{E-Decorating} Trent & Brad’s Modern Boys’ Room

You might remember Tonya & Cody’s master bedroom board that I did — well they wanted more and had me design a board for their young sons’ shared room!  And you know I love working on kid’s rooms!

Trent (almost 3!) and Brad (8 months) are the cutest little boys and have been moved together into a room of their own to share!  Trent got a new “big boy bed” and Brad has been moved out of mommy and daddy’s room, and so Tonya wanted to put away the primary plastics, and create a fun, non-themey bedroom for her boys to create lots of memories in!  It has to be kid-friendly, functional, and calming enough to not over-stimulate them — mom and dad need their rest, too!!  Here is a collage of their room as it is today:

As Trent is well out of diapers, and Brad is getting bigger every day, we decided that it would be very impractical to go out and buy all new furniture for growing boys.  Especially because Trent’s toddler bed is less than a year old, Brad only has a couple years of diapering left, and it is all in great shape. So all the furniture (glider and ottoman, toddler bed, crib, dresser and changing table) has to stay. Plus Tonya really likes both boys’ bedding, and that is where I started with the colors; green, blue, tan, cream and brown. I couldn’t help myself, though, and had to add a couple pops of orange for cheery fun, and to make the room feel less theme-y by adding an extra element.  Plus orange is such a great color for fun little boys!

After discussing the room with Tonya, we decided that these were the needs for the room: paint, art, curtains, side table, seating, rug(s), lighting and accessories.  Here is the plan that I came up with for the boys’ fun new bedroom!  Here is the new floor plan with all of the new goodies:

As you can see, Trent’s bed has been moved to the opposite wall, and the glider and ottoman go where his toddler bed was. This will balance that far end of the room a little better, and create one side for Trent, and one side for Brad. Brad’s crib and changing table will both switch walls, and go on the wall where the dresser used to be. We’ll switch the dresser to the opposite wall (to Trent’s side), and add the new bookcase under the window on his side. We’re also giving him a side table and lamp next to his bed, and we’re adding some fun new seating (in washable twill covers) for both boys – what one has, the other will always have to have, too!

Here is the shopping list!

And here is how it all works together:

1. & 2. Paint: The colors I chose for the room are a blue/grey called Feather Gray, and a slightly lighter version called Iced Cube Silver, both by Benjamin Moore.  My thoughts on this are to paint thick, floor to ceiling horizontal stripes with these all around the room.  The room is actually pretty big, so if that is too large of a project, I would recommend only doing the stripes on the wall without a window (which would be on the right when you walk into the room).  Keep the bright white on the trim and on the doors, and paint the ceiling a barely-there light green, such as Benjamin Moore’s Bavarian Cream.

3.   These are large (12″ or larger) initial wall decals, in a sporty font, and there would be a few of them around the room in a color that is as close to Feather Gray as possible.  We’d place them high and low — wherever you need to fill a space.  You can find customized wall decals like this here.

4.  To add a little ambiance lighting, and to get Trent excited to read on his own in bed, I’d add this plug-in wall lamp next to his bed, above his new side table.  The “spider-web” cover is a safety feature on this children’s wall lamp.

5.  You always want to encourage learning in children’s rooms, and that’s why I’ve added this Modern Alphabet Print to hang above the dresser – except I’d frame it in white instead of black.  It has animal silhouettes for each letter in great colors, and the animal names are listed at the bottom of the print as well!

6.  To add a little softness to the room (and some fun texture!!) I love to recommend FLOR tiles for a custom-shaped area rug.  The room is a rectangle, but with the closet in there, it’s a fat “L” shape, and a FLOR rug would let you create any shape you want and fill the room as much as you want.  This is the cowhide patterned Stampede rug in Taupe.  So fun!!  Especially for a Wyoming bedroom.

7.  The window curtains need to be long and thick (to block out light for naps), so I chose some heavy grommet-top curtains in a fun orange color for some warm color contrast.  They’re made of cotton sailcloth (durable and easy to clean, plus it adds great texture), and the color is Foxtail Orange.

8.  You can always add the best patterns into a room with throw pillows – so this boudoir pillow would go in the glider, which has been moved to the corner.  It is in a gray stripe, working with the painted stripes on the walls, and adding neutral color to the warm woods throughout the room.  Stripes are always welcome in a boys’ bedroom!

9.  And what boys don’t love cars?  This vinyl wall decal would be a great addition to the entry area (on the wall by the door), giving a little edge to the jungle animals in the bedding.

10.  A glider/rocker in a nursery is not complete without a lamp – great for late night feedings or rocking baby back to sleep, and this one is sleek, on a dimmer, and will look great with Trent’s new wall lamp.

11. Trent’s new side table next to his bed will be great as he grows – it’s a mini-locker in white, and I’m sure he will love storing his treasures in there!

12. I love these IKEA stools and extra seating or surfaces are always great – and now each brother gets their own stool for story time or playing with their friends (when Brad is old enough, of course!).  Plus they are so inexpensive, durable and they come in great colors!

13. We thought that the boys could use a little extra book or toy storage, so I searched for something will multiple bins and that would match the rest of the wood in the room — these bins can be stacked as high as you want (be sure to attach them to the wall for safety, though!), and they can fit books, toys, baskets and totes and will make clean up a snap!

14. & 15. We all know that boys are rough & tumble, so some tough, toss-’em seating is a great place for the boys to crash and when crashing, you always want something soft like these bean bag chairs with washable twill covers in tan and orange.  How fun, right?

I think that a children’s room is a great place for some whimsical art, and I added some, but Tonya already had these stick on children’s decals that matched her boys’ bedding (you can see it lining the room at the ceiling) – I think they would look great in a gridded pattern right above each boy’s bed, like the picture below (which is from Project Nursery).

And there you have Trent & Brad’s shared bedroom – I hope Tonya likes it as much as I do!!  I think the color swap will make the room feel more cohesive, and the added color and sporty accessories will make the room feel less theme-like.

If you’d like your own E-decorating package for a room in your house, visit this page, this page, feel free to click on over to my Etsy shop, or e-mail me at lindsay @ lindsaychristensendesign . com to get started!