Changing it Up…The Evolution of a Little Boys Room {Picture Wall}

 

Good Morning! It’s Spring Break here and we are going to be spending a lot of time outside working in the yard (I can’t wait …. seriously it’s one of my favorite things!) and hopefully a lot less time on the computer. But before I head out I thought I would share the progress on Mason’s room. It’s been super slow progress but we’re getting there!

Since it’s been so long since I’ve updated his room, here is a picture of what we started with.

 

We painted and switched out the furniture. (Remember, this used to be Daxon’s room and then they did a switcheroo.)

 

Added some fun chevron fabric to lengthen the curtains and a memo wall.

 

And here’s how it looks today. If you follow along on Facebook or Pinterest then you may recognize a couple of the changes. We found his new dresser on KSL (a local classified website), covered his lampshade and added a super fun picture wall. I drool!

 

I mean seriously, giant pictures of my favorite eight year old, framed in rustic pine frames that didn’t break the bank! And bonus … they even graduate in stain color from dark to light. Like I said, I drool!

 

I had the pictures printed off at Staples (they are engineer prints which only come in black and white on thin paper) for $13 bucks for four 24x36 pictures. Can’t beat that! Then I mounted them with spay adhesive on some 1/8” panel board for stability (you really could use anything, we just had some laying around and figured it would work). Once they were mounted on the panel board, I thought it would be nice to protect them with a finish of some sort, so I sprayed one of the pictures with a spray poly. DO NOT DO THIS!!! It totally bubbled the picture. So, I just left the rest alone and figured they were cheap enough that they could be replaced as needed.

For the frames I used this tutorial from Young House Love. They were fairly simple and to make and way cheaper than going out and buying four huge frames.

 

Once they were built, stained, and poly-ed, it was time to attach the pictures to the frames by nailing them right into the back of the frames. Easy Peasy!

 

I then attached the hanging hardware. I used two large picture hangers per picture and nailed them right into the top of each frame.

 

I ended up having to bend the picture hangers a bit before nailing them on because if not they were flush with the panel board and wouldn’t be able to catch the screw when I hung them.

 

Once they were ready to hang I traced each frame onto some brown paper, making sure to mark on each paper exactly where the nail goes. Then I taped the papers up on the wall exactly where I wanted the pictures hung and nailed a small nail into each spot that I has previously marked.

 

Then, I took one sheet of paper down at a time (leaving the nails in the wall). If I was hanging something light I could have just hung them at this point, but I chose to use wall anchors so that my pictures were nice and sturdy. I then took the nails out and installed the wall anchors in their place and then hung the frames.

 

I couldn’t be happier with the results and may have sat on the bed and stared at them for, um … awhile after I was done!

 

And just because I seem to stay motivated with a list, here is a list of things to still be done! Heaven help me finish this up soon!

Mason’s Room

Paint

lengthen curtains

new dresser

memo wall

plank the desk wall

desk/chair

accessories

headboard

Trophy Organization

Desk Lighting

Art/Pictures on wall

*Bed skirt

*Cover Lamp Shade

 

Kristin

Linked Up:
Thrifty Decor Chick, Evolution of Style, Lolly Jane (The Scoop),Savvy Southern Style,Not Just a Housewife, The House of Smiths, Somewhat Simple, Living Well Spending Less, Six Sisters Stuff, Tatertots & Jello

Changing it Up … The Evolution of a Little Boys Room {Curtains}

 

If you follow me on Facebook, then you know that I’ve been working on the curtains for Mason’s room. It’s really quite a small change that makes a big difference in the look of the room.

If you are having a hard time remembering … here’s a look at what his room looked like before. Just remember it’s a work in progress :)

 

This is how the room looks now. I moved the curtain rod up a good six inches to make the room feel a little taller. I’m not sure why I ever hung them any lower … maybe to fit the curtain panels as they were!? LAZY! Then I just added a band of gray and white chevron fabric to the bottom of each panel so that they went to the floor. I don’t know about you, but I am extremely anti high-water curtains, so this simple fix did the trick!

 

 

I love having a new pattern introduced in the room. Even though it’s a small amount … and pretty neutral, it’s still a pattern, so I will go ahead and give myself a pat on the back for that! (If you know me you know I have a hard time adding in pattern … weird, I know.)

 

 

Here’s another look at the progress on the other side of the room. I’m wanting to start on the desk area next (it will be in the empty space to the left of the closet). But first I have to decide whether I should do white or stained planking on the wall. What do you think? I have always pictured it stained, but am feeling like the room is getting a little dark with the dark bedding and curtains. What to do, what to do!

 

 

Slowly but surely we are making progress. Here is a run down of what still needs to be done. I’m hoping to have it done by the end of the month so I can move onto something else … we shall see!!!

Mason’s Room

Paint

lengthen curtains

new dresser

memo wall

plank the desk wall

desk/chair

accessories

headboard

Trophy Organization

Desk Lighting

Art/Pictures on wall

*Bed skirt

 

Hope you all are having a great week!

Kristin

Linked Up:
Thrifty Décor Chick

Changing it Up … The Evolution of a Little Boys Room {Memo Wall}

 

As I mentioned here I am on a mission to finish up Mason’s bedroom. Mason is 8 and he is a bit of a collector. He loves to display his stuff around his room and does so by either pinning or taping said “stuff” to his wall. When I noticed this happening more frequently I knew it was time for an area to be designated just for that. I came up with a cheap and simple solution … meet Mason’s memo wall!

 

It started out as a boring, empty wall that was just that! Boring and empty!

 

I knew that I wanted the wall filled up but didn’t want to spend much on the project so I shopped my collection of old frames and came up with a few different sizes to fill the space. In order to see how they would fit in the space, I laid them out on the floor in front of the wall and tried a few arrangements until deciding on this one below.

 

If you have been following NBLane for awhile you may (or may not) remember this post where I spray painted a few thrift store finds. The framed puzzle on the right is now the bright red frame being used for the memo wall and the display shelf on the left got a fresh coat of white and will be finding it’s way into the room soon!

 

As for the other frames I just left the two big ones as is, removed the glass, cut a piece of cardboard to fit in each frame and covered the cardboard with some leftover blanket filler and some fabric scraps I had laying around. It was easy peasy. And they are just duck taped on the back to hold everything together. Told ya … easy!

 

Can you see the red line that is stitched across the red and white striped fabric? That fabric is actually an old pillow case from Mason’s room when he was a baby. I like how the stitching tells a story and love reusing something from his old room!

The two small square frames are old Ikea mirrors that I took the mirror out of and covered with burlap. I love the texture that the burlap brings to the wall.

 

Mason is loving having a designated wall to showcase all his drawings and memo’s. He has put it to good use and I haven’t seen any tape lurking on the walls so I think it was a win!

 

It feels good to have something crossed off the list and I think it’s just what I needed to get the ball rolling!

Oh, and by the way … it’s almost the weekend! Now if I could just get everyone healthy around here so we can enjoy it!

Kristin

Linking up at:
Savvy Southern Style
Somewhat Simple
tatertots & jello
Thrifty Decor Chick
Not Just a Housewife