My son is going to middle school this year... He's going on 12-years-old. When we moved into our home he was going into first grade. I was so excited to design his room. I thought about who he really was... He was interested in maps from his Montessori Preschool. He loved legos and beyond that, the room choices were all me. I loved his little room, the colors, and designs.
I promised him when he was going into 6th-grade, he could design his own room and we would update it. I never imagined that 6th-grade would come so fast. My son has been researching his room for about a year now. He has a Pinterest board and loves to go to decor stores with me. One of his favorite things to do is going antiquing with me. This kid did not take my words lightly. He had certainly prepared for this change to his room.
A lot of my son's interests have changed. He plays baseball, basketball, shoots archery, and trap. He has an RC car that he and his buddies race around the neighborhood. He is part of the SustainERs, a group of kids investigating how to make our city more sustainable. He goes fishing with his dad in the winter or summer. He sews, builds, and creates. He is above all a patriotic person! This boy drinks out of a US Navy glass. His recent purchase of a that has a US flag made out of fish. He still loves legos, but his creations now revolve around our Great Nation (the white house pictured above). So this room was going to be RED, White, and Blue.
Last week he went to his first overnight camp for a week. It was a hunter safety camp and at the end of this camp, he now has his license to hunt. My daughter went to Grandma and Grandpa camp. So you know what that means... a wee alone for Mom and Dad... If you have been married for almost 14 years, and you have kids you know this doesn't mean a week vacation for the parents... it means we get things done around the house. I decided to do my son's room for him while he was away. First, the collection of materials.
I watched the movie Minimalist on Netflix and have a bit of a new outlook on life. I have been slowly getting rid of the extra in our house... and let me tell you, there is a lot of extras. One of the things on the chopping block was this trunk (pictured above). I had it on the 'to go' pile but as I was looking at his, I thought... maybe I could upscale that. I talked to my son about adding legs (found on Etsy) on it and making a table with it. He loved the ideas so there it was, our first 'new' piece of furniture for his room.
My Aunty gave me some of her collection of keys once upon a time, I arranged them, glued them down in a shadow box and knew someday I would find the perfect place for them... My husband was also busy minimalizing our garage at the time. He too has an abundance of 'things', tools being one of them on the list. He came up with a upcycling project for the room as well.
I found this mirror at an antique shop about a year ago and it was perfect for my son... impulse buy finally used and hung up :)
Looking around the house, I had this great lamp but the gold needed a little updating. A little plastic wrap and black spray paint gave it the look that would fit perfectly in this room.
A donation of a 1940's blanket from a coworker made its way into the room too. I cut it down and made a pillow sham out of it. I was able to use the 'character' of the blanket in the newish pillows. It brings a little charm to the room for sure.
Then, the biggest change... the color. My son wanted red. I have painted red before and know it's not easy to get an even coat... but that was several years ago. The new paint that I bought did a great job and in two coats the Neon Green turned 'No More Drama' Red.
Then we had a couple of new builds. We had to make a run to our local hardware store to gather some pipe after seeing this amazing post from Remodel Aholic which gave such wonderful directions for the DIY desk we added in the bedroom.
We did a little laser engraving for the focal artwork in the room. We used the same stain as on the shelving unit for this amazing homemade US flag.
Once the materials were all gathered... it was time to assemble the room. I couldn't wait!!!! Here's what we ended up with.
Because the flag was so light weight we simply used a trim gun for the flag to be hung. You can't even see the little nails.
The bedding and curtains were purchased new from Bed, Bath and Beyond. They were picked out by my son.
The light-up star was a reused from another area of the house purchased at Target a while back. See the trunk?? It fits perfectly against this tiny wall and I can see it being used for a docking station because there is an outlet behind it.
The desk turned out amazing!! We made it a standing desk with a 3-foot pipe below. We then added a 2-foot pipe so there is enough room for a laptop. 6th grade in our schools goes 1:1 devices so we need to think about that for this room. The stool was a purchase from World Market... I love that store. It's a real sturdy piece of furniture.
Everything on this shelf I'm sure will change on a regular basis, but for now, the keys, some old books, and cigar boxes fill the shelves. The boxes double as storage for pencils and whatnot.
See what a little spray paint can do?? I love spray paint for refreshing what you already have.
Check out the hat display my husband designed. We made the bottom of the hooks align so that anything hanging from them would be straight. We also varied the size of the wrenches. We measured it for hat display, however, I'm sure my decorating kid will switch this up now and again.
So there we have it. A week's worth of hard work to last this kid until he leaves the house. I hope he continues to love this room as much as he does right now.
