Three Boys, One Room

 Last August, I did something crazy.  I decided to switch all the bedrooms in our house.  Geary and I moved into Miles' nursery.  The boys' bedroom became a catch-all room that I hoped to turn into a craft room.  And the old master bedroom became home to all three kids.  It's been nearly year since that big switch-a-roo and yesterday I put the finishing touches on their new room.  Here's a little before and after tour so you can see how the room has evolved from a master bedroom to a room full of boys.

BEFORE:

 AFTER:

Green!  The paint is Peter Pan by Miller.  It's the same color I used in their old bedroom--might as well use up the leftovers!  Noah's bed is directly in front of us.  His headboard is an old beat up bookshelf that I found at Goodwill.  I like the industrial feel it gives to the room. The foot board is one of those cubby shelves from Target.

Here's a closer look at Noah's bed.  His nightstand is another cubby thing from Target. And the green box on the top shelf acts a sort of drawer for Noah's flashlight and little treasures that he doesn't want his brothers' to get into.  So far, they are semi-respectful of his property.  The robot poster is handmade from wall stickers we found at The Dollar Tree.

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BEFORE:

AFTER:

Turning slightly to the left, you see the bunk bed.  Right now Toby sleeps on the bottom and nobody sleeps on top.  But eventually, Toby will move up and Miles will sleep on the bottom bunk.  (Miles' crib is in our room right now).  To the left of their bed is that little nook that I had painted red.  I primed over the red and painted it a very pale blue and added bookshelves made from pine boards.

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 The blue table is the $6 Lack from Ikea and we already owned the little white chairs and step stool.  The boys like to color here and it also becomes a restaurant or lego table or fort depending on what the game of the day is.

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The bicycle print is my own artwork.  It's hard to tell in the photo but the orange background is actually a diamond texture.  And the R2-D2 print is an image I found online.  Both frames are thrift store finds painted white.

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This orange memo board/organizer is another thrift store find.  It used to have a Harley Davidson decal on it but I peeled it off and then added the robot stickers (same as the poster stickers) So far, it's more decorative than functional but we all like it.  And once in a while Miles leaves little surprises in the pockets, like half eaten crackers or bits of paper.

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Moving left again, I stacked two cubby organizers from Target for lots of vertical storage.  They are both bolted to the wall and each other for safety. The airplane hanging from the ceiling is called The N-2 and was built by Grandpa Bob.  It was the prize-winning plane in Noah's flight competitions last summer.

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All the toys are organized in these fabric drawers that I found at Target and Fred Meyer.   I used my friend Kristal's great idea of name tag holders on a key ring to label each bin.  These labels are also great for hanging on diaper bags or backpacks.  I also have them on our laundry baskets.

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I didn't buy all the bins at once.  Just one or two at a time, whenever I saw them on sale, over the course of this year.  Spreading out the spending was a good use of our money.  Plus, if I had bought all the bins last August, I would have missed out on getting the great orange color that just came out this spring!  I like that all the bins together mimic the pattern of the boys' quilts.

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The closet in this bedroom is the smallest bedroom closet in our whole house.  It was quite a challenge to fit three boys, their toys, and all their clothes and shoes into one room.  Here's how we did it.  All the shoes are in an over the door shoe organizer.  The left side of the closet holds Miles' shirts on the hanging bar and a stack of wire drawers that I found at Home Depot.  Each boy gets two drawers for pants, pajamas, and underwear.

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The right side of the closet holds Toby's shirts on top, and Noah's shirts on a lower rod.  The three green boxes hold socks for each boy.  And the floor of the closet is home to Space Bags with out of season or bigger sized clothing, and a bin full of puzzles.

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We also utilized some under bed storage for toys.  These long, shallow tubs are great for Lincoln Logs, blocks, train sets, race tracks, Duplos, foam swords, and other oddly shaped long toys.

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I used the same labels but just attached them to the plastic tubs with clear contact paper.  Can you see my reflection in this photo? It looks like I'm trying to climb a hill of Duplo blocks!

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And turning left one more time, we've gone full circle!  The boys have a nice big window with a view of the backyard.  They get lots of natural light and really seem to enjoy playing in here. Also, in real life, this room is never this clean.

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Thanks for taking the tour!  I hope you liked what you saw.  I sure had a good time putting together a fun and organized room for my three best boys! (Even if it did take me almost a full year!)