…in his bedroom. Well, most of it. Here’s Emma’s hilarious letter about the makeover they turned out for their son’s room:
We moved in to this three-storey 1876 “brownstone” (sidebar: it is neither made of brownstone nor located in New York City) three years ago – we’re in Ontario, Canada. We’ve been working our way through the house converting what was four separate apartments back into a single home. This bedroom is up on the third floor and it belongs to our 5-yr old son, Angus. The ‘Before’ photos were taken when we first looked at the house and, at the time, this bedroom was the living room of a medical student at the University nearby.
When we finally got our hands on it and finished some necessities in the rest of the house – like a working kitchen and toilet – we decided that (a) the room needed closets and (b) it should be out-of-the-park awesome so that he’ll never leave home and will look after us when we are old and can’t find our false teeth (sidebar #2: we will re-visit this plan when he is 16 and takes up the drums, or when he is married and his spouse doesn’t want to sleep on a bunk). Enter the built-in bunk bed loft, which my husband made while I helpfully pointed out where things didn’t line up.
We were going for a campy/beach club look and he added in the cedar shake roof to make it feel like a real playhouse… or maybe a crab shack…
I was dying to try this map wallpaper after seeing it online. In fact, I think I impulse-ordered it well before we had even moved in to the house. We had heard a few times that wallpapering is a real relationship tester, so we armed ourselves with a bucket of paste and few glasses of wine late one night once the kiddos were asleep. The wall wasn’t quite big enough for the whole earth, so the most nerve-wracking part was deciding which parts of the world to leave out (sidebar #3: our son is going to be floored when he discovers the existence of amazing places like ‘New Zealand’, ‘Fiji’ and ‘Alaska’).
This room was so much fun to do. Hope you guys like it! -Emma J.
Angus is a lucky guy, right? I think Emma has as good a shot as any of us at keeping her kid around forever. You can see more pics and learn more about the makeover right here on her blog. Thanks Emma!
Jackie says
This is amazing. It’s exactly the type of room I want to build for my kids!
A. @ hellodoorseven says
I love the map!! And they were so creative with this room! Wish i grew up in it! :P
A question. Are you going to share with us how you celebrated your anniversary this year?
YoungHouseLove says
We shared that over on Young House Life this year: http://life.younghouselove.com/2013/07/peter-six/
xo
s
Lauri says
Fantastic room re-do (Emma’s son is one lucky little man)but my favorite thing by far is Emma’s dry-humor. I read this while settling in at the office, and almost choked on my venti soy chai hooting with laughter. Thanks for the chortle, y’all.
Julie @ Living on the Ledge says
Looks so great! You’ve done well, he will never want to leave home! :)
Angela says
Love the room and love Emma’s writing style. What a blessed boy :)
yoreney says
OMG that room!! that map! that bunk bed! maybe i should do something like this for when he’s bigger. btw.. where is that map wallpaper from? fantastic..
YoungHouseLove says
If you click over to her blog you can find all of those details.
xo,
s
Caity says
I died laughing at her comments about world wall paper and when he discovers that Alaska, Figi and New Zealand exist — Also, I want that wall paper so bad! Anyone know where to get it?!
YoungHouseLove says
I think that info’s on her blog if you click over.
xo,
s
Caity says
Oops- just saw that comment above mine on where to find it. !
Caity says
Haha we posted at the same time- – thanks so much! Enjoy your vaca!
virginia says
WOW what a transformation!!
i absolutely LOVE that wallpaper!!
deb says
awwww… poor New Zealand!
Holly says
This is AWESOME!!! I’m so jealous that there are so many creative people out there and I’m not one of them :( This is the kind of room I’d only dream about for my child!
Maria says
Holy cow!
a)can I join Angus’ beach club?
b)why would he ever want to leave home, his parents are HILARIOUS, and, that place looks awesome!
Bailey says
So creative and fun!!! I think custom built-ins are especially cool to kids – I know I thought anything built-in was INCREDIBLE when I was a kid!
xox
Bailey
http://akabailey.blogspot.com
DebL says
WOW. This is awesome, what a lucky lad to have parents as talented and devoted as you both. Look forward to more reveals and how-to’s.Perhaps New Zealand, Fiji and Alaska can become book covers or such, so they don’t feel left out, lol.
Emily says
Wow wow wow! I LOVE this room. It’s like something I’d dreamed of as a child. My boys would love this too! Besides liking everything about it – I love that the book shelves look like windows on the facade.