Owen's Own Space

Owen is beyond excited to have his own bedroom in our new house. In our Destin apartment he and Ethan shared a room. In our house in Pensacola they also shared a room. In our house in New Mexico he has his own room but never used it, seriously, and then it ended up being an office. I was equally as excited because I get to finally decorate a room with only him in mind.

He has a twin sized bed.

It's actually the top bunk to the bunk bed he and Ethan had when they shared a room. Over his bed I decided to spell out his name. He picked out this fabulous gold letter O at Hobby Lobby a few months ago, so it was my starting point.

The W is simply a W Ariana made out of legos for me.

I super glued it to some burlap I had laying around and popped it in a frame I got on sale at Michael's for $2. The E is an E that used to hang above art that Ethan painted.

And the N is in an Ikea shadow box, I used some fun red scrapbook paper and superglued clothespins in the shape on an N.

I love how it turned out and that it fits the width of his bed perfectly.

His bed is flanked with the nightstand I bought off Craigslist and refinished,

as well as an old stand I used for his TV in his old bedroom.

I framed two of his drawings and hung them above the stand, I also framed his sonagram and displayed it next to his bed. Above his nightstand I used these little shelves I bought at Ikea last year and used them to hold the few stuffed animals he has.

I spotted this sweet little rug at Target about a month ago and absolutely loved the textured look as well as the colors. The colors of the rug are all the colors I plan to incorporate into his room. And when he gave me two thumbs up I brought the puppy home with me.

I plan to add to his bedding eventually.

I'm keeping everything you see in the photos I just plan to add a down comforter and duvet to the mix for comfort and to pull in another pattern and color in his room. I still have a lot to do in here but it's already come a long way in 7 days.

Here it is on the second day we lived here:

And here it is today, day seven of living here:

My to-do list for his room looks like this:

• shorten legs of bed (they are a little long since it used to be a top bunk)
• add art to the big blank wall next to his window
• figure something out with the curtains (I like the color and pattern of his current curtains but when I hang them the way I like them they are a bit short so I'm thinking of adding more fabric to them to make them floor length. I'm still brainstorming. For now they are hung awkwardly on a tension rod)
• make a reading corner
• build an art table 
• frame the poster over his bookcase to give it a more finished look
• add to existing bedding

For now my monkey is enjoying his very own bedroom. He even stays in his own bed 90% of the night, which says a lot since he's always been used to having his brother in the same room at bedtime.

Yawning.

Yawn-turned-monster-growl/roar.

I think that was a growl of approval.

Anyone have any tips for how to keep him in his own room all night long? What about the challenges of making a boys' room look like it belongs to a young boy without it looking baby-ish or too adultlike, it's a tough challenge, but I think I'm balancing it out fairly well.

I'll be back this afternoon to share a fun, quick little happening around our house. It happens daily so I've begun documenting it and thought it be cute to share. I know my mom, at least, will enjoy it. :)

Have a great day everyone!

Lor

That's, like, circa 1993

So, I found some awesome furniture, and I planned to write up an entire post about it but I'm almost done refinishing every piece so I figured I'd spare you that post and just share the final products with you as I get them done. To give you the Cliff's Notes version - I bought two dressers (one tall, one long), a nightstand and a mirror from a sweet couple all for 100 smackeroos, that's what my mom called money when I was a kid by the way, was that just our family's thing or was that like a real phrase back in the day?

That wasn't a rhetorical question... 

The tall dresser is for my room, the long one is being turned into a TV stand for the living room and the mirror is going in E's room. But back to this nightstand, it's going in Owen's room.

But not like that, because it's not the early 90's and I'm blessed with decent vision.

I knew how I wanted to refinish the other pieces I listed above but couldn't decide on the nightstand. So I sat on it for a bit. No, literally I sat on the nightstand, to think of course, but nonetheless I was sitting on it. Then I figuratively sat on it for the next few days. After coming up with a very loose concept on how I wanted to decorate his room I whipped out the paint and got to it.

I patched up a hole on each drawer because I switched out the hardware and the replacement hardware only needed on hole per drawer. Then I simply painted the base white and the top ORB, yet, I didn't stain it, I was trying to work with what I had on hand and I had me some oil rubbed bronze so I got to bronzing. I was bound to run out of stain one day, especially since I love that ONE color so much that I use it over and over and over. 

Once everything dried I simply popped on some silver pulls to go with some other silver accents that'll be in his room. It's all in the details, folks. And there we have it. My baby's new nightstand.

And for an easy before and after comparison:

BEFORE

AFTER

The top looks almost black in these photos but in person it's a perfect oil-rubbed bronze finish, a rich shimmery brown. And my apologies for not having a fancy photo of it all gussied up and in his room with a lamp or a stack of books on it, those photos will have to wait, and I'll tell you why Monday, now I gotcha on the edge of your seat - huh? Well, sit back, because we're easily excited around here so it may not be as exciting to you as it is to us.

Finally Friday,

Lor