Room Makeover: Kids' Room

As promised, here are pictures of our bedroom makeovers. First up, in no particular order, and only because I cleaned it today and all the beds were made, is the kids' room. I wish I were the kind of person who has dramatic before & after pictures but I'm just never that prepared. I hunted high and low through all my photos since we moved into this house and could not find a single photo of what the room, at large, looked like before. So you'll have to settle for a cute old photo of Lucy after her bath. It shows what the paint color used to be when we first moved in.

It was obviously not an ideal color for a boy to live in. Lucy wanted the color to stay pink and William wanted to paint the room green. In the end we settled for...neither. We went with a boring old neutral. But you know what? With the white trim I totally love it.

Ignore the window a/c unit.  It's on our list to be removed this weekend.  And someday I'd love to remove the ceiling fan fixture with something more attractive.

This bedroom is actually quite large. It's only a tad smaller than the master bedroom which is why I chose to move William in with Lucy rather than the other way around.

One of the reasons it feels so large is because the previous owners removed the closet doors. At first this was a hard concept for me to live with, being ultra organized and needing everything in its place. I just didn't like the idea of everything out there in the open. But once I figured out how to use the closet space as an extension of the room, I came to like it. Hanging clothes is kind of a challenge but I try to display Lucy's prettiest dresses and sweaters first so it feels more like room decor rather than just clothes storage.

We recently purchased new furniture for our living room which meant our beloved leather chair needed a new spot.  I totally love it here, just in front of the radiator (cozy) and antique lamp (a find from my great aunt before she moved).  Many a bedtime stories shall be read in this space, I presume.

One of the things on my to-do list in this room is to find bedding for our twin-over-full bunk beds.  It's a challenge with mixed genders.  In the end I've decided to wait until the baby is born.  If it's a girl, she will eventually move in with Lucy and I'll want something a little more frilly.  If it's a boy, he'll be rooming with William and I'll want to utilize the colors in his old Pottery Barn Kids quilt which I was so sad to have to put away in the cedar closet for the time being. 

Because the bunk beds take up a lot of wall space in both height and width, I didn't need too much artwork so I kept it simple.  Here I printed out black and white pictures of William and Lucy together and put them in frames I already had.

On the dresser, I've displayed both of their piggy banks.  William's is a vintage Donald Duck bank that used to be Brian's when he was a boy.  The framed photograph is of William as a newborn just because he was the prettiest newborn ev-ah.  And hanging above the dresser are two keepsakes we received as baby gifts displaying William's and Lucy's birth date, time, length and weight.

And finally, behind the leather chair in the reading nook, is this lovely find from Etsy.  I wanted something Beatrix Potter-ish because I knew it would be gender-neutral.  And once Brian saw the pipe, very un-politically correct, he loved it instantly.  Lucky for us the artist was from the Twin Cities and hand-delivered the print to our home.  I love it immensely.  Click here to see his other work.

Next up is the baby's room!