My boys now have a new, way cooler room...

11.10.2011
This post originally ran on the The CSI Project's Kids Spaces Challenge...but I've added more to it this time around...(smile)

My 6-year-old son had been begging me to paint his room for, like, ever...so when I heard that The CSI Project was looking for Kids Space Makeovers, AND they were throwing in paint in our choice of color from Dutch Boy, I thought, "well, hey...let's do this..."

This was what my boys' room looked like before the re-do...


Light blue walls, no storage...


blue carpeting, oddly-placed furniture...


...and my 4-year-old's bed was just too darn close to the closets...

About 6 months ago I purchased some wall hooks on clearance from Hobby Lobby ($1.20 each...score)...the hooks are navy blue and grey and they became the inspiration for the entire room...

I chose Dutch Boy's Refresh Paint in "Route 66"...it's a gorgeous, subtle grey & it matched perfectly with the grey in the hooks...

Here's a photo of the room after the paint job and furniture re-placement (we recently had the carpeting replaced, too)...


Better, right??? The Dutch Boy Refresh is fantastic...seriously...it's so creamy & smooth (is that a weird way to describe paint?) and goes on just beautifully...the coverage is amazing. 

And because of the Refresh odor-eliminating technology, my nose won't have to endure that boys' room stink (if you have boys that love to run and play outside and get dirty and outside-y, then you know the stink I mean...). I've always been a Martha Stewart paint girl, but I think I've been converted...I will be using Dutch Boy again, without question. I also love love LOVE the twist-off top and handle...why doesn't everyone do this? They make the paint "can" so much easier to work with. 

Now, I do have to say, I was a little worried when I first put the paint on the walls...the paint looked tan...almost brown...I was like "Wha???" - but it dried to the perfect color...and it's definitely grey...and it's awesome...


See those baskets over in the corner next to Ty's bed? Here's a little better photo...


Those are the hooks that started it all...I found some baskets on clearance at Kohl's (just $10 each after my additional 30% off) and hung them from the hooks...then I attached little wooden initial blocks that I got from a craft show years ago to the front of the baskets with twist ties. When I initially hung the baskets on the hooks, their weight caused the hooks to lift up and off the wall...but I just used some of these frame stabilizers from 3M on the bottom back of the hook wood & now they stay down perfectly.
The boys are keeping some of their stuffed animals and odds and ends in the baskets now...


I moved both beds under the window...now we can access both closets without tripping over Tyler's bed...oooh, just look at that wall color! I can't get over it...


I also moved both dressers to the wall that the beds used to be on...the taller dresser no longer needs to be on an angle in order to fit...thank goodness...


The opposite wall (where the dressers used to be) was completely empty now, so I decided a little gallery wall would be an awesome space filler...my boys LOVE cars and legos...(like seriously love...it's kinda weird)...so we're filling the wall with both (some of the frames are empty, as you can see...we're still working out what's going to go in them...). Oh, and yes...those are shoes on the shelf...my son put them there...I think they look pretty cool...


Everything we hung up we already had in the house...except for the white photo frames and shelves...I got all of those on clearance at Target (and did you know that Target coupon codes can sometimes save even more money?!?!) - they started out hot pink and aqua blue until they met a couple of cans of Krylon Dual spray paint...



See what Gray (yes, my son's name AND the color on the wall) is doing down there in the corner? Playing with his legos...yep...a lego shelf...


I got the idea from this photo on Pinterest...all I did was take some of the boys' larger lego plates and hot glue them to the shelf...


Now the boys have a place to display their favorite creations and minifigs...


And finally, I replaced the nightstand between the beds with an old school desk I found in my parents' barn...a couple of coats of spray paint & a refinished top and now it's a perfect little table. (I'll be posting more about this table tomorrow...)

I love the new, more sophisticated look the room has...the grey on the walls & the placement of the furniture really classes up the joint...

 My boys love it...and so do I.

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