Designing a Little Boy’s Room

Brepurposed

We just celebrated our older son’s 4th birthday which means he’s kinda officially a little boy. Can you even call a 4 year old a toddler? It doesn’t sound right anymore but how sad that makes me. We moved to this Woodlawn Ave house when he was 14 months old. And because we had a major fixer upper on our hands and I was pregnant with numero dos baby boy we just plopped Cade’s old nursery into his new room. Which frankly looked a little silly because the ceilings were a whole 2 feet higher. My mom, bless her heart, sewed more of the same fabric onto the bottom of the curtains from the old house so they’d touch the ground again in the new house. We did our best. But now it’s time to give him a room taking into account the things he loves. This is the first of a series of posts on Cade’s new big boy room, so stay tuned this is a fun one. With all the other projects going on, realistically this one is on the radar for completion in July but I’m in the planning and ordering stage now and thought I’d show you the process.

Boy does this little boy have opinions on his room. Which at the same time cracks me up and drives me crazy. It’s no longer designing a room that I love but working with a little minion whose “love” changes daily. It’s been a conversation anywhere from “momma I like trains without faces (ie NO Thomas)” to “how ’bout narwhals mom”. The one thing that has stayed absolute consistent…he says his favorite color is green and lights up when I show him colors. That’s a BIG OLE LEAP for this blue-hearted lady. Where do I even start? I don’t like a lot of the greens out there but I clearly love the blue-greens as they’re everywhere in my house. I’m way more comfortable in my blue palette but I also want him to have a little boy’s room that will grow with him (for like a decade!) and be truly his. Sooo I’m finding colors like SW Rosemary. Greens that aren’t olive, don’t have blue in them and are more gray tinged and muted. I think I can handle that. And you should see his little eyes light up when I show him the mood boards. I think I’m on the right track.

Does anyone else have a good 1000+ items they’ve “favorited” on Etsy? I do and I started to go back through them and found a moroccan rug I saved 2+ years ago. I have always loved it and have wanted to put it in about 3 different client houses but it’s never made it to final selections. It’s very similar to other black and cream moroccan rugs right now that have gotten so popular in recent years but this has a bit more to it that I love and it’s made in morocco in the traditional way. It finally came yesterday and it’s lovely. It was my inspiration piece for the room.

So what can you expect out of this design? Lots of DIY millwork that we’re going to try and attempt on our own with the purpose to cover up a good portion of the lead paint and horse hair plaster in this old room. It did get a fresh coat of paint when we moved in but I want it encapsulated and as a bonus I like the look of a batten board or shiplap. There will be lots of budget savvy design choices as we reuse a lot of what we have but with a cool, modern palette–black, cream, muted green and patterns. I’m kind of excited about the wallpaper. I’m trying to not give too much away because I know how fun reveals are but I’m leaning on an accent wallpaper in the closet and a fun patterned wallpaper on the upper part of the walls.

Cole & Son — Finest Wallpaper

I’m steadily picking up pieces for the room but we are planning on reusing most of the decor items, side tables, lamps, and his crib. I really wanted to find him a new bed but we purposely got the 3-1 crib all those years ago with the intention that it could be a headboard for a full size bed. So, I might paint it, I might leave it but we’re definitely going to save money and reuse as much as we can. So leave me a comment and let me know some of your favorite features or designs about kid’s rooms. What are some must-haves that I’m not thinking about or should incorporate into the design plans?

So on our “to be purchased list”:

• a new rug
• curtains (possibly reusing some existing white ones we already have but adding trim)
• wallpaper
• dresser
• side table for the reading corner (?)
• bookcase
• ceiling light
• possible toy box for end of the bed (?)

On our “save” list we’ve got:

• Crib to be turned into a Headboard
• Paintings above his crib from House of Belonging
• Rocking Chair
• Matching Bedside Tables
• Floor lamp
• Wall mirror
• Decor Items, like stuffed animals, vintage blocks, toy box from Norway
• Bins and Baskets
• Hamper

Design: Waterleaf Interiors | Photography: David Tsay