A Tale of Two Bedrooms: Part One

While we're picking paint colors for the rest of the house, we have always been firm believers that our children should get to choose what they would like for their own rooms. It really helped them take ownership of the new house and to get excited about their rooms. 

If you remember our old house, T had a bright red accent wall with neutral beige complimenting walls. When asked what color he wanted his new room to be, he didn't even flinch.  GREEN. It's been his favorite color for about a year now. Of all the shades of green, he selected this bright "festival green" by Sherwin-Williams. Slightly concerned that the green would over power the room, I suggested adding stripes to break up the walls a bit. We sat down together and we both drew out what we thought the stripes should look like. I wish I had saved that scrap paper- too cute. He had originally suggested several stripes, but we were able to strike a compromise. He also agreed to switch from his choice of a red accent stripe to the blue from his twin brother's room. (whew, can you imagine a green and red room?!) 

The Yellow Bedroom was about to get a whole new look!

The Yellow Room "Before."
We also found out that this was the master bedroom
prior to the huge addition which explains its size.

I painted the gray stripe in the mid-to-upper portion of the wall first, then taped off the edges and added the green on the top and bottom. My master painter, D, worked on the trim. He's quite good at getting a nice line especially with such a bold color. I went back and added the tape above and below the area for the blue accent stripe.

At the same time as the painting, D patched all the holes left from removing the curtain rods and tie backs. We decided to leave the blinds for now. They're not in horrible condition and we know from past experience that our boys yank too hard on the cords and they will eventually break. We might as well replace them at that time. D also added a ceiling fan with light, wired a second wall switch for the light, and removed and patched the track light previously hanging over the closet (*weird*).

And now...... Ta-Dah! 

Under the window we added an "art wall" for the boys to display the things they simply can't bear to get rid of. Our rule is that they need to remove old favorites before new ones can be added. I hope this will keep the clutter down. The supplies are the same from our main floor art wall: Ikea curtain rod wire with Ikea clips. 

Ignore the open closet. As you can see in the "before" photo, this room had hardwood floors which I would describe as "decent" condition. We decided to cover it with carpet. Not the typical choice of interior designers, but for a child's room I think it was the right choice. However, the closet doors no longer fit so we removed one of them. We are working to replace them with six panel white doors to match the trim but the painting is still in progress. We will eventually replace the entry door as well but that's a different project. (There's a lot of oak to battle in this house...)

What kid doesn't love a bunk bed? 

Both boys have lofted beds from Ikea. We debated on bunk beds but buying two sets of bunk beds with four mattresses didn't make a lot of sense. And to have one room with bunk beds and one without...it wasn't going to happen. So the lofted beds were a nice compromise. They are twin sized and can be used flipped over the other way so that they are a "normal" height.

I also ordered vinyl stickers from Etsy. You can see the airplane peeking out near the door. T choose his name in script, a large block "T" and three airplanes with clouds. I did edit the photo to remove his full name before posting, but I think you get the idea.

And there it is. A green bedroom fit for a growing boy. I am very pleased with stripes even though they took a lot longer than anticipated to complete. The owner loves them too, and in the end, that's all that matters. :)

Update 2/23/15: The closet doors are finally painted and installed. Beautiful!