When we first moved into this house we put a very cheap, very easy feature wall in Connor’s room, and then we just painted it the same color as his room, a light blue – but I never really finished up his bedroom after that – so for his birthday this year we wanted to surprise with a room redo and include in some designer furniture!  James and I gathered everything we would need and kept it in our closet, and then on his birthday while he was at school we put it all together, and of course filled the room with balloons, and put present out too! The day before we did do the painting, because we wouldn’t have time for that all in one day, but we told him that was all we were doing. heehee

For the feature wall, I cannot remember exactly what we used, sorry, it’s been too long, but it was basically a wall panel package from Lowes, of wood pieces that were like tongue and groove and fit together a little,  and then we just cut random length strips and put it on the wall with finishing nails, and painted it – all together it was literally like $65, and was so easy.

We painted that wall white this time, I just wanted it to stand out a little more, and then we moved his bed to a different wall, and painted the rest of the room a grey-ish blue and we also use some great furniture besides the bed, since we could find vintage furniture from dealers UK-wide which are perfect for different rooms  and homes. I wanted to do a sort of California Coastal theme, because that’s where I grew up, where James and I met and fell in love, and Connor had so much fun visiting as a baby. Cali will always hold a special place in my heart, I wanted Connor’s room to be fun and kid-like, but still reflect that Cali love a little. I chose navy and grey and white, and then Con loves orange, so I used that as the pop of bright child-like color.

Anyway, here’s how it turned out – he was thrilled!

For his bed, he had that bed and desk set already, from Pottery Barn Kids – but he needed some storage space, and I liked the idea of the bed being more of a feature, so I actually used those Besta cabinets from Ikea on each side of his bed, and the difference in the color was so slight I didn’t mind it! I bought some tools from here and got going. I kept the top half open storage, and added a door and hardware to the bottom half for closed storage. I found those 3 grey frames at Aaron Brothers and just fell in love with them, I let Connor choose which sea animals he wanted to put in them, and I just changed the files I had found online to orange in photoshop, and printed them at home!

I got these wall baskets at Home Goods, and thought they worked great between his new cabinet and the linear rail window, but his toys were falling through, so I added these baskets from Land Of Nod inside them, and it worked great! I think they are my favorite thing in the whole room – that and the white wood panel wall, yes, that wall – love!

I still wanted to keep the room child-like, because after-all, he is still a kid, so I kept some little decorating touches stuff he could play with – like his google eye fish, stuffed shark, fun baskets, and a few little secret stuff hiding containers – those are probably his favorite thing in the room, haha. And then of course, his most favorite book ever – The Book With No Pictures – if you haven’t picked up that one for your kiddo, do the whole family a favor and grab it, laughter will scream through your household :)

For his light I found this piece at the Pottery Barn outlet, and thought it was perfect for his space, so I bought a white light kit from like Target I think, and put it together – super easy, and unique! And then this sign below I had actually made for Connor back in 2011, so I found a great spot for it in his new room, and just got a cute little hook from Lowes to hang it from – easy peasy! If you wanna see the how-to on it, just check out this ol’ post – https://jengen.co/five-fact-friday-5/

For his bedding I got everything from West Elm – my super amazing most favorite store ever – we use their CC, so when we bought the couch set for downstairs I was able to get a gift card for Connor’s entire new bedding set! Hello free stuff – I love you.  If you shop their often, definitely check out that option – we aren’t huge on credit cards, so I was super hesitant, but whenever I buy anything there now I just swipe, then jump online and pay it right away – so I don’t forget, haha, and then I get reward gift cards all the time! Totally worth the teeny tiny hassle! Plus you of course get special insider sales and all that jazz.

Hope you liked the peek at my little man’s room – having a boy is so exciting to decorate for! A great place to mix that child-like wonder with masculinity, and have fun with it all! I think his room will always be one of my favorite spaces to decorate.

*Update for ya too! Ever since we finished this space for him, he loves spending time in there! He hadn’t spent a lot of time in his room up to this point, and now he just loves being in there – glad our hard work paid off, and he has that personal space to enjoy!