Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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A Big Boy Bedroom With Orange & Navy

This time last year we had just wrapped up our first book tour stop in Cincinnati, where we learned how much fun it was to put faces to some of the names that we knew from comments and the blogosphere at large. And now, we’re actually able to put a room makeover to one of those faces & names, so check out Sarah’s redesign of her son Carson’s room, both of whom we crossed paths with back in Ohio last October.

Hi John & Sherry! I don’t know if you remember me, but we met at your first book signing here in Cincinnati, and my boys were the ones who scribbled all over your signing book (which I still feel really bad about). Anyways, I just finished redesigning my youngest son Carson’s (aka the scribbler’s) room after taking him out of his crib last year. This room has come a long way since we took out the crib (gulp) last year:

Bees Knees 1 Before

When I started planning Carson’s room, he asked for a Cincinnati Reds/Dino room. After some unsuccessful persuasion to steer him in another direction, I decided to embrace his requests and just go for it. After all, it’s his room, right?! And everyone (even 3 1/2 year olds) deserve a space that reflects them and that they enjoy spending time in. So my goal was to incorporate baseball and dinosaurs…

  Bees Knees After

Since the bed is so low to the ground and there was such a large space on the wall to fill, I knew I wanted something oversized to hang up there, but I was terrified that Carson would pull it down and get hurt. I made the chalkboard by painting a square with chalkboard paint right onto the wall and then attaching 1×4″ planks of pine (also right into the wall) to create the frame. Now I have a blank canvas and the “art” can change as quickly as Carson changes his mind (which is quite often)!

Bees Knees Art

On the other side of the bed, I used a small $7 Ikea shelf to make a floating nightstand and turned a $10 wire basket from Home Goods into a rolling book cart.

Bees Knees Nightstand

Some invisible floating book shelves (by Umbra) fit perfectly in between the two windows and hold all of Carson’s favorite books. I made the roman blinds myself using Premier Prints ZigZag Twill Storm fabric from fabric.com. The design with the grommets on the bottom happened as I accidentally cut the fabric too short for the blinds and had to come up with a solution to lengthen them. Best mistake I ever made! I LOVE how they turned out!

Bees Knees Curtains Shelves

My absolute favorite part of Carson’s room has to be his gallery wall. The red cabinet from Ikea was my inspiration for the red ceiling and is great for storing (aka hiding) all his toys. I knew I wanted to keep the walls neutral and the furnishings sleek and simple, so the red ceiling was the perfect solution to bring in some bold color without overwhelming the space.

Bees Knees Gallery Wall

I had so much fun doing this and I’m thrilled that Carson loves his room! – Sarah

Bees Knees Gallery Close Up

First things first – Carson may have been the first to scribble in our book tour book, but he certainly wasn’t the last. And we loved every “child masterpiece” that we were left with. I mean, how can you not look at this and smile?

Bees Knees Scribbler

But more importantly, how much fun is Carson’s room? Thanks so much for sharing, Sarah! I feel like dinosaur + baseball is the type of curveball we’ll get from Clara as time goes on (wait until you hear what she wants to be for Halloween) so I love that she ran with it. And Sarah has a lot more photos and helpful links to all of her sources and DIY projects over on her blog. But first, what’s your favorite part? Sherry is obsessed with those happy-accident grommets at the bottom of the blinds along with the red ceiling and I’m all about that clever can’t-fall-down art over the bed along with the rolling wire book bin.

Comments

  1. qs777 says

    Love this room! I am hoping to paint a dark color on the ceiling of my son’s room and was hoping Sarah could pop in and let us know the dimensions of the room – including the ceiling height. :)

    Reply

  3. Emily B. says

    I love that this is a baseball (and dino) room without the cheesy baseball decor! We recently moved and it’s about time to decorate my 3 yr old’s room – he loves baseball too. Thanks for the great ideas! :)

    Reply

  5. Meagan says

    This post makes me so happy! I’m a fellow Cincinnatian and my husband (note: 40 year old husband, not 3 1/2 year old son) wants a Cincinnati Reds and comic book themed man cave. I love that you incorporated the Reds in a very non-cheesy way!

    Reply

  6. Mary says

    Sarah you did such a wonderful job! I love the dinosaur chalk drawing. You are quite talented! Your son takes after my heart… I love the Reds and I love dinosaurs (I’m 21 and have dinosaur pillowcases I sewed myself).

    Reply

  10. Sarah says

    That framed chalkboard wall is fantastic and I now want a Reds -loving dinosaur drawing in my house. As another fellow Cincinnatian who tries to balance rooting for my team with good design, I say thank you for posting this. I love it!

    Reply

  15. Ashley says

    I adoreeeeeeeeee this room! So fun! Love the rolling wire basket. Just may have to steal this idea.

    Would also love to know when when Louisiana will get with the times and get me an Ikea!

    Reply

  16. Laughing Abi says

    Fantastic job!! Not too themey, not too neutral, not too grown up — it’s just right. Love the simplicity of it and the bold red ceiling is definitely my favorite part.

    Reply

  19. Sarah says

    Awesome room! Kids rooms are the most fun to design! I’m just getting started on our boys “big boy” room and love this bedding. Where did you find it?

    Reply

  24. Christina {The Murrayed Life} says

    Awesome job!! I love that it’s a boys room but doesn’t feel overly boyish. I mean, I want to go hang out in there! I think the paint color on the wall and ceiling are my favorite. Way to bring in color without being too overwhelming. Love, love!

    Reply

  25. Caroline says

    We have that exact bedding for our big boy’s room! LOVE the theme and how not babyish it is! We’re thinking of pairing the navy stripes with green but I love it with red too!!!

    Reply

  29. Diana says

    I think my favorites are the floating night stand (love the idea of being able to put something like a basket beneath it!) and the big chalk art over the bed. Cleaver way to get big art pretty cheap!

    Reply

  31. Sylvia says

    I’m kind of obsessed with red ceiling. After seeing Clara’s pink ceiling and now this – I’m just itching to paint a ceiling a color.

    Reply

  32. Allison B. says

    I didn’t read through all the comments so I am not sure if someone else mentioned it but there is a great kids’ book called Dino Baseball by Lisa Wheeler. (There is also Dino soccer, basketball, football, hockey) The books are great!! I can’t recommend them enough. Carson HAS to have the baseball one! :)

    Reply

  33. Ally says

    Love the room. I have a 39-year-old Reds fan, and we’ll seriously take some inspiration from this room for his office re-design. Love the subtle touches. Go Cincy!

    Reply

  34. GreenInOC says

    Perhaps Sarah needs to print out Carson’s book tour scribbles to frame and put up on his gallery wall!

    Love the baseball playing dino!!

    Reply

  35. Alicia says

    #1 sign you’re a mom – your first thought is “Holy crap that giant picture is going to fall on the kid.” Glad to know I’m not the only one paranoid about such things! Haha! Great job on the safe secure idea. I would have never guessed it wasn’t hanging. Brilliant. Your son reminds me of my niece who wanted a Minnesota Twins/Candy Land birthday party. :)

    Reply

  36. Victoria says

    Wow! When I first read dino/basball I thought “oh, no. This is going to be bad.”. Shame on me – you guys would never bring us bad.

    This room is sensational! One of the best kid’s rooms I have ever seen. I love everything (except the severed animal head, ugh!) and think much of the design would work in a guest room with a few adjustments.

    So sophisticated and well-done. I think my two favorite things are the blinds and the red ceiling.

    Thanks again for expanding my mind and taste.

    Reply

  37. Colleen says

    This is great! Can you share anything else about the gallery wall? I’m always looking for fun prints for my boy’s room too. Did you print or purchase these? Thanks!

    Reply

  41. Suzanne says

    First, I am in love with the title of this post. 2nd – this is the sweetest room. I love how full of personality it is for her son. Amazing job.

    Reply

  43. Maureen says

    I have never left a comment here before…however…I just had to say how much I love the way Sarah did this room. It is clean and crisp yet exactly as little man Carson desired. I love everything from the ceiling to the Ikea furniture, the shelves, the wire basket and of course the huge blackboard. Well done Sarah!! Thanks for sharing John and Sherry! I am headed over to her blog to get a closer look!!!
    Maureen

    Reply

  44. Danette says

    This is one of my favourite before/after rooms you guys have shared on your blog…that wasn’t actually your own of course (blushes). I have girls, but this is one fabulous room, that I would definitely steal ideas from!! Love it!

    Reply

  45. Suzanne says

    Oh my goodness I love this! I was confused at first thinking the bedroom was Sarah’s inspiration picture from a magazine, then I realized that was her final product. WOW!

    Reply

  46. Melissa says

    Love love love this room Sarah! GREAT JOB! I love that it’s colorful but not too busy. It’s about time to redecorate my 5-year-old’s room and I will definitely be keeping this one in mind! I know that took a lot of hard work even though it looks effortless in the pictures. =) Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  47. Kathryn says

    I fell in love with that chalkboard dinosaur back when you first did it but then lost track of the final reveal! It’s so cool! I love the red ceiling and the bed! So cool!

    Reply

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