Boy's Nautical Red, White and Blue Themed Bedroom

welcome to the cleanest Austin's room has ever been...

admiring his stripes

Decorating a boy's room was a challenge for me, which is why it's taken me 2 years to finish it.  My house is full of neutral colors and lots of pastels.    I love all things Pottery Barn, Country Living Magazine, and Rachel Ashwell.  None of those styles are all that "boyish".  When Austin turned two we switched out his crib for a "real" bed and I decided I'd better make his room look a little more grown up (i.e. no pastels) or I'd be redecorating again soon.  I have a much easier time decorating if I choose a "theme" and run with it.  I decided to loosely go with a nautical/travel theme and to incorporate as many antiques and thrift store finds as possible.

custom sign by Theerin

• Custom made metal sign by Theerin.
• Vintage Globe was a Goodwill find.
• The vintage books came from a thrift store for $.50/each.
• A vintage map of Lake Superior bought on Ebay.





antique school desk

lighting from Lowe's

gallery wall full of found treasures

Union Jack Flag painted on an antique dresser

The bed came from Ikea and I spray painted it yellow.  After using 6 or 7 cans of spray paint and getting it back into his room, I instantly wished I had painted it copper.  Doh!  But I guess the yellow is a little more preschool appropriate.

99 Problems

How to Solve a Problem

I really do have at least 99 problems around here.  We bought this house a little over 2 years ago and we are CONSTANTLY doing some kind of project.  The house was built in 1989 and the previous owners hadn't done much cosmetic work.  What little they did, I've undone because it wasn't my style.  Recently, we ripped out the hideous white laminate countertops and replaced them with gray (marengo) silestone.  There was already a marble backsplash, that I didn't hate, so I decided I needed to just keep it and have the countertops match.  Anyway, so when we ripped the old countertops out there was a section of the old "backsplash" that was attached to part of the cabinets that was extremely stubborn and left some particle board that we can't get off.  The guy who sleeps on the couch and I both went at it for quite a while with a sander and a chisel.  

Before.

This was the best we could get it.  So, it sat like this for months.  Until one day my mom came over.  She and her husband like to come over and point out my 99 problems.  They noticed this one and my mom had a suggestion "You should just cover it up with some cork board or something."  I thought about that for a while.  Figured I'd need to frame it out.  I was just afraid it was going to look like I was masking a problem.  Plus, I wasn't sure how well cork board would hold up next to the cooktop.  It might get gross.  Then, a genius idea hit me.  "Sheet metal!"  I wasn't even sure where to get it, or how much it would cost.  I looked online, but it couldn't really find what I needed.  Then on one of my many trips to Lowe's I decided to see what they had.  Sure enough.  They sell sheets of metal and different grades and sizes.  I bought a 24"x 24" sheet of the cheapest kind (cost me about $11).

After.

Problem solved.  And now I have a magnetic board that can be used to hang recipes as I'm cooking or hold my to do list.  And, most importantly - it can be wiped clean!

It had to be cut down a little.  I'll have to ask they guy who sleeps on the couch what kind of blade he used.  And you need to use self drilling screws so that they can drill through the metal. (See below)

But I think it looks pretty nice.  It blends in nicely, and in my opinion doesn't look like I'm trying to mask a problem.  Yeah, I realize I need to replace that hideous 1989 microwave/oven combo.  That's on my to do list.  But nothing is ever easy around here.  It's not a standard size, just like everything else in this house.  I'm thinking about buying a single wall oven and then a microwave that's meant to go over a range... I saw that on HGTV once.  Thought it sounded like a good idea.