at a library sale in Door County. It's so simple and sweet, I could not donate it to Good Will with most of his other baby things.


A wonderful Target find... this wooden / rubber car.



Two cent army guys.





Oliver has a vast collection of books, all of which he loves to read. Over and over again. He loves the library, but he also loves to have his own book collection. I don't mind supplying him with books that are super cool and unique. Or used. :)




Target has these great bins with navy stripes.


And we are very much into these vintage posters. He has two large ones and one small one framed.


Again, another find at the flea market.


This was the Death Star or something like it I think.



Here are my favorite finds. A $7 clock from Target. And a $5 hook where he hangs his coat and back pack daily.


And my most favorite... a TJ Maxx find. It holds one of Oliver's favorite toys from babyhood: a Plan stacker. Super duper cool A book I gave him. And a vintage car that belonged to my brother when he was a child. Sorry Jim... I'm keeping it. :P


So there you have it. My Sweet Son's room. He's kept it really clean and neat since I did this and he has even offered to pay me $10 each time I make his bed! Since money is tight, I think I'll take him up on the offer! :P








Comments

  1. It looks awesome, Andrea! He is such a loved little guy. Anyone would want to come home to that space!!!

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    1. Thanks Kelly. He comes home every day and hangs up his backpack and coat. Then sits down at his desk. It's really cool. He's kept it so clean too. I'm really proud of him! :) I love his room. check back for more pix.

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  2. That is just the coolest bed EVER. EVER EVER EVER. Everything in that room looks like loads of fun for a kid. I just love all the books! The gorilla, the blue lights, the desk, the hooks on the wall. What an incredible job you have done on it.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Carol! I love it too and I realized I didn't take pictures of the things I am head-over-heels about in this room, so def check back as I add more pix! x o

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  3. Such a great room!!! You make everywhere you live look like home and look like fun. Oliver is a lucky little boy.

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