Brady's Big Boy Room!

Here's a peek at my son Brady's new big boy room!

Eric and I are ready to get decorating the nursery {OK, so I'm dying to decorate and get the room finished for our impending arrival, and Eric is wanting to get the big paint job he's sooooo excited about over and done with...}, but first we have to get our reluctant "big boy" moved out of the space. Completing his new "big boy" room is the first step on a long list of projects, and I'm happy after today that it's finally D-O-N-E!

Wish Brady was as excited about his new room as we are! He loves spending time in it and playing with toys on his big bed, but when it comes to actually leaving the comfort of his crib to sleep in it, well, that's a different story! Hopefully he'll warm up to it soon. I mean come on, kid! What's not to love?

Here's another peek from the hallway... {where the picture ends on the left is the back corner of the room, so there's about a foot of space on that side of the bed before you hit the wall. Hopefully that makes sense as you're looking at the photos.}

This room was originally used for comfy guest quarters, so we already had the queen-sized bed and the upholstered headboard. I didn't get any photos of it, but before our little redo the headboard was done in khaki microfiber and had some tufting on it. I recovered it in the blue-green linen and trimmed it with light blue ribbon to match the wall color.

I know the safety bed rails add a lot to the space {wink!}, but please try and pretend they aren't there...I was too lazy to take them off for our little photo shoot.

Unfortunately, the size of the bed doesn't leave a whole lot of play room for Brady, but we had to work around that because it's a really great bed and we didn't want to get rid of it or store it, especially since we're planning to move in the next year or so.

The walls were also the light greyish-blue color already, and since my sweet hubby and I are a wee bit tired after painting a whole house over the last few years, and as we still have a nursery to repaint, we decided to leave the walls alone. I think the color, Martha Stewart's "Craft Apron" from Lowe's, still works pretty well, though it may not be the most exciting hue!

I was pumped to find the Dwell bedding that I've loved for forever on sale a few weeks ago, and I'm hoping we'll have it for a long time. I think it's got plenty of longevity and flexibility, style wise.

The painting over the bed I also found on sale at Aaron Brother's framing store. It was the jumping-off point for the room, and inspired not only the color scheme but also the running theme: vintage cars and travel.

Here is the view from the back corner by the bed to the walls opposite...

I found cheap frames half-off at Hobby Lobby to give the cross and "B" we already had a little more punch. I found the speed limit, stop and detour signs for half-off at Hobby Lobby as well. The map made out of license plates and the B&W photo of the car interior were discovered at Target {not on sale...boooooooo! I was on such a roll that day!}. On the bottom left is a framed poem that Brady's Aunt Stephanie wrote and had framed for him before he was born...it originally hung in his nursery along with the cross and aluminum "B".

The Bible verse is one that Eric and I feel speaks to the destiny our Father God has for Brady, so we wanted to somehow put it up on the wall. I looked into having a custom wall decal made, but they were a little pricey and I wasn't willing to pay when a little time and craft paint could produce a similar result for a fraction of the cost.

I opted to paint the verse on a 3x4 foot canvas {which I found at Michael's for, you guessed it, half off!} because our walls are textured and it makes for a much tougher, much more time consuming project to try and paint directly on the wall {my precious momma and I did this in the nursery, see below photo, and it took ages! Plus, we were pretty close to developing carpel tunnel and were nursing sore backs for a week, so I decided not to go down that road again, even though I do like the look a little better than the canvas version}.

I choose a canvas with only 1/2-inch sides and painted it with some left over "craft apron" paint I had so that it would blend into the wall as best as possible. Then I used acrylic craft paint in teal from Michael's {guess what, that $0.79 investment was NOT half-off!}, hoping it would echo the color of the headboard and help tie everything together.

The curtains and shelving unit {we use it for toy storage} are from Ikea. I bought the caddies for the unit's cubbies at Target. I already had the lamp, also from Target, and the fan {Bed Bath & Beyond} and ipod dock/noise machine/clock.

Not sure if you can tell from any of the photos but next to the lamp there is a vintage gas pump {it's actually a piggy bank. How clever!} and an old red truck photo frame. Both were found at Hobby Lobby {yes, one more time, for half-off!}.

So that's it! Our finished space for our special little {big!} boy. I'm still working out a bedside table, but hopefully I'll have that moved in soon. I'm also thinking I may add something to the caddies on Brady's toy shelf to give them a little punch. Maybe mini slate boards or labels or something...

That's another project for another day, though! I'll post any follow up changes.

Now on to the new and soon to be improved nursery!