You'd think after this much practice I'd remember to take proper BEFORE pictures. But no. My child's room wasn't quite this boring
before. There were no curtains and it had the same bland taupe paint color as did most of the rest of the house. But it did have a nice red bookshelf which hinted at our good intentions of decorating his room. He informed me earlier this year that he was too old for the Choo Choo bedding he had in his room - I would call it a theme but that would be stretching it. He had a nice train quilt and RxR decorative pillow. That's as close to a theme as it got.
When he told me he was too old for the train theme he also informed me that he'd be needing a Transformers or Star Wars room theme, please. I have nothing against Transformers but I knew it was a phase and if I spent my time on that theme he'd be over it in a month. He's loved Star Wars forever so I figured that might last longer.
The only problem was he'd seen a Transformer Bed in a Bag set at Kmart. I'm not really a Bed in a Bag kinda person, at least not for kids' rooms, for several reasons. Not the least of which is how fast they "outgrow" their love for them. I wanted a room that could have an easily changeable theme without having to remodel every time, still be kid-friendly and look awesome at the same time. That's not such a tall order. Is it?
We started out by painting the top half of the wall in a navy blue - the color is Admirality from Lowes. We added a faux board and batten using lattice strips, crown molding and chair railing all done in a semi-gloss white. Much better already!
Even though he got to see the paint job beforehand, I didn't want him to know what theme he was getting until I was done. I figured it would have more of an impact that way. I also thought it might make the lack of that dreaded (for me, anyway) Transformers Bed in Bag a little easier on the both of us.
I think he was pleased with the results!
I kept the bedding simple, masculine and, I like to think, sophisticated. And I did it without any help from Pottery Barn! Red, blue, white and brown - it can work with any theme. So if he changes his mind it's not a complete do-over!
I made the duvet cover by sewing together two flat sheets from sheet sets I found at both Kmart and TJ Maxx. The red and white polka dot is from Kmart and the blue and white stripe is from TJ Maxx. I cut a third of the polka dot sheet off and reattached it to make the opening for the comforter. Then sewed the two together.
I used the pillow cases from the two sets as pillow shams. Why not?
I also made two envelope style pillow covers out of navy pillow cases and used that blue striped burlapy ribbon stuff - which is technically called upholstery webbing. I love that stuff so much I think I might actually look for excuses to use it.
This accent pillow I got from Kmart matches the Canon Red Dot Floral Comforter Set. When I got it, it had a section of red and white floral fabric where the blue stripe fabric is now. I took the pillow apart, which was more of a pain than I anticipated because there's no pillow insert inside just stuffing, and added the panel of blue stripe fabric instead. I also added the red stripe webbing to the front. Sewed the whole thing back together and re-stuffed. Labor intensive but well worth the effort especially since I'm not a talented enough seamstress to have figured out how to make this pillow all on my own.
He already had lots of Star Wars stuff to decorate with so we just added a few accent pieces.
These lamps we got from Home Dept for $39.99 each. The have these beautiful shades that I just added a bit of ribbon to on top and bottom. They plug in, too, so no wiring is required!
I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for 11 x 14 frames. I wanted the cheap ones but I wanted them in white. Turns out they don't make cheap white ones, at least not that I could find, so I just got the black ones from Walmart for $5 each and spray painted them. I put a blue textured paper, that I got from Hobby Lobby, into each frame. I cut Star Wars silhouettes using my Silhouette machine and navy vinyl and mounted those onto white pages from my acrylic paint pad. This paper gave the vinyl a nice texture as though it had been painted on instead. Using double sided tape, I affixed the silhouettes to the blue paper inside the frame. They look so nice you can hardly tell they aren't matted. By the way, my Star Wars silhouettes are actually a font that I downloaded from da font.com.
My poor baby finally has curtains!
This little lamp I got from Walmart for $4 forever ago. I am so glad I saved it. I removed the original bell shade and painted the natural pine a true red. The drum shade is from Target. I added his monogram by cutting out the letters with my Silhouette machine and then using it as a stencil. I also added some of the trim that I used for the lamps above his bed.
An image of Boba Fett that I found via Google. I had it matted and then framed in a shadowbox. I didn't realize this until recently but you can totally frame a picture in a shadowbox for a nice chunky frame with just a few easy tweaks. I love the way that looks!
And the rest is mostly stuff he already had.
I couldn't resist this nutcracker from Hobby Lobby. I wanted Boba Fett but they were already sold out by the time I saw these.
This poster, the Science of Star Wars, came with a gift he got for his birthday and I just put it in a picture frame.
A 3-D Star Wars book he got for Christmas last year.
The bubble gum machine he already had but I just had to put red, white and blue gumballs in there. I know. I need help.
Moon in My Room which he already had. And loves. Perfect for a space themed room. Of course, he will only operate it on every phase but full for fear of attracting werewolves.
When he was little, my brother used to have a giant Millennium Falcon that would light up hanging from his ceiling. I can't imagine what something like that would cost these days so I just went with this planetary night light from Lowes. $9.99.....
....And as far as he's concerned, it's out of this world!
As always, if you ever have any questions (or comments) about any of my projects, please feel free to email me or leave me a comment. I'll be sure to reply!
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