It’s Feature Friday! On Fridays, I’ll be featuring one room in my house in its current condition even if there are some things I’d like to change about it. If I do happen to improve something later, I can always revisit it when the time comes. Plus, I’d kinda feel dishonest if I only focused on “finished” rooms in my house. And if what they (the professionals) say is true, a room is never really finished anyways…you’re always tweaking it. Concentrating on just one room weekly should give me some time to tidy it up a bit, too.

We’re fortunate enough to have an extra bedroom that serves triple duty:  guest bedroom, craft room and playroom.  It’s a little more playful than the rest of our house.  Take a peek! 

The bed frame was actually Handy Hubby’s in college and was wood veneer in pretty bad shape.  I sanded it down, primed and painted it.  The bed linens are simple white with cheerful, geometric pillows.

The frame above the bed was actually supposed to be a mirror but it arrived shattered.  In a bit of luck, the sender let me keep the empty frame because it was going to be more expensive for them to ship back and repair than sell…2 for the price of 1!  It’s the same frame/mirror as in our living room – only I painted the living room one black and this one white.

I found a pair of metallic gold sunburst plaques at Goodwill for $4.  I spray painted them white and leaned each in a windowsill.

Right next to the bed is a long, narrow table where I sew and do other crafty things…although not nearly as much as I’d like.  I found the lamp at a thrift store and the fabric storage boxes came from JoAnn’s on clearance.  The scroll wall pieces are from local antique malls.  I painted them white…surprise!

There is one large blank wall across from the guest bed.  Someday, I hope to add family photos.  The closet is my craft closet.  See how I organized it here.  Yep, it’s still organized!

A small vignette by the door holds special meaning.  The dresser is a family hand-me-down, the baby shoe is mine and the framed quilt was my great-grandmother’s.

Finally, the play area includes a hand painted train table, a reading spot and a bookcase for toys.

Here’s my little playmate now…sans pants…

So if you ever want to come sleep, sew or play (without your pants on) at my house, you can do it all within the confines of this room.

FYI – A huuuuuge ‘thank you’ to my mom who let me borrow her computer for this week’s posts…including today’s Feature Friday. 

I’m a man girl of my word.  As promised, I’m revealing Layne and Everett’s bedroom makeover today.  I must say, this was probably the hardest “do-over” for me so far in this boring builder house.  Why?  Well, normally I work my magic (i.e. paint, pound nails in walls, paint some more…) when my boys are asleep – during naps or after they’ve gone to bed.  2 boys + 1 gallon of paint = disasters of astronomic proportions.  However, since I was piddling around in a room that my 5-year-old sleeps in, I had to DIY on the fly, little by little by little.  It has taken me nearly 2 months to finish this room.  And not because I did anything drastic like laying new floors (which I would love to do someday) or tearing down walls.  Nope, it was primarily due to the fact that I had 2 lil’ guys right at my back the entire time.  It was fun but I’m happy to be finished. 

Remember what a mess this room was?

And now, for the final results…

Some hooks for bedtime blankies and a knight (handed down from Handy Hubby…he’s handy for all sorts of things) to guard the door.  I spray painted the knight green…you can see him in his original armor in the before shot.  Same with the star, but it got coated in white.

I hand painted 2 navy circles above each bed then hung (spray painted) green letters in the center to act as monograms.  The twin headboards I DIY’d here.  The patterned duvet cover is from IKEA and I found the geometric lumbar pillows at HomeGoods.  To bounce some light around, I (painted then) hung a green mirror behind a lamp.

The dropcloth curtains that I painted turned out great!  Sorry, this picture makes them look much darker than they are in real life because the sun was shining straight through the window.  The stripes are more of a denim color.  I hung the panels high and wide to “cheat” the off-center window.  I was worried the paint would make the panels very stiff but they hang nicely.  You definitely wouldn’t want to wear them though…they are a little rough.

I added a wooden roller shade for texture and to filter light.

 At night, we roll the shade down and draw the curtains…it’s nearly black in there.

Here’s a truer depiction of the curtains’ color.  A wide reading chair in the corner was a must for the boys’ room.  Reading books is part of our bedtime routine.  The 2 road signs came from a box in our garage!  Handy Hubby has been hanging onto them for years and I was so happy to finally display them.

Next to the chair is a Craigslist find: a metal office console.  I spray painted it yellow as a nod to Handy Hubby’s day job with Caterpillar, Inc.

 Since I organized the closet, there wasn’t a need for clothing storage in the room.  For now, the drawers are empty and the doors slide open to reveal mini Cat machine toys…sort of garage-like.

A mirror, bulletin board and artwork fill up the wall above the console.  The mirror and bulletin board were in the room previously…I just painted them white.

Layne and Everett picked out their favorite pictures of cars, trucks and CAT equipment from on-hand books and calendars.  I simply Mod Podged the pages onto 12″x12″ canvases that I painted white.  The pictures have wrinkles in them but I love them; they make the prints look old and worn.

The canvases came from our basement…the result of a bad decor idea years ago.  Glad I saved them!

Besides cars, Layne’s only other stated requirement for the new room was a plant.

I gave him 2.

Some more wall art that came from our garage…

My hope is to fill the entire wall with license plates.  Our families are already making donations to the cause.

And a few “for fun” pictures because this room is, well, fun!

That’s it, folks.  What I’ve been doing in my spare time for the last 2 months.  I’m really happy with the way the room turned out not just because it doesn’t scream “car room!” but because I can tell my boys looooove being in there. 

When I asked Layne what his favorite part of the room was he replied, “My favorite thing is that you made it for me because you love me.”  Oh, he can just melt my heart sometimes.  Sometimes.  We have yet to let Everett give his new Big Boy Bed a spin but he does enjoy pretend sleeping in it at random times during the day.  I’m looking forward to tucking my boys into these beds for years to come.  My wish is that the room grows with them.  I can even see them taking some things off to college:  a platform bed, the reading chair, road signs, license plates, etc.  Time will tell. 

Love you boys.