I’m in the middle of kind of redesigning my son’s room, who’s now three. THREE?!? I still can’t believe my husband and I have managed to raise a pretty much perfect child. Yes, I’m biased. I say “kind of” redesigning because I’m limiting myself – and if you know me well at all you know that is a HUGE challenge for me. But because we’re hoping to move in the very near future, it just makes sense. So painting and wallpapering are out (bummer right?), as is curtain shopping and rug purchasing. I mean you never know how many windows are going to be in his next room or how large the floor area will be. Good points, hubs, good points. Although I’m gonna go with two windows and the floor area won’t matter because I’m just wanting a small accent rug – BUT no need to argue. I’ll take a little redesigning over no redesigning any day.
Our son has been in a crib up until a couple weeks ago. I know! Go ahead and begin the judging. Talk about not wanting to let go of that baby phase, right? Honestly though, that’s only part of it. Although watching him move from one phase to another makes my heart fill with joy, it does break a little piece off my heart each time as well. He’s already a little boy and it’s just so crazy how fast that’s happened. So yes, although I can sometimes scarily picture myself being one of those crazy moms who refuses to let her child grow up, that’s not the whole story. Procrastination is the other part. It’s been on my To-Do list to refinish his future bed for the l.o.n.g.e.s.t time, but other things kept taking precedence. He wasn’t jumping out of his crib so I didn’t see the rush. But it finally happened a couple weeks ago! And he actually sleeps better, which had I known the difference it would make I would’ve put him in a bed at 3 months old. I’m so thrilled that the bed he’s now sleeping in belonged to his GiGi (my mother-in-law). I just find it so awesome when you can keep good furniture pieces in the family. Anyway, I hated to even touch it but due to a decent amount of wear and tear, my husband and I sanded it down (not that fun of a task in case you’re wondering) and I put one coat of stain and a couple coats of poly on it and that was it.
So of course along with the new bed came the need for new bedding, and that led to some things not matching which led to the need for some furniture repainting and new accessory purchasing. And did I mention we get to remove the changing table because potty training was finally a success (I’ll hate myself forever if I just jinxed that). And some things still match but they’re just too “babyish” at this point, etc etc. Like my justifying skills? I should teach a class. Anyway, a new night stand was on the “need” list but rather than buying one I scoured our basement and found this –
Really not that bad-looking if you ask me, although I have NO idea why I bought it in the first place. I remember being at an antique & consignment store years back and thinking it was a good price and somehow it ended up in the back of my car, after paying for it of course. Am I the only one that ever happens to? It made a quick appearance in our game room and then wound up in the basement. But thank God, because it came in handy for this partial redesign. I wasn’t quite digging the overall look though – it was a little too country for the direction I was hoping to head. My ultimate goal is to make my son’s room fresh and fun and a little on the modern side. I’m 100% obsessed with Target’s Pillowfort collection (http://www.target.com/c/pillowfort-brand-shop/-/N-4vp6f). I’m sure you are now too. The pops of color and whimsy are just too much, in a good way. This collection has been my inspiration for this redesign, and while a good bit of my son’s room is going to end up black, white, and grey, you know there has to be some major pops of color if the room is in my house. Enter SW Organic Green paint and a new bright white drawer pull.
All this project required was a light sanding with a sanding sponge, a couple coats of paint, and a coat of polyurethane. I even had a little help from the man of the hour himself.
Next, the old drawer pull was removed with a screwdriver and the new one was put on. Because the new drawer pull didn’t line up perfectly with the old holes (go figure), I did have to add nail hole filler to the old holes before painting the drawer. New holes had to be drilled for the new pull, but it’s easier than you may think, I promise.
My son was super excited to get a new night stand, which I just find so adorable. He’s already filled the drawer with his miniature rock and shell collection and he keeps telling me he “loves the new handle” … pinch me now. Add a fox lamp and a cute bear from the Pillowfort collection and there you have it. Step 2 in Austin’s room redesign is complete. Step 1 was the bed and Step 3 will be painting his bookcase the same Organic Green – stay tuned!
L Claire Designs 