Friday, November 16, 2007

FO: My Son's Room

My son's room is done!

Before:

My older son is ten years old. Although this was a great room for him even before the makeover (although a bit messy), there were a couple of problems with it. First, the walls had not been painted since we moved in eight years ago. Can you see the puffy clouds on the baby blue walls and ceiling and the toddler transportation-themed border? It was really cool when he was three. Second, the dresser is way too small. It never occurred to me that kids' clothing gets bigger as they do and requires more space to store--until recently, when I could no longer fit even his relatively modest wardrobe back into the drawers on laundry day. So the plan was new paint and a new dresser, with a bit of cleaning and reorganizing.

The hardest part was clearing out the room so that I could paint. Unless you've done it, you cannot imagine how much stuff accumulates in a kid's room over the course of eight years.

By the time I got to this point, I had completely filled the guest room and the upstairs hallway, as well as several trash bags. I also discovered some unpleasant truths about children.

They have dirty hands:

And they wipe...things...on the walls:

I have my suspicions about what these rock hard, greenish raisins stuck to the walls actually are, but when you are the one scraping them off, it's best not to think too much about it.

I also learned something about "strippable" wallpaper. "Strippable" does not mean you can strip it off the walls. It means that you can strip the walls off with it:

Not to worry, though. A can of spray-on texture and a coat of primer and no one will ever know the difference.

Two days later, here is the final product:

In the above picture, you can just see the corner of the IKEA dresser that took me all afternoon to assemble. Here's a slightly better shot. It's almost impossible to get a picture of anything located under this window:

It is one of those flat-packed things that comes in a shoe box, weighs a thousand pounds, and, with the aid of 10,000 fasteners of various sorts, assembles to create a life-sized replica of the Titanic. It is a lot bigger than the old dresser and easily holds all my son's clothes without the need for complex origami folds.

You may have noticed that the ceiling does not yet have its planned constellations. We are still in negotiations about those. On the whole, though, I'm pleased with this makeover. No major changes, but a nice update for little money in a short time. And just because I'm so pleased with how well it all coordinates, here is another shot of the swatch that inspired the makeover:

Is there any question as to what I'll be casting on next?

16 comments:

Angelika said...

I know how much stuff adds up over the years. That's why we move every couple of them and then weed out. The other good thing about military housing is, that the walls are white and when we leave they get repainted - white again. But then, you can't really get that creative either, because it's not yours to stay at. Nice job on the redo.

...Sarah said...

That is a very cheerful room. I like the tent effect on the ceiling. And you have to love Ikea for kids room solutions.

The A.D.D. Knitter said...

Awesome redesign!! And when I was his age, rock hard, greenish raisins were my specialty;)

Anonymous said...

I really love the paint colors! And the carpet. Fast too, takes me ages to get anything done over here. Course your kids can take themselves to the potty, so that helps.

I am totally in hysterics about the Titanic.

marit said...

He's a lucky kid- it looks awesome!

sophanne said...

that looks like a great place to nestle in.

Tammy said...

Well I was just looking over your list of 100 things about you and while I didn't see the word I was looking for, "over-achiever", it's pretty much inherent in your list.

Anyway, the room looks awesome! I bow down to your talent and productivity which both far surpass anything I could even hope for.

Do you know how I paint (or more acurately don't paint)? I start thinking about all the prep work, the moving stuff, and all the hidden stuff (not to mention anyting green or goopy I might find)... then I get overwhelmed and cast on for a new pair of socks.

Anonymous said...

Great job -- can I be your son? I especially love the way you extended the blue ceiling onto the walls a bit. Creative, yup, that's you! (and fast!)

Anonymous said...

Oh wow!! You did a really, really nice job!!

sheep#100 said...

What a lucky kid!

MelissaKnits said...

i love ikea.
and
when we went to sell our old house, the one "they" grew up in? I was amazed at the dirty hands and feet goo I had to scrub before the first showing.

Anonymous said...

Great job! Looks like a super 10-year-old boy room to me. Heck, this (mumblemumble-year-old) mom wouldn't mind it!

Sarah said...

What an awesome remodel! The blue and green look great together. Lucky son!

Anonymous said...

Great job! What a lucky boy and now he can wipe boogers on the lovely green walls and they will blend in. I love that you took a picture of the dried boogers.

5elementknitr said...

I love the curved painting you did near the ceiling! That's so cool! If that whole lawyer thing doesn't work out, you could certainly interior design...

Anonymous said...

Great job. When we painted our daughter's room with a blue ceiling we added the wallpaper planets. They come in little circles that you place around the ceiling. Easy to put up and yes they did come off later without too much work. The company is called Wallies. Just Google "wallies space" and you'll et a bunch! I also like to paint rooms - quick satisfaction.