His new "big boy room"

It just took a few days of spring in the air to kick me in to gear. I opened the windows and started painting. My son's new big boy room took 3 days all together and about $23.00. I spent $5 on fabric, $0 on curtains, 8.50 on art for the walls, and $10 on paint for the dresser. Here is the final product. The best part is it cleans up in less than 3 minutes no mater how big of a mess they make, and they play in there more now than ever.





With inspiration from a quilt I saw on Pam garrison's page I made a "paper quilt" since i don't get much sewing done. I used the pages of a $1 goodwill book. I started by lightly coffee staining them then drawing each letter. I then decided on a color pattern and painted with acrylic paint to outline the letters. As a finishing touch I used a greyish blue to watercolor the corners and edges.

Nothing says boy's room like a globe or planet or airplane hanging from the ceiling. I love this look but he has already expressed his feelings about his toys hanging instead of being down for him to touch. I'm positive he will find a way to get it down.




To make for easy and very fast cleanup for the smaller toys. I put a large sturdy wicker basket that used to hold diapers on his changing table. Now he helps everyday to clean up his room and I don't loose his interest because it's taking too long.


I used a pair of panels in his room given to us by my mom. They were over 90 inches long and had tabs so with the tags sticking up I hung flashcards with numbers, states, and bugs from embroidery thread and this made for a colorful and classroom like feel. I know that children this young are suppose to have large colorful writing and clear pictures but I remember lying in my bed before I would fall asleep as a kid looking at anything with detail. I think small attention to detail can be great for him when he is alone in his room. Jaedin has already learned his full name by having his name on his wall for his own name recognition learning and by having his initials in the room.

For tie backs to these curtains I used simple cup hooks and fabric strips. I decided it would be a safety issue to use actual silk roping tie backs with tassels even though that would have been my first choice. I slit two holes in the ends of the strips and it holds them well enough for now but I need to add something to keep the fabric from falling off the hooks.
Since we have a short storytime before bed everynight. I keep a basket next to his bed of books. This way they are cleaned up easily and don't have to be stacked upright between bookends on a shelf.

This bunch of artwork is a fun gathering of the ultimate boy stuff. I bought the frame from Michaels at $5 and filled it with a piece of scrapbook paper. The plane is a vintage art print for $2.50 at the consignment shop. I found this fun asian themed fabric at JoAnns and used it along with iron on letters I had to make a fast and easy piece of dragon artwork. I have enough leftovers to make him a pillow case.