3 KEY PIECES FOR BUILDING A ROOM DESIGN- BOY'S ROOM REFRESH PART 1

Last Fall my son moved away to college, and while we welcome him home with open arms every chance we get, his room is now unoccupied most of the time.  Since we don't have a ton of square footage in our home, we like to try to make the best use of every space. So, we decided that while his room will still be "his" and ready for him any time he's home, we also wanted to tweak it just a bit to make it more useful for the rest of the family too during the majority of the year when he's not here.  Enter a happy excuse to refresh his room!  I'm so happy to once again partner with At Home Stores to spread the word about their  Rug and Furniture Event  going on now.  While we're not completely starting over in the room, I found 3 key pieces from At Home that really got the design ball rolling for a few updates to make the space function better for our family- a rug, a key piece of furniture, and great lighting. ...

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BOYS DORM ROOM DECOR AND ORGANIZING ESSENTIALS

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, our lives had a huge change recently when we moved Caleb to college!  He chose to attend Oklahoma Baptist University (our Alma Mater) and is majoring in Nursing with hopes to work somehow with Trauma Medicine, First Response, possibly Mediflight (that would combine all of his interests perfectly!), something along those lines.  We were so busy all Summer we didn't spend much time getting ready for his room until the week or so before we moved in him, but I think it all came together well.  "Boys Dorm Room" and "Decor" don't seem to really go together right?  Ha!  But I am his Mother after all so we had to add a little spice!  We worked to give him a comfortable space though for his home-away-from-home and tried to use some thoughtful organizing solutions to maximize the tiny space.  Take a look!    (*This post contains affiliate links, read my  full disclosure policy here .) ...

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MY FIVE FAVORITE IDEAS FOR DECORATING KIDS' ROOMS

Welcome to My Five Favorites today!  Pam from  Simple Details , Lisa from  Shine Your Light,  Kris from  Driven by Decor  and I are all so excited to share our favorite kid's room ideas with you today. We're so happy to welcome our guest  Julie Blanner  this month.  Julie has a simple, clean, polished style and I always think of one word when I see any of her work... dreamy.  Everything she does is just gorgeous! ...

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THIS HOUSE: OUR HOME FOR 10 YEARS

We can hardly believe it, but this month marks our 10th anniversary of living in this house. My parents have never moved since they married almost 50 years ago, so I always lived in the same house growing up.  After marrying, we moved around a bit, but this is the longest I've ever lived in a house other than my childhood home.  My husband's dad is a pastor, so they moved around throughout his childhood and our current home is the one he's lived in the longest in his life.  So, it's quite a milestone for many reasons! ...

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FUNCTION OVER FORM: BOY'S BEDROOM REDESIGN

I can't believe it's been 2 years since we finished up my son's bedroom.  With that makeover, we moved him up from a twin mattress to a full size, and my symmetry-loving self jumped at the chance to build everything around his focal wood wall , while getting all of the pieces balanced just right. Well, turns out the new arrangement wasn't working very well for his needs.  His room is t-i-n-y, and the full size bed took up most of the space.  We re-evaluated (and realized he only slept on half of the bed anyway), and decided it would be best to move him back down to a twin size in order to gain some precious floor space back.  This wasn't a change I wanted, but I had to take a big gulp and swallow my need for a balanced design and make his room more usable for him . In addition to moving him to a twin size, we also opted for a loft bed.  He had one when he was young and loved it (I hated it-changing the sheets and making a loft bed if a royal pain!). ......

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DIY AFFORDABLE LARGE BLACK AND WHITE ARTWORK

When we finished the wood wall in my son's room, it was so pretty that I knew I didn't want much on it to cover it up.  Knowing that the upholstered headboard would cover a bit of it, I decided to stick with one large piece of artwork over the bed and call it good. With this project from Life in Grace in mind, I set out to create my own large photo mounted artwork.  My son has always loved airplanes, so we went to a local small airport where we could walk right next to the lane where the planes park.  We chose a plane we liked and took lots of shots from different angles.  After choosing our favorite one, I edited it and made it black and white. Then, I used Jenny's suggestion and took a file of my photo to Fed Ex Office to be copied.  They will make an "Engineer's Print" for less than $10.  Black and white is the only option, but there are a few size choices, with the largest being about 36x48".  The print is on regular paper and isn't c......

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TEEN BOY'S RUSTIC TRADITIONAL MODERN BEDROOM REVEAL

This post is so long overdue!  That crazy title description couldn't be any more confusing, but I feel like we included some of all of those elements in the room.  My son's room has been 95% complete for a few months, but I never could seem to get around to thoroughly cleaning it enough to get it photographed.  So, while he was away at camp last week I swarmed in and got it done!  If you have a pack-rat collector-of-things-who-likes-to-display it all, you might know what I mean.  I have a ton of photos, so for the most part I'll just let you scroll and enjoy.  Sources will be listed at the end of the post, and project links will be highlighted. When we purchased this house 7 years ago, we had a completely blank slate. This is the true "before" photo. Awww, look at the little guy!  We've done things here and there in the mean time, but this is the first time that his room has felt completely put together and "finished".  The first majo......

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CUSTOMIZING IKEA CURTAINS AND A DIY INDUSTRIAL CURTAIN ROD

Most of the time I make my own draperies, but for Caleb's room it sure was nice to pick up a ready made pair at Ikea for next to nothing!  I chose the Lenda, two panels that are a really nice weight for just $19.99!  However, the 98" length was a little too short.  They come in a longer length but I knew I wanted to add some detail to them anyway so I saved about $10 by getting this length. I planned to add some stripes at the bottom, and wanted them to be more incorporated than just adding a piece of fabric to the bottom of the panel, so I did some cutting and piecing together.  I was going to give measurements for what I did, but since everyone's would be different I'll just give you the basic idea. First, I wanted to use ring clips instead of the tabs at the top, so with some sharp scissors I just cut those off very close to the seam.  Then, I decided where I wanted the bottom stripe to start, (my bottom stripe is about 3 1/2 inches up from the botto......

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