Boys’ Room Reveal

The boys’ room was definitely the cheapest bedroom to decorate.  Their furniture was pretty much the only furniture we owned in Asia.  As we’re on the tail end of having kids, super budget conscious, and everything is still useable, we opted to ship their cheap, mini-furniture and keep using it!  This is a picture of Jade and Ridge’s bedroom in Hong Kong.  Looking at this picture, I’m even amazed at how tiny it is and I lived with it for three years!  If you peek through the blinds on the right, you can see the bookshelf in the window—it didn’t fit anywhere else!

This was Ridge and Tanner’s room the day we moved into our house:

This is their room now:Sources: Chair- Craigslist; curtains- IKEA; curtain rod- Bed, Bath, & Beyond. 

I really have to laugh that their four furniture items took up the whole room in HK.  Friends smile when they come in and see the miniature beds.  I kind of love them though.  Maybe it’s nostalgia. 

 

The starting point for this room was the tram painting we purchased in Temple Street Night Market in Hong Kong.  I love it so much because it is reminiscent of the street we lived on.  I also love that it is unexpected for a kid’s room and has so much color!

Like Jade’s room, I wanted the boys’ room to have lots of color and lots of white.  It’s just not my style to have my kids rooms being too babyish, matchy-matchy, crafty or even whimsical.

 

I was searching everywhere to find bedding that fit the style of the room.  Then one day as I was walking through Target, I spotted this cute twin comforter on clearance for $15!  Of course it would be too big for their tiny beds, but maybe if I cut it in half, it would fit?  For $15 it was worth a shot!  I took it home, fit it to the beds, cut it into two, and refinished the edges.  Wah lah!  Two perfect fitting blankets for dollars!

 

The trickiest part about this room was figuring out how to add lighting.  The room has no built in lights, so we needed to use lamps.  I didn’t want floor lamps that could be knocked over or table lamps that were within reach of the boys.  We ended up adding a wall fixture on one wall that was half off at Lamps Plus and a clearance lamp from Target on top of the bookshelf.

 

Above the rocking chair is a collection of items we already had, mixed with a few new ones.  The instrument is a coconut shell we bought in Bali, Indonesia.  The little houses are from Cody’s work trips to Switzerland.  Cody stole the wood block from his dad.  The characters say “The Rowland Family.”  My father-in-law had it painted in Japan on his way home from his mission in Taiwan.  It is the type of block placed outside a family’s home in Taiwan.  After Cody also went on his mission to Taiwan, he liked it so much he decided he’d take an early inheritance!  The wood and green frames are Target clearance finds and the white vase is from IKEA.  Everything else we already had.  

In addition to the tram painting, my very favorite part of the boys’ room is the gallery wall:

This is my view when I sit in the rocking chair to nurse Tanner and I never get sick of it.  The painting on the left is of the Hong Kong skyline purchased in Temple Street Night Market; the two sunset paintings are from Bali, Indonesia; the Manhattan and Hong Kong temples are the temples by where the boys were born; and the rest is art I found online.  The two square temple frames were 40% off at Michael’s; the rest we either had or bought on clearance at Target.  The clay pot on top of the bookshelf is from Yingge, Taiwan. 

Ridge is very proud of his room.  I don’t think it’s so much the décor as it is that it’s his room.  Anytime someone comes over, he promptly leads them to go see it.  Then he proceeds to climb into bed to show them what he does there.  I love that he loves his space, no matter the reason!