a child’s room makeover (to die for)

by Wendy @ The Shabby Nest

Welcome to Week 1 of So You Think You Can Decorate! I’m so excited to be a part of this amazing competition!

This week’s challenge is accessories. It’s amazing what accessories can do for a room. Case in point, my little boys’ room.

Because we are currently living in a rental home, we aren’t able to paint. When I put my boys’ beds in their room, it was just blah! Can you say, “BORING BEIGE”? I knew that accessories were going to play a major role in bringing some interest to the space.

But I needed inspiration. I have a collection of vintage sock monkeys that I inherited from my mother, and I knew that I wanted to use them in my little boys’ room. So I chose a sock monkey as my inspiration accessory. I decided to use the colors found in the monkey as the color scheme for the room: chocolate brown, tan, and white with touches of red for an accent. In the photo below, you can see how I brought these colors into the room with the fabrics I used on the accent pillows.

Here’s a pillow hint: King size pillows work well on twin size beds…They are the same width as the bed, so they are very substantial looking. (Compare the before picture above with the after pictures to get a real feel for what I mean.)

Then, in order to visually seperate the headboards from the wall (since both are essentially the same color) I decided to do two things.

First, I extended the curtain panels behind the headboards. I made the curtains using a tan and white ticking fabric that was both boyish and created visual texture. They were so simple to make. I had to sew two lengths of fabric together to create the width I wanted, but then, since I wasn’t sewing a curtain rod pocket, all I did was hem the edges all the way around. And since I wasn’t using them for light control, I didn’t need to line them. Straight line sewing. Simple.

The second thing I did to create the visual separation was that I added a row of brown nailhead trim along the top of the headboard. This allowed me to create a sort of border between the headboards and the curtains behind, and to bring in more of the chocolate brown color.

And if you’d like to know how I made the headboards, I talk about it here.

In the photos below you can see that I chose to make the curtains stationary by suspending them from curtain rings and more brown nailheads. A circle motif is repeated in the rings, the nailhead trim on the headboard, and then in the accent pillows on the bed with a stitched circle pattern in the large brown pillow, and polkadots on the smaller budoir pillow.

I also added a personalized piece of art from one of my favorite online shops, Sarah and Abraham, above each of the boy’s beds (the art features a silhouette with each boy’s name). I made the art appear to be hanging from the curtain rings above by attaching a chocolate brown ribbon to the back and clipping it to the center ring above.

The dresser in the room is an heirloom piece that we inherited from the hubby’s grandmother, so I wanted to take extra care how I accessorized it. I added another sock monkey, as well as a vintage shoe stay and a barn star tied to a lamp with red checked ribbon. I added an additional punch of red with the cute “giggle” sign, and finished off the grouping with a vintage-look world globe.

As I mentioned before, the room is shared by my two youngest boys (aka the toddler demolition team). I decided to accessorize each of the beds in the same way to create a sense of symmetry and add to the visual appeal of the space. But to add individuality, each of the beds has a monogram, and of course, the art above each bed is personalized as I mentioned previously.
Now here’s a little bit of information that you probably won’t care about at all, but which I think is very clever. Mr. Three’s bed originally belonged to my oldest son. Now, the monograms (which are made from white felt) on the bed are attached with fabritac which is not nearly as easy to remove as hot glue. So, you may ask, how did I change the monogram? Luckily Mr. One’s monogram is BHE and Mr. Three’s is BHL…so I very carefully cut off the two horizontal lines at the top of the “E” to create an “L”. Pretty quick thinkin’ huh?

Overall, a great start to this room!! Can’t wait to finish accessorizing the other three walls.

Shopping Resources:

Brown polka dot fabric on budoir pillow: Brown Dottie by Moda

Stripe fabric on accent pillow: Wanna be a Cowboy by Samantha Walker for Riley Blake

Brown circle and square accent pillow: Walmart

King size pillow case: Better Homes and Gardens for Walmart

Osnaberg fabric on headboards: JoAnn’s

Tan and white ticking fabric: Walmart (believe it or not, I scoured the internet to find this fabric to no avail, then happened upon it at my local Walmart for only $4/yd. Serendipitous, no?)

Personalized Silhouette prints: Sarah and Abraham

Hope you enjoyed this little project as much as I did.

Wendy is the author of the popular decorator’s blog, The Shabby Nest. Decorating is her passion, and her family is her inspiration. Her goal is to create a warm, welcoming environment without breaking the bank. And she loves to share her ideas with you.

(Content and photographs are copyright of The Shabby Nest.)