My son is 5 years old now. His bedroom is the first space I worked on after buying our home and it hasn’t been touched since. Kids grow and evolve fast and it doesn’t take them long to begin having an opinion on their spaces. I’ve been lucky enough to have a sweet child who has never questioned why his room isn’t getting attention like the rest of the house. It’s actually quite surprising given he has such an interest in decorating. I still feel guilty about it though so it’s been bumped to priority number one.
He’s had two requests for his room this past year. The first being a bunk bed. He decided he wanted a bunk bed on his own and as someone who loves good home design, this is a bit of a challenge for me. I’ve seen very cute spaces with bunk beds but they’re either custom builds or very expensive sets. I’m handier than your regular Jane, but I’m not handy enough to follow or design plans for a bunk bed. And I certainly don’t have the budget to buy a fancy bunk bed. I’m sure you understand that feel.
With this request on the forefront, I’d begun doing some research to see what I could find. I tried IKEA first but wasn’t in love with anything I found. Since he still has trouble falling asleep on his own often, I wanted an option that had a full bed on bottom. And I wanted a twin on top to keep the room as bright as possible. One night when late night internet perusing, I found the Mainstays Premium twin-over-full bunk bed. And I thought it look chic af in the demonstration picture.
I was convinced it wasn’t going to look that cool in real life, but at less that $200 I had to pick it up. The squared off shape instead of the classic round bars gives it a fresh, modern look. I went with black because I worried that the silver finish would look…. bad. I’m sure you know what I mean. Every cheap metal finish furniture has it. That bad silver/nickel finish. I guess I’ll never know if this one does have that bad look since I went with black but I’m happy with that decision.
Other than the bed, the only other request has been lots of plants. Yes, I know, he’s a pretty amazing kid. So we picked up an umbrella plant and aloe vera for his room. Last month I’d stopped by our local Master Gardener’s plant sale and picked up a spider plant and he claimed that for his room. I have terrible luck with sansevieria and had tossed one that had gone bad outside in a pot. Apparently the changing seasons, crap weather, and human neglect caused it to sprout 3 good leaves. So we put it in a pot my son chose and that’s going in his room, too. He keeps begging to go to Home Depot for more… but I still have work to do!
When I made over the room 5 years ago, I was obsessed with old houses and wanted to try and infuse the old house feel in our home with stain and paint. I’d painted the walls Stonington Grey and refinished the floors black. Well…. turns out this small house doesn’t do so well with grey walls and black floors. It makes it feel cold and cave-like. So I’ve started painting the walls bright, straight out of the can, white. Next weekend we will sand the floors. Then I’ll seal them with a varnish. And then we can talk plants.
The bunk bed will go in the space. And the vertical campainger dresser I scored back when I had a craigslist purchasing problem will go into the space. If I haven’t completely run out of energy after the sanding and painting, I hope to paint the dresser a fun color.
When I specifically pried for more information on what he wants, he gave me the most exciting answer- he wants “a rainbow room.” Uhm… Yeah… I can totally do that! A happy, rainbow space sounds like something I’ve spent my whole life waiting for. My inner hippie (let’s be real, it’s pretty outward, too) is ready to let loose.
Here’s the rough plans:
Multi-Color Globe Light Strand
And so that’s what I’m starting with. I’m 1 solid coat in and I’m working through my second coat of paint. It’ll need at least one more. Hopefully I’ll finish the painting this week like I have planned to do and will have a more interesting update next week. Be well!