It’s been a busy week around here. I spent last weekend in Charleston at a conference, and I found the beauty of the city so inspiring. Now I’m excited to be back home and I’m ready to get to work on creating a creative and fun shared bedroom for my boys.
If you caught last week’s post, then you know that my boys have been begging for bunk beds for quite a while, so I decided to jump in to the One Room Challenge once again. Today, I’m excited to show you what I have planned…
You’re probably all familiar with the One Room Challenge™ by now (this is my seventh time participating) – but I’ll give you a quick reminder. The ORC is twice annual blogging event hosted by Calling It Home in which a hundred or more designers challenge themselves to completely makeover one room in their home in just five weeks time. We’re already one week in, and I haven’t yet done much more than make plans and start purchasing some of the major items, so I really need to get to work!
Currently my boys each have their own room. Beckett, who is 5, has a menswear inspired bedroom that I designed for my first ever ORC, and Cooper, who is three, is in the room that started out as the nursery. As of today, Cooper’s room still looks just like the photos below, except the crib has been converted to a toddler bed.
My boys are best friends, and have been asking to share a room for quite a while. Since the boys already spend most of their time playing in Beckett’s room, and since the nursery was going to need an update soon anyway, we decided to makeover Cooper’s room with bunk beds, and to leave Beckett’s as their playroom.
While both boys’ rooms have almost the same square footage, Cooper’s is much longer and thinner, making it feel a bit smaller. Here’s how it’s laid out currently…
I started playing around with floor plan options, and quickly realized that it made the most sense to tuck the head of the bunk beds into the nook next to the closet {where the changing table is currently.
Even thought Beckett’s room will remain a play space for the boys, I still want to give them plenty of storage space in their new shared room.
The Eiffel Bookcase {the one with the cutout in the center} will move to the opposite wall, and I’ll add baskets behind each of the doors to organize small toys. I plan to replace the current small cubical bookshelf in the room with a longer thinner one with more room for their ever growing book collection. I’ll also be reusing the small dresser that previously served as a changing table, but because it’s always felt a bit too dark for the space, I want to paint the drawers white and add new hardware.
Since the boys are still on the young end for bunk beds, we’ve picked out a set that have stairs on the end rather than a ladder. This will make me feel much more comfortable about little brother climbing up and down, and the stairs come with the added bonus of built in storage drawers, which makes this organizing-loving mom’s heart go pitter patter!
As for the decor, we are keeping the teal ombre striped walls, because I still love them! I really loved the red and yellow accents in the nursery, but to make the new space feel a bit more grown up and to give it a style that can grow with the boys for years into the future, I wanted to update the color palette a bit. This time around, I’ll be adding navy blue for a sophisticated edge, but adding pops of bright orange to keep it fun and energetic {just like my boys}.
I don’t know if my boys LOVE animals because I filled their nursery with animals, or if I just got lucky, but both of them requested that animals play an big role in their new room as well. Cooper also adores all things transportation, so I also want to incorporate that into the space.
The animal posters that I plan to hang above the bookshelf are actually vintage travel posters from Qantas Airlines, and each has an airplane in the top right hand corner. I will tie this airplanes in elsewhere in the room, including possibly as a three dimensional art installation above the dresser. And I chose the navy rugs with the white dotted lines because they remind me of roads and will give him the perfect place to drive his cars. The rugs are on the smaller side, so I plan to place two side by side.
As the room comes together, I’m sure that some of the items in the plans will end up getting changed or replaced, but for those that love the details, here’s the source list of what is pictured in the mood boards above {this list contains affiliate links}:
Bunk Beds with Storage Drawer Stairs | Eiffel Bookcase | Cubical Bookshelves | Dresser | Navy Rugs with White Dotted Lines | White Cardboard Elephant Head | Giraffe Head | Paper Mache Rhino Head | World Map Duvet Cover with Animals | Orange Pillow Sham | Letter Pillows | Wild Animal Storage Baskets | Wire Wall Baskets | Zimbabwe Zebra Poster | Vintage Animal Travel Posters | Orange Storage Baskets | Never Stop Exploring Pillow | White Bean Bag
Thanks for stopping by to see my plans for this playful shared bedroom. I mentioned last week that I’m also going to be giving a quick makeover to the boys bathroom as well, and I’ll tell you more about that part of the project next week.
Be sure to stop by Calling it Home to see what all of the other designers have going on in their rooms. There are over 200 participants in this round of the One Room Challenge, so you’re sure to find some fabulous inspiration for every room and every style!
