Kids Decor and DIY Archives - Blue i Style

Boys Hangout Room Reveal

blueistyle — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 12:00:48 +0000

As a Christmas present for the boys, we updated Beckett’s old bedroom into a playroom and hangout room where the boys can spend time relaxing, playing, and watching movies.

We revealed this updated space to the boys on Christmas day, but throughout the past month I’ve been sharing the makeover process here on the blog as part of the New Year New Room challenge. Today I’m so excited to share all the photos of the updated hangout room!

The other seven talented bloggers participating in the New Year New Room Refresh Challenge are also revealing their spaces today! Click on the links below to see their finished rooms:

Casa Watkins Living // Up To Date Interiors // House by Hoff // Our Fifth House // Jeweled Interiors // Blue i Style // Domicile 37 // Delineate your Dwelling

This post contains some affiliate links. If you purchase something I recommend, you’ll pay the same price, but I may receive a small commission.

As you may recall, we originally designed this menswear themed room for Beckett when he was just a toddler. A few years later, he and Cooper begged to share a room, so we purchased bunkbeds and Beckett moved down the hall. Since that time, the boys have been using Beckett’s old room as a defacto playroom, but a few elements of the room weren’t working well anymore.

Back in Week 1 of the New Year New Room Challenge, I talked in detail about what was working, what wasn’t, and what we had planned to update the toddler bedroom into a playroom and hangout room fit for two boys who will be tween, and then teens before we know it.

We started by finally getting rid of Beckett’s old toddler bed and replacing it with a small, affordable couch. We wanted something comfortable for the boys, but we also didn’t want to spend much since… well, two boys. We bought the couch during a Black Friday sale and got it for under $300!

On the other side of the room, we added a Roku TV so that the boys can watch Disney+ and Netflix. And my parents gave the boys a small DVD player, so they are pretty much set to watch any movie they could ever want!

But we also got a little sneaky… we plugged the TV into a smart plug that mom and dad can control from an app on our phones. We’ve set a timer that turns the TV off at bedtime, and turns it back on at an acceptable time in the morning, so the boys can’t sneak in an screen time when they’re supposed to be in bed.

You can see from the smile on these boys faces that this room makeover was a Christmas hit! They were excited about the changes, but they were just as happy about the things that stayed the same, starting with the hanging play tent in the corner of the room.

This play tent has always been my favorite part of this room, and the boys feel the same way – so see knew it had to stay. A collaboration between my mom and I, the roof of the play tent is covered in neckties collected from all the men in our family – dad, uncles, grandpas, and great grandpas. Beckett (our resident book worm) can often be found reading in this tent, but it’s also a popular spot for playing Nintendo Switch.

It goes without saying that the hand-painted argyle wall also had to stay. This feature wall was a true labor of love, and I don’t think there will ever come a day that I’ll be able to paint over it. If we ever sell the house, the new owners better lie to me and promise to keep it as well because seeing someone paint over my weeks of work would break my heart. {I’m only kind of joking.}

The three frames on the argyle wall used to hold photos of toddler Beckett, but since this playroom space is for both of the boys now, it was time to update the photos with both of their handsome faces!

Another DIY project in the room the room that has stood the test of time are the shelves hung with leather belts. We installed these belt shelves seven years ago, and I worried that over time the belts might stretch and cause the shelves to tilt, but they are still sturdy and level.

I styled the shelves with some of the souvenirs that we brought back to the boys from our trip to South Africa, as well as their autographed astronaut photos (from our next door neighbor’s dad).

Below the shelves sits the chalkboard globe that I painted, along side a collection of airplane and a Denver International Airport poster in honor of the boys’ grandpa who worked at the airport for years.

The bookshelves lining the far wall of the room are simple IKEA Kallax units, but we added the bright yellow bun feet to raise them up a bit and add an unexpected pop of color.

The top row of shelves holds the boys collection of chapter books, while the bottom row provides lots of toy storage. These gray tweed bins fit the IKEA Kallax shelves perfectly, and I added the brown faux-leather number labels to make it easy for the boys to stay organized.

Above the bookshelves hang the boys’ initials – B & C. When I designed Beckett’s toddler room years ago, I wanted to some wood and metals letters from Restoration Hardware, but the price tag was too high. Instead, I came up with an easy DIY version of these vintage industrial letters that mimics the high end look on a shoestring budget.

Originally Beckett’s initials – BNR – hung in this space, but this month I created new letters to update this shared space for both boys.

I received this Fisher Price record player for Christmas when I was six, and I love that it lives on in the boys’ hangout room. They have a large collection of records, including many that date back to their grandparents’ childhood days.

As you might have guessed from their book collection, these kids LOVE to read. This library book basket helps us keep the library books separate from all of their other books, making it easy to find them when the due date rolls around. In keeping with the menswear theme of the room, I used an extra strip of leather belt and a gold paint maker to create the simple label for this wire basket.

Another piece of furniture that stayed the same from the toddler version of this space to the updated hangout room is the coffee table in the middle of the room. The two giant storage drawers hold lots of toys, and the top of the table provides a great play surface. On an average day, every square inch of this table top is covered in the boys animal figurines as they play zoo or safari.

This room originally had an IKEA dresser (that we customized with leather drawer pulls), but over the years, we’ve discovered that boys Elfa closet systems provide them ample storage, and the dresser drawers were largely unused.

As we converted this space from bedroom to playroom, we needed more toy storage, so we relocated this storage cabinet from basement up to the new playroom.

The cabinet is deep enough to hold lots of the boys’ larger toys and playsets inside, and on the top we have Cooper’s giant red barn, and the dollhouse I made (which they still play with on a regular basis).

On the weekends, we have to practically drag the boys out of this room when they’ll play together for hours and hours and on. But most days after school, you’ll find Beckett relaxing on the new couch, quietly reading a book.

When the boys are at school, however, it’s our Schnoodle, Gatsby, who curls up on the couch to enjoy a little peace and quiet. He’s totally unphased by the presence of his pillow doppelganger.

The post Boys Hangout Room Reveal appeared first on Blue i Style.

Playroom Furniture & Storage Ideas

blueistyle — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 05:00:00 +0000

It’s Week 2 of the New Year New Room Refresh Challenge. Last week, I shared the before photos of the former bedroom that we recently converted into a playroom / hangout room better suited to our growing boys. This week, I’m talking about playroom furniture and how to choose hard working pieces that add both style and function to the space.

Six years ago, I wrote a popular post titled “How to Decorate a Boy’s Bedroom That Will Grow With Him.” In that post, I made a pretty bold statement – I had recently finished designing Beckett’s toddler bedroom, and I said that the space could grow with him all the way into his teenage years, with just a few minor updates. I knew that over time we’d need to swap out the toddler bed, and that eventually he’d outgrow the small reading chairs – but I felt confident that the bookshelves, table, and dresser would stand the test of time.

Well, here we are – six years later… then three-year-old Beckett just turned 9. He now shares the bedroom down the hall with his brother, but, true to my original goal, with just a few changes, we’ve been able to update his toddler room into a hangout room that they boys will enjoy for many more years to come.

You can head to last week’s post to see the before photos and the plans we created for this bedroom to playroom transition (including swapping out the toddler bed for an inexpensive, small couch) – but today rather than focusing on what is changing in the space, I want to instead talk about what is staying the same!

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something I recommend, you’ll pay the same price, but I may receive a small commission.

Cubicle Bookshelves For Toy Storage

From the outset, I chose storage furniture that could grow with the boys. Along one wall of the room, I used two IKEA Kallax bookshelves for both book and toy storage. Over the years, the board books have become chapter books, and the toys inside the bins have changed many time, but the function of these shelves and bins have remained timeless.

If you don’t have an IKEA near you, Target has plenty of similar inexpensive cubicle bookshelves to consider, including some with added style features, like faux-cement tops, or two-toned shelving.

Whether you choose the IKEA Kallax or one of the options from Target, each of these cubicle shelf units features 13″ x 13″ openings. Most square storage bins on the market are a bit to small for these openings, but this brand of bins from Target fit perfectly and come in tons of colors and patterns. Here’s just a sample of the options available:

I purchased gray cubes and used fabric glue to create these DIY numbered storage bins. The numbers not only add a fun style detail to the room, but they also help the boys to clean up this space on their own because they know which toys belong in which numbers.

Storage Coffee Tables for Playrooms and Family Rooms

For the middle of the room, we chose a round coffee table from the Land of Nod (now know as Crate & Kids) with two large storage drawers. Over the years, this table has provided the perfect space for the boys to play games, do puzzles, and set up elaborate worlds for all of their animal figures. And since you can never have too much storage in a kids’ space – the drawers double the function of this table.

This coffee table is no longer available, but I’ve found some other great coffee table options with storage that would make a wonderful addition to any playroom or hangout room. For younger kids, I’d opt for a round option to avoid sharp corners.

Now it’s time to check in with the other seven talented bloggers who are also participating in the New Year New Room Refresh Challenge. See what progress they’ve made in their spaces this week…

Casa Watkins Living // Up To Date Interiors // House by Hoff // Our Fifth House // Jeweled Interiors // Blue i Style // Domicile 37 // Delineate your Dwelling

The post Playroom Furniture & Storage Ideas appeared first on Blue i Style.

Bedroom to Playroom Refresh Plans

blueistyle — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 11:35:06 +0000

I think we can all agree that 2020 was a rough year, but it also solidified my belief in the importance of creating a home you love! Having fun and comfortable spaces where you can just relax and enjoy family time is one of the greatest gifts!

All of the extra time at home this past year also shined a light on the spaces in our house that aren’t working as well for us as they could be – especially the kids’ play area in our basement, and Beckett’s former bedroom. Both of these areas were designed to suit our family when our boys were younger, but since they insist on growing up so darn fast (they are now 9 and 7), it was time that their play spaces catch up with them.

During the week leading up to Christmas, Scott and I did a very quick refresh of Beckett’s old bedroom to turn it into a playroom / hangout space for both boys. We revealed the new space to them on Christmas day to rave reviews, but I still have a few more little projects left to finish up before I can call the space officially complete.

I’m excited to be joining seven of my very talented design blogger friends for the New Year New Room Refresh Challenge. Over the next three weeks, I’ll share with you the details of our playroom refresh, starting today with the before photos, an overview of what wasn’t working, and the plans we came up with to update the space. Use the links below to see the plans each of these other bloggers have come up with to refresh their rooms as well!

Casa Watkins Living // Up To Date Interiors // House by Hoff // Our Fifth House // Jeweled Interiors // Blue I Style // Domicile 37 // PMQ for TWO // Delineate your Dwelling

The Before Photos

Back in 2014, baby #2 (Cooper) had recently entered our lives and needed the nursery, so I designed a menswear themed toddler room for Beckett, who was just 2.5 at the time. Painting the argyle wall in this room was a true labor of love, and it remains my proudest DIY accomplishment.

This was Beckett’s bedroom for three years, until he and Cooper began begging for bunkbeds and to share a room. In 2014, we converted the nursery into a shared boys’ bunkbed bedroom with lots of color, and personality.

Meanwhile, down in the basement, we have a shared family room and playroom space. One end of the basement has our couch and tv, and at the opposite end, we have a small play table and a variety of toy storage furniture.

What Was Working and What Wasn’t

When Beckett moved out of his menswear themed bedroom, it stayed exactly as it had been – toddler bed and all. Since it still had a wall of bookshelves with bins for toy storage and a low round table in the middle of the room, the kids still spent a lot of time playing in this space.

Both of our boys LOVE to read, and at one time, those adorable button tufted chairs were the perfect size for them {would you believe they are actually intended as pet loungers?}. The boys have recently outgrown these low chairs, so they were just taking up precious space in the room. The toddler bed, with the rails around the back, also didn’t provide comfortable seating for the kids. Not to mention that there was no where Scott or I to sit when spending time in here with the boys.

Down in the basement, we’ve been using these two bookshelves {one upright and one laid on its side} to store a lot of the kids’ toys. The large openings in the bookshelf were perfect for story bulky toddler toys, and more recently they’ve provided great space for the boys’ oversized Playmobil sets {which aren’t waning in popularity}.

While the boys still spend a lot of time playing with toys, they also now love games and this little table just isn’t cutting it anymore for our family game nights. Not only are Scott and I not comfortable sitting on these little chairs, the table top is too small for a lot of our board games.

We have big plans to add banquette seating and a larger game table to this corner of the basement, and to replace the bookshelves with a new storage solution… but that’s a post for another day.

Bedroom to Playroom Refresh Plans

Our long-term basement plans will provide us with the perfect space for family game nights, but it will also take away some of the existing toy storage and open floor space for play. With all that in mind, we decided it was time to update Beckett’s old toddler room to make it true playroom / hang out room that will grow with the boys.

We didn’t have a big budget for this refresh, and we still loved the menswear elements of the room, so we came up with a plan to updated the space with just a few minor changes…

Update the Seating

First on the list was updating the seating… both the toddler bed and small chairs had to go because the boys had outgrown them. But they still love the DIY play tent in the corner of the room {and it has tons of sentimental value with the ties on the top coming from all the men in our family}, so I started shopping for a small couch that would fit between the tent and the door.

Add Functional Storage

The bookshelves along the far wall of the room stay because they provide tons of the storage for both books and toys, and fit perfectly under the windows. But the dresser wasn’t living up to its potential. I still LOVE the leather belt drawer pulls that we DIY’d, but the drawers were largely empty and weren’t ideal for toys storage.

Meanwhile, we have a great cabinet down in the basement that holds lots of toys – but that we need to move to make room for the new game table banquette we have planned. So we planned to relocate the dresser to my parent’s cabin, and then move the basement toy cabinet up the new playroom.

There you have it – a pretty simple plan, but one that will turn an outdated toddler room into a fabulous playroom, while also helping us turn the basement playroom into a space for the whole family!

Be sure to visit all of the other bloggers participating in the New Year New Room Refresh Challenge to see what they have planned, and then come back next week for an update.

The post Bedroom to Playroom Refresh Plans appeared first on Blue i Style.

Affordable Student Desks for Remote Learning and Home Schooling

blueistyle — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 22:59:45 +0000

As information from school districts around the country continues to evolve regarding the return to in-person school versus remote learning for the fall, I’ve heard from many friends who are struggling to find small, affordable desks for their kids to create a dedicated school-at-home work space.

Just about everyone I know has made IKEA their first stop, which makes sense because you can’t beat the price, but from what I’m hearing, desks at IKEA are almost completely out of stock. In fact, it seems that small desks are the new toilet paper, because they are sold out just about everywhere. A quick Google search yields frustrating results, because most of the inexpensive desks that pop up at the top of the search are also out of stock.

Since I know this is a challenge facing a lot of families right now, I decided to dig a little deeper, and I’ve come up with more than a dozen options for kids’ desks to fit various space, style, and price needs. In the list below, you’ll find student desk options broken down by price category, including under $100, under $150, and under $200, and I’ve included basic size details. Each of these desks are in stock and available as of the publishing of this post, but obviously desks are going fast!

Struggling With How to Fit a Desk Into Your Kid’s Room?

If you are struggling to figure out how you’ll fit a desk into your kid’s room, or even how to create a dedicated work from home space for yourself, consider using a small writing desk in place of a night stand.

In this post about home office ideas for small spaces, I show you how I created a compact but efficient work space for myself in the corner of our guest room, including tips on organizing the desktop to make the most of the small space.

Affordable Small Desk Options for Remote Learning and Homework

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something I recommend, you’ll pay the same price, but I may receive a small commission.

SMALL DESKS UNDER $100

Photo Credit: Target

Hair Pin Writing Desk

The open storage on this 40" wide desk provides a convenient space to tuck away laptops, iPads, and school books. It's currently out of stock online, but available in stock in many Target store locations.

Photo Credit: Wayfair

Moyle Two-Drawer Desk

At just under 36" wide, this compact desk still offers two drawers for school supplies, and plenty of desktop space for school work.

Photo Credit: Wayfair

L-Shaped Bookshelf Desk

This L-shaped desk features a built in bookshelf that is perfect for small spaces. At just 36" x 23", this desk is great for a corner and provides students with a lot of storage in a small space.

Photo Credit: Wayfair

Parsons Desk In Multiple Colors

This simple, Parsons style writing desk is 39" wide with one drawer, and it is currently in stock and available in 4 different color options - white, black, oak, and black oak.

Photo Credit: Target

Wood & Metal Writing Desk

This 40" wide desk has a very spacious drawer with plenty of space for school supplies, and the back panel helps hide cords. This desk is not available online, but is currently in stock at numerous Target store locations.

Small Desks Under $150

Photo Credit: Bed Bath & Beyond

Dean Vanity Desk

At only 28" wide, this two drawer vanity desk is as mini as they come. If you're extra tight on space, this desk could be a great option!

Photo Credit: Wayfair

Turville Writing Desk

This 43" inch wide desk has two large drawers for organizing school supplies. It also comes in two other colors, but at present, only this color is in stock and ready to ship.

Photo Credit: Target

White Washed Writing Desk

This 42" wide writing desk comes in 6 colors, but currently only the white wash finish is available for shipping. However, other colors may still be available for pick up at your local Target store. If you need additional storage, the matching bookshelf is also available for under $100.

Sonoma Mocha Oak Desk

This 45" wide desk has a deep storage drawer, as well as open storage spaces ideal for a laptop and books.

Photo Credit: Wayfair

Cassiopeia Writing Desk

This 39" wide desk is currently available in both white and a fun bright blue color. The X-shaped base adds a little style, and the unique open storage on the end provides a spot to tuck away laptops and books at the end of the day.

Photo Credit: Wayfair

Oldcastle Desk With Center Drawer

This desk is larger than some of the others on the list, at 47" wide, but it boasts both a large drawer as well as open storage compartments ideal for books and laptops.

Small Desks Under $200

Photo Credit: Overstock

Wall Mounted Folding Desk

This wall mounted, folding desk is perfect for anyone who is very limited on space. This desk is just under 24" wide, and only 6" deep when folded up, making it the perfect compact solution in a bedroom, or even in a corner of the living room. The shallow drawer and shelves add additional storage to this very compact work space. The only downside is that the reviews indicate the assembly is a bit more challenging.

Photo Credit: Target

Blue Opalhouse Writing Desk

The detailed legs and gold pulls give this desk a little extra style, white the two drawers provide plenty of storage space in this 44" wide writing desk.

Photo Credit: Overstock

Two-Toned Leaning Desk

At under 34" wide, this two-toned leaning desk with built in bookshelves above provides lots of storage in a small amount of space!

Search Tips If None of These Small Desks Fit Your Needs

If none of the desks listed above fit your needs, try using the search terms “writing desk,” “laptop desk,” and “mini desk” as you shop online. Also keep in mind that many websites will allow you to filter your search results to just those desks that are currently in stock, as well as filtering by those under a certain price or size requirement. Using these tools can speed up your search for the perfect home schooling desk and let you get back to the business of enjoying your summer!

The post Affordable Student Desks for Remote Learning and Home Schooling appeared first on Blue i Style.

DIY Dollhouse Makeover

blueistyle — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 11:00:00 +0000

There are those presents that the kids lose interest in right away (womp womp), and others that are still favorites years later (parenting WIN!). A few years ago, I did a last minute DIY dollhouse makeover for my boys, transforming an off-the-shelf dollhouse into a mini-me version of our own home, and years later, the boys (now 4.5 and almost 6) still play with it all the time and show it to everyone who comes over!

When we were little, my mom created several dollhouses for my sister and me. She bought them unfinished, and then meticulously decorated and furnished them, using real carpet, tile, and linoleum remnants on the floors, and using fabric to create wallpaper for the walls. Those dollhouses were our prized possessions and I always envisioned creating a similar dollhouse for my own daughter someday.

When I had two sons, I kind of assumed that there wouldn’t be any dollhouses in my future, but boy was I wrong! When Beckett was 2 and a half, he spotted a dollhouse at a toy store, begged to play with it, and had to literally be dragged out of the store 30 minutes later. He talked about that dollhouse a couple of days, and then he seemed to forget all about it. In all of our visits to Santa that Christmas, a dollhouse never came up, but then just weeks before Christmas he informed me that a dollhouse was the only thing he really wanted! Uh oh!

I thought about just running out and buying him the house he had seen at the toy store months before, but it was designed for use with little mice, squirrels, and bunnies in fancy flowery little dresses that he showed no interest in. It was the furniture and the house itself that seemed to enthrall him.

Around the same time, Beckett had started to show a lot more interested in my blog photos. He began climbing on to my lap and requesting to see his room. Then he would ask to see the rest our house room by room, excitedly pointing out the details he recognized in each space.

And that’s when I realized that this was my opportunity to create a truly special dollhouse like the ones my mom had given me. Except at that point it was just two weeks before Christmas and time was quickly ticking away. Good thing I’m always up for a challenge!

Since I didn’t have time to start completely from scratch, I was looking for a something that I could customize, with the goal of creating a dollhouse that resembled our own modern home.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. If you buy something that I recommend, you pay the same price, but I may receive a small commission.

I started my search online, and I was surprised to find lot of simple, contemporary styled wooden dollhouses. I liked this one from Melissa & Doug, this one from Plan Toys, and this giant one from KidKraft*.

But in the end I chose the Hape All Season House because I liked the size, the layout, and the potential for customization! The basic shape of the Hape dollhouse reminded me very much of our home – with its straight, geometric lines, and rooms spread out over many floors.

And here’s the view of the back of the house, in its original form…

Its true that our house is very bold and colorful, so I didn’t mind the primary color scheme of this dollhouse! In fact, if I were buying a dollhouse for two boys and didn’t want to spend the time customizing it, this would be a perfect choice because it’s really very fun and gender neutral!

However, since I did want to customize the dollhouse, this one perfectly fit my plans. The clearly delineated rooms and square shapes made it very easy to update. Here’s a sneak peek and the supply list, and then I’ll show you how I did it, step by step!

SUPPLY LIST

Dollhouse
Stain
Acrylic Paint (black and various colors)
Left over latex wall paint (optional)
Paint Brushes
Paint Sealer
Adhesive Vinyl
Inkjet Printable Adhesive Vinyl
Woodgrain Contact Paper
Furniture (specifics listed below)
Felt (various colors)
Colored Sharpies

STAIN THE WOOD

My original intent was simply updated the walls and floors in each room, and to paint the green front door and green roof. But once I unpacked the dollhouse from the box, I was suddenly inspired to also change the light wood color of the frame to better match the dark wood throughout our home. I grabbed out a can of left over stain {Dark Walnut}, and went to town!

Fortunately staining the frame of the dollhouse didn’t take long at all. While the stain dried, I turned my attention to the roof.

PAINT THE ROOF

One of the really fun elements of this dollhouse is that the roof serves as a handle to easily move the house around, is removable to create easier play access in the top level of the house, and is even reversible. In its original state, one side of the roof was bright green with vines growing around solar panels, and the other side of the roof was covered in snow drifts.

Since I was going to be covering up all the other bright green on the house, I decided to paint the green side of the roof black {to match our own roof}, but since we live in Colorado were snowy rooftops are a common sight throughout the winter, I definitely didn’t want to cover up the snow drift side. I used painters tape around the boarder of the snowy side of the roof to allow me to paint the edge of the roof without accidentally getting any black paint onto the white snow.

I used some left over black acrylic paint and a wide paint brush to make the roof’s paint job quick and easy.

PAINT FRONT DOOR & WALLS

Next up for makeover was the front door and all those primary colored walls. Our front doors are dark wood with frosted glass panels, so I painted the door with chocolate brown acrylic paint, and then used a light teal color in the window cut outs to mimic the color of the frosted glass.

I wanted to paint some of the walls, and to create “wallpaper” for others. To make things easy, I decided to paint all the walls that had window cut-outs, and to only wallpaper the solid square walls.

For the inside of the house, I wanted the walls to match the dominate wall colors in our home, so I grabbed out several jars of leftover latex paint from our storage room. I painted the room on the bottom floor the same light gray that is in our basement; for the next room up, I painted the walls the same teal as our kitchen/living room, and for the room on the top floor, I painted the wall a dark gray to match the accent wall in our real third floor master bedroom. {Sorry for the lack of photos here! I was working fast and furious to get this done for Christmas and didn’t stop to take all the photos I normally would… but you’ll see these walls later on.}

For the back of the dollhouse, I decided to make it look like the exterior of our home, which is a mix of white stucco, light gray stucco, and stacked stone. I painted each section with a window in a light gray paint to mimic our stucco color.

Once all the walls were painted {but before adding any wallpaper}, I decided to give everything a coat of sealer to make it more durable and less likely to get scratched while the kids play. I laid all the painted and stained parts out on cardboard in the garage and sprayed them with a satin spray sealer.

CREATE DIY DOLLHOUSE WALLPAPER

Now about that “wallpaper” I’ve been mentioning. I wanted to ensure that both boys could easily identify their own bedrooms in the dollhouse {this was before the boys were sharing a room}. Beckett’s room {which is now the playroom} has a fun argyle feature wall that I hand painted…

But there was no way that I was going to try to hand paint a miniature version of the argyle in the dollhouse {both in the interest of time and my sanity}. Instead, I pulled up the Photoshop rendering of the argyle that I had created back when I was trying to figure out the right color layout for the argyle wall. I measured the wall of one of the dollhouse rooms with no windows {7.5″ high by 8.125″ wide}, and then cropped and adjusted the size of the Photoshop rendering to be the same dimensions. Of course, if you’re not crazy like me, you could just search for an image online of the wallpaper pattern you want!

Next, I needed to recreated the look of the teal ombre striped walls in Cooper’s room.

I again used the dollhouse room dimensions and create a striped image that replicated the look of the ombre walls.

I printed the “wallpaper” onto sheets of inkjet printable adhesive vinyl, trimmed them down to size, and then positioned them on the two walls with no windows.

CREATE FAUX STONE FOR DOLLHOUSE EXTERIOR

To complete the look of the exterior of the house, I downloaded an image of the stacked stone on our home from the manufacturers website, and I printed the image onto more sheets of inkjet printable adhesive vinyl. In addition to covering the two non-window sections of the back of the house in stone, I also covered the bright green bushes next to the front door with stone as well.

ADD FAUX WOOD DOLLHOUSE FLOORS

The final step before before assembling the dollhouse was to refinish some of the floors. I wanted the lower two levels of the house to have the look of the hardwood floors in our home, so I picked up a roll of walnut colored wood grain shelf paper.

I covered the sections of floor that looked like tile and brick, leaving three sections of natural wood colored floor uncovered for the dollhouse bedrooms {the rooms that in our home have beige carpet}.

ASSEMBLE THE DOLLHOUSE

Finally, I was ready to assemble the dollhouse…

ADD HOUSE NUMBERS

After seeing the dollhouse put together, my husband suggested that I add the house number, and label the mail slot in the door similar to our mailbox. I used a scrap of teal vinyl and cut the numbers and letters on my Cricut electronic cutting machine.

Then I decided to take it one step further by painting the “toy box” that came with one of the furniture sets black and labeling it like the milk box on our front porch.

And here’s the mini dollhouse version!

I was so thrilled with how the dollhouse makeover turned out, and the side by side before and after is pretty drastic – especially considering that it only took me a few hours to make all the changes! The original was very fun and colorful, but the after… well, now it looks like home!

And here’s the back of the house…

The stacked stone combined with the two story windows above the front door really makes the dollhouse look remarkably like our home…

MODIFY DOLLHOUSE FURNITURE

Once the house was complete, I was ready to focus on the furniture. From watching my boys play with the dollhouse at the toy store, I knew that moving the furniture around would be one of their favorite parts, so I wanted to give them plenty of furniture options. After doing my research, I learned that the furniture and dolls from Hape, Plan Toys and Melissa & Doug are all very close in size, making them interchangeable. I picked my favorites from among all three furniture lines and ordered the following:

(1) Media Room Furniture Set

(2) Living Room

(3) Kitchen Furniture Set

(4) Dining Room Furniture Set

(5) Family Bathroom Furniture Set

(6) Bedroom Furniture

(7) Dollhouse Nursery

(8) Children’s Room Furniture Set

(9) Road Trip Car with Posable Family

(10) Doll Extended Family

Since the dollhouse was updated to look like our home, I wanted to make a few changes to make the furniture look a bit more like our own as well. I pulled out my bin of acrylic paint of went to town, starting with the dining chairs, which I painted black to match the chairs in our kitchen.

A grey couch, a silver table, a black headboard, a stainless oven, a brown bookshelf… I tweaked each piece of furniture to match something in our home, and then gave all the painted areas a coat of clear satin varnish to protect the paint from scratching.

To complete the furniture makeovers, I enlisted the help of my mom’s help for a simple sewing project. She recovered the couch and chair cushions using fabric swatches to match the furniture in our living room and family room. She also used a scrap of fabric from our master bedroom duvet to cover the bedspread for one of the dollhouse beds.

DIY DOLLHOUSE RUGS

The final step to making the dollhouse look just like home was to create some simple rugs for the floor. I picked up a few pieces of felt, cut the rugs to a size of 5″ x 7″, and then used my colored Sharpies to draw on patterns similar to the rugs in each room of our house. In just about 30 minutes I had seven new rugs!

FINISHED DIY DOLLHOUSE MAKEOVER

And here’s how it all came together!

In addition to the furniture, I picked a cute blue car that fits perfectly in the “garage” at the back of the house – just like our house with a garage entrance from the alley. The car came with a family of four, but I knew the boys would ask where the grandparents were, so I also bought an additional set of wooden dolls.

Ready for a closer look inside?! Come on in!

Just like our home, the lowest level of the dollhouse is the “basement,” the kitchen is to the right of the front door, the kids rooms are on the next level up, and the master bedroom and bathroom are on the third floor.

Since I wanted the kids to have lots of options, I made two sets of furniture for each of the lower level rooms. The basement can be set up as our family room, or as the kids play area, the kitchen can be swapped out to become our living room. Of course, the kids don’t really set the rooms up like this on their own – you’re more likely to find the toilet next to the kitchen table, and the couch on top of the bed!

TURNING A DOLLHOUSE INTO OUR HOME’S MINI-ME

The kids immediately recognized that the walls, rugs, furniture look like things in our home, and they love talking about it! Let me show you some comparisons…

Our basement family room has a grey couch, orange pillows, white chair, grey number rug, and fireplace…so does the dollhouse family room.

At the other end of our basement is the kids play area with a fun letter rug and a white play table with orange chairs. Here’s the real thing, and the dollhouse version…

On the other side of the dollhouse, the room with the teal wall doubles as our kitchen and our living room. Like our kitchen, the dollhouse has stainless appliances, black chairs, and an ombre rug in shades of teal and blue.

The dollhouse kitchen can also be set up as a mini version of our living room, with teal walls, a teal rug, and black and white tweed couch, black chairs, and a silver table.

Now let’s head upstairs…

In addition to the ombre walls, Cooper’s nursery has a crib, a zebra rug, a changing table, and a red rocking horse in place of a red elephant.

Beckett’s room is easy to identify by the argyle wall, but I also gave it a simplified version of a houndstooth rug, a play table, a bookshelf, and I even painted a little lamp to look like his DIY chalkboard globe.

Since I first created the dollhouse, the boys now share the bedroom with the ombre striped walls with bunkbeds, a navy blue rug, and orange accents. I think I might repaint the dollhouse bunkbed white and make a new rug for that room to reflect the real life makeover, and I might come up with a fun way to recreate the hanging play tent that’s in the argyle wall room, that’s now a playroom.On the third floor, the master bedroom has a black bed with a blue duvet, and a gray rug. It even has a big deck, just like our room, but the dollhouse deck comes with the added bonus that it can be moved to any room of the house.

Finally, at the top of the house is the bathroom, complete with a toilet with a lid that lifts – one of the boys’ very favorite parts! Since the time I created the dollhouse, our real life bathroom received a stylish makeover with graphic black and white cement tile. I’m thinking I might make a little update to the dollhouse bathroom to add some graphic glam style.

I had so much fun putting this dollhouse together for the boys, and I’m thrilled that three years later they are still enjoying it just as much as they did the very first day!

Here are some photos I snapped of them playing with the house a couple of years ago! It was snowing outside that day, so of course they flipped the roof around to the snowy side!

Since not all of the furniture can fit in the house at one, I put all the extra pieces in a plastic lidded bin that we keep in the toy cabinet. The boys love having options and spend a lot of time sorting through the furniture to find just the right pieces.

Ok, if you are thinking that you might want to customize a dollhouse for your kids…let me sum this all up for you so it doesn’t seem so overwhelming! I realize this post is long, but this dollhouse makeover was really quite easy.

Since I was trying to make it a surprise, I worked on this DIY dollhouse makeover during naps and after bedtime for about three days, but in total it only took about five hours. None of it required any special skills…just a little patience. Here’s the overview of what I did:

Stained dollhouse frame using left over stain
Painted the green side of the roof black using acrylic paint
Painted the windowed walls {interior and exterior} using paint left over from our walls
Painted the front door and deck
Sprayed a sealer over all the painted and stained areas to protect them
Printed “wallpaper” and stone onto printable adhesive vinyl
Cut the printed wallpaper and stone to fit the non-windowed walls and stuck them in place
Covered some of the floors in wood-grain contact paper
Assembled the dollhouse
Added house numbers and labeled the mail slot and milk box using adhesive vinyl
Painted and sealed select portions of the furniture to coordinate with furniture in our house
Recovered the cushions, pillows, and bedspread using fabric swatches and scraps
Created rugs using felt and Sharpie markers

Everyone loves a good before and after, right?! Here’s one more look at the completed transformation! And don’t forget to pin this post for any dollhouse renovations that might be in your future!

Have you created a dollhouse for your kids? Or do you a picture of the one you played with when you were little? Everyone can use more inspiration with the holidays upon us, so share your photos on Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to tag me!

The post DIY Dollhouse Makeover appeared first on Blue i Style.

Bookshelf Makeover Without Paint: An Ikea Hack

blueistyle — Fri, 08 Sep 2017 19:23:00 +0000

I think it’s safe to say that I have no fear of color. Especially when it comes to decorating kids’ rooms, I say, the more color the better!

BUT I also have my practical side, and I’m passionate about creating kids’ spaces that can grow with them {I even wrote a post with tips for designing a boy’s room that grows with him}. So when I wanted to add some vibrant color to the bookshelf in my sons’ new shared bedroom, I didn’t want to do anything too permanent. Rather than painting the doors of their bookshelf, I found a way to get the look I wanted with a quick and easy, temporary update.

The basic, cubicle-shaped Ikea Kallax bookshelf is one of my all-time favorite pieces for decorating and organizing alike. It’s so versatile because it comes in lots of configurations and can be stood up or laid on it’s side. And grouped together, two of them work perfectly in a corner.

For my boys shared room, I wanted a combination of open book shelves and closed toy-storage, so I decided to add the Ikea inserts with doors to the lower cubicles of the Kallax.

Since we had a lot of white going on in their room – all white furniture, mostly-white duvet covers, and white frames for all of the art… I really wanted the bookshelf corner of the room to be a fun and colorful space for creative-play.

The Ikea Kallax doors currently come in a variety of colors – including white, brown, black, and even turquoise and yellow – but none of these were right for the room. What I really wanted were bright orange doors to tie in the bits of orange from each of the vintage travel posters I picked for the room.

My first thought was to paint the doors – but I foresaw a couple of problems. The doors have a high-gloss finish, and I was worried about getting good paint coverage that wouldn’t scratch or chip without lots of sanding, priming and prep work. Second, I wasn’t sure we’d always want bright orange doors on the bookshelf. In a few years, when the boys are older, they might want to tone down the colors in the room a bit, so I didn’t want to do anything permanent.

After lots of debate, I came up with a super easy and inexpensive solution… adhesive vinyl!

This is the same type of vinyl I use for lots of DIY projects {like my yard dice}; the same vinyl I use to create labels for many of my organizing projects {like under my kitchen sink and on my charging station}; and even the same vinyl I used to dress up the closet door in my master bathroom!

The standard size roll of vinyl that you can buy at a craft store is 12 inches tall, but the bookshelf doors are 13″ x 13″, so I needed a larger roll. After doing some price comparisons online, I found a great deal at USCutter. For only $12.50, I was able to get a 15″ x 10 yard roll of bright orange Oracal vinyl {color number 034}.

Determining the exact size to cut the vinyl was a bit tricky since the edges are slightly rounded. I first laid a door on the vinyl backing and marked the edges. Then I used a ruler and reduced the size by an 1/8th of an inch. After testing the first one and determining it was a good size, I replicated it to cut the vinyl for the other five doors.

To apply the vinyl to the door fronts, I started by peeling off just an inch or two of the backing.

I lined that exposed adhesive up with the edge of one of the doors and stuck it down. From there, it became a two person job. I had Scott hold up the opposite corners of the vinyl and slowly peel away more of the backing bit by bit. Then I used an applicator tool {affiliate link} to smooth down the vinyl little by little.

Even with this method, we ended up with quite a few small bubbles in the vinyl.

The good news is that the bubbles were much less visible when the doors were upright, rather than laying down. But nonetheless, I wanted to remove as many bubbles as I could before installing the doors on the bookshelf.

The easiest way to eliminate bubbles from vinyl is to use a very thin needle to poke a hole in each bubble…

…and then use a scraper tool {affiliate link} to smooth out the air.

With most of the bubbles removed, the only thing left to do was poke a hole in each vinyl door front to allow our knobs to be installed. By holding the doors up to the light, I was able to see through the vinyl to see where the predrilled hole in the doors was located. I used a screw to poke through the vinyl.

We installed the orange vinyl covered doors on the bookshelf, and then added the white animal head knobs. I just love the bright colored pop of color!

For less than $15 and for less than an hour of DIY time, this Ikea bookshelf hack makes a big impact in the room!

Behind each door we used a blue bin to organize and contain the boys toys.

By placing the two Kallax bookshelves in the corner of the room, we were able to maximize book and toy storage, and create a perfect place for reading and playing. Be sure to check out the full shared boys’ room makeover – it’s packed with lots of other creative storage solutions to make the most of the small space!

In the future, if the boys no longer want this bright orange in the room, I can simply pull the removable vinyl off of the bookshelf doors. I love this temporary decorating solution, which will make it easy for this bedroom storage to grow with the boys for many years to come!

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Sophisticated Superhero Framed Art

blueistyle — Thu, 08 Jun 2017 00:31:00 +0000

Thank you guys for all of the love and sweet comments on our recent makeover of the boys’ bathroom! I am super passionate about finding ways to balance my love of modern style with mom-life, and I’m always striving to create kid spaces that can grow with them and won’t need to be completely redecorated again next year.

All of these factors were at play when the boys asked for a superhero themed bathroom. I loved the challenge of giving them exactly what they wanted while also making it fit in with the rest of our home {especially since the bathroom is visible from the stairs} and making sure it was a space that they could still love five or more years from now.

If you’ve ever looked for superhero decor, you know that much of it falls into one of two categories – bright and over the top, or dark and a bit too mature for young kids. I couldn’t find anything just right for our needs – modern and sophisticated, not too little kid-ish, but not too scary either.

When I find myself in this kind of design dilemma I always come to the same conclusion – it’s easier to go the DIY route and make exactly what I want! And that’s exactly what I did with the simple DIY superhero art for the bathroom. I’ve gotten quite a few questions from readers about that art, so I wanted to give you the quick tutorial today to show you how easy it was to make using on of my go-to DIY tools, the Cricut!

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to let you know that this post is sponsored by Cricut and contains so affiliate links {if you buy something I recommend I may receive a small commission}, but since I’ve been talking about my Cricut DIY projects for as I’ve been blogging, I know you guys are aware that my love for Cricut runs true and deep! Here are some of my other favorite Cricut design and decor projects:

Ok, back to the tutorial superhero art! I came up with the idea to keep the art modern and sleek by simply placing simple metallic superhero logos on black backgrounds with contrasting white frames. Of course, I didn’t want to have to cut the logos by hand, and that’s where the Cricut comes in.

SUPPLY LIST

16″ x 20″ White Picture Frames
White Mattes with 11″ x 14″ openings
16″ x 20″ Black Acid Free Art Boards {also called conservation board}
Cricut Adhesive Foil Stainless {gold and silver, or sampler pack}
Cricut Explore Air
12″ x 24″ Cricut Cutting Mat
Weeding Tool

A few months back I made a project using metallic adhesive foil, and it worked so well that I realized it would be the perfect medium for this project because I could cut the superhero logos and just stick them directly on to the black art boards.

One of the questions I get asked most often about the Cricut is whether it will be easy for you to learn the Cricut Design Space software to create my own custom projects? And the answer is a resounding YES! The software is so user-friendly and intuitive, and once you’ve made your first custom project you’ll have confidence that you can do anything. How do I know… because that was me asking the same question just a few months ago, and after dragging my feet and being nervous to make my first custom project, I know can’t stop planning what I’m going to make next.

I’m actually not going to walk you through the process for creating a custom cut project using Cricut Design Space in this post because I did a really detailed tutorial back in January with step by step screenshots.

I purchased clipart versions of the superhero logos that I wanted to use {Superman, Spiderman, and Batman}, and then loaded the images in to the Design Space software. From there, the process of turning them into cut files is exactly the same as I outlined in this post {just skip past the project photos and go to the second half of the post for the Design Space tutorial.}

Once I had the cut files created, I affixed the adhesive foil to my Cricut mat. I set the knob on the machine to “other,” and then in the software I chose “adhesive foil” as my material to ensure that the cutting pressure would be perfect for my material.

After cutting each logo, I used my weeding tool to remove the negative pieces of the designs.

I would normally use vinyl transfer tape to perfectly position my foil or vinyl designs on the final product, but in this case I was placing the logos on art boards with a paper-like surface. I’ve learned the hard way in the past that transfer tape won’t come off of paper easily, so I needed to find a different method to position the adhesive foil logos on the black art boards.

My main concern was getting the logos perfectly centered, so I decided to remove the adhesive backing and lay the first logo face down {foil side down} on the frame glass centered within the matte opening.

With the adhesive side up {not yet stuck to anything} I was able to adjust the positioning until the logo was centered and straight. Then I was simply placed the black art board face down into the frame, pressing down to adhere the adhesive foil to the board in just the right spot.

And that’s it! I put the frame backer board in place, secured it, and flipped the frame over to admire my new sophisticated super hero art!

This art could not have been easier to create, but hanging together, the three superhero logos make quite a statement!

Head over to the full bathroom post to see all of the other details of the sophisticated superhero makeover!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

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Tips for Mixing Modern Decor & Life with Kids

blueistyle — Thu, 18 May 2017 12:02:00 +0000

One of the design challenges many people face is finding a good balance between their style and that of their spouse. But somehow I managed to get lucky because Scott and I have very similar taste and typically see eye to eye when it comes to decorating our house.

When my friend Stephanie, of Casa Watkins, recently invited me to participate in a blog hope all about mixing and matching different decorating styles, I initially declined because I feel like our style is pretty cohesive – modern, graphic, and colorful.

But when I stopped to reflect more on how we decorate, I realized that over the past five years we’ve actually done quite a bit of mixing and matching in order to coordinate our modern style with the reality of life with kids!

If you’ve just stopped by from Iris Nacole or if you’re visiting from any of the other fun blogs participating in this hop, WELCOME! Let me start with a little introduction… I’m Angela, an attorney turned DIY blogger / decor consultant and I’m married to an accountant / professional musical theater actor. We’ve both got that right brain/left brain, analytical/creative thing going on, and it’s reflected in our home. We like things streamlined and organized, but also bold and colorful. We moved into our current home nine years ago and immediately began making it our own! Five years ago we welcomed our first son, and then a year after that a second son. Like most little boys, our kiddos are loud and silly and full of boundless energy!

I hear people assert all the time that you can’t have nice things or a stylish home when your kids are young because raising children requires being surrounded by lots of primary-colored plastic. Well, I’m here to disagree! I want to show you some examples of how we’ve successfully managed to mix and match our love of modern style with the realities and demands of raising kids!

A couple of years ago I was asked to define our style in just three words, and I came up with Modern. Graphic. Family. While I realize that “family” isn’t a style in the traditional sense of the word, family has a huge impact on how we decorate and live in our home and we now make all of our design decision with the whole family in mind. But rather than hindering our style, we’ve learned to design with our kids in mind in a way that makes our home even more bold and fun!

This post contains some affiliate links.

The kitchen is always the heart of the home, so let’s start there! Our home doesn’t have an open floor plan, so when I’m in the kitchen cooking or doing dishes, I can’t see the kids if they are playing in the living room or family room. Now that they are a bit older, this is less of an issue, but when they were both toddlers I really wanted to keep them in sight at all times. We came up with some simple ways to keep them entertained in the kitchen, starting with our chalkboard wall.

We painted the narrow wall at the entrance to the kitchen with black chalkboard paint {and magnetic primer} to create a fun place for the boys to draw and play right in the kitchen.

This black wall looks good with our style, but keep in mind that chalkboard paint can be mixed in a wide variety of colors, so you don’t have to have a black wall in your house in order to give your kids a chalkboard surface. I love seeing the kids artwork {and now their writing practice} on this wall, but it was I also found a simple trick to get it totally clean when I want to {because let’s be honest; chalkboards can become a smeary, dusty mess}.

To make this chalk wall feel more like a design feature in our kitchen, I turned the upper part of the wall into a chalkboard clock.

The clock is functional and stylish, but also does double duty as a fun way to help the kids learn everything from reading numbers and simple addition, to more advanced math when they get older!

Another way that I keep the kids entertained in the kitchen is with a kitchen of their own!

By putting the kids play kitchen right in our kitchen {rather than in the playroom}, I can keep an eye on them while I cook and clean, and they enjoy being able to do the same thing I’m doing without being in the way when I have hot food on the stove. When I started shopping for a play kitchen, the first thing I noticed was that most of them were pink. Apparently some manufacturers think only girls like to play kitchen… they certainly haven’t met my boys! The next thing I noticed was that many of the more neutral and stylish play kitchens, from places like Pottery Barn, were CRAZY expensive! Fortunately, we ended up finding an affordable and stylish kids’ kitchen that is made of wood, rather than plastic, and actually looks a ton like our real kitchen!

In the living room, the shelf on our coffee table used to be filled with my collection of art books collected from various museums around the world. When the boys were younger, it wasn’t practical to keep these expensive books right at the kids eye level at expect them not to touch.

Instead, I relocated those art books to a higher shelf, and replaced them with some kid-friendly board books about my favorite artists. The boys still enjoy these books, and it has allowed me to share my love of art with my sons and make the living room more kid-friendly at the same time.

While we keep most of the kids toys in the basement family room and in their bedrooms, no room of the house is off-limits to play. In order to keep the living room {right inside the front door} looking nice and not overrun with toys, we limit the toys in the living room to what can fit in to a few stylish baskets.

And since the open hardwood floor-space in the entryway and living room makes a perfect place for building roads and playing trains…

…one larger, lidded basket in the corner of the living room keeps all the roads and train tracks stylishly out of sight between play times.

Moving upstairs, our recent makeover of the boys’ shared bathroom is one of my favorite examples of how we blend our style with kid-life. At the top of the stairs we have an open hallway area that opens into the kids’ bathroom. Unless we keep the bathroom door closed all the time {which is pretty impractical}, we have a direct view of the toilet when we reach the top of the stairs.

The boys love super heroes {an interest that I suspect will stick around for quite a while}, so when they started asking for a super hero bathroom, I decided to design a space that would blend in with the existing decor of the hallway, as well as one that they wouldn’t outgrow too quickly. We created a “sophisticated” super hero themed space with sleek black walls and simple, graphic DIY art work. The boys think it’s the greatest, and I love the way it coordinates with the black and white decor the hallway.

The boys’ super hero bathroom only has a shower, so bath time happens down the hall in the bathroom attached to the guest room. Since we only have guests on occasion, we needed this space to be super hard working for us as a family, but also wanted it to look nice and feel relaxing when we do have company staying with us. One of the biggest challenges was what to do with all the bath tub toys. We came up with a solution that allows us to stylishly store bath toys on a daily basis {holes in the bottom of the buckets allow the toys to properly drain and dry out}, and then when we have guest, I can quickly move the buckets of toys to the cabinet under the sink and use the same rail to display adult bath items that give the bathroom a spa-like feel.

Those are just a few examples of how we’ve been able to balance our love of modern decor with kid-life and keep our home looking stylish while still being totally kid-friendly.

Of course, I also love infusing our modern, graphic style into the dedicated kid-spaces as well! In those spaces, it’s less about striking a balance between our style and their needs, and more about giving them a space that’s all about fun and play, with lots of stylish storage. You can read more about the kids’ bedrooms and under stair playroom in these posts:

VINTAGE PREPPY BOY’S ROOM

ROCK & ROLL UNDER STAIR PLAYROOM

COLORFUL SAFARI SHARED BOYS’ ROOM

I also have a post with tips for creating a shared family room / playroom that you might find helpful!

And I also recently helped a client create a functional and stylish shared family room space with lots of hidden toy storage and a stylish art corner for the kids. You can read all the details of this family friendly family room here.

Living with kids doesn’t have to mean you can’t have a stylish space! But designing a house for a family does mean that function has to be a top priority! Create stylishly organized spaces will make your day run smoother and allows more time for family fun! You’ll find lots of tips for organizing kids stuff throughout the house in my organizing and kid-life archives.

Now my blogging friends have lots more inspiration for you on ways to mix and match other decor styles. Follow the links below to see each of their unique styles and design tips:

Wednesday Home Styles:

Thursday Home Styles:

This Is Our Bliss

Willow Street Interiors

The post Tips for Mixing Modern Decor & Life with Kids appeared first on Blue i Style.

Shared Boys’ Bedroom Makeover

blueistyle — Thu, 11 May 2017 04:12:00 +0000

We’re all jumping for joy over here because the boys’ new room is finally finished! It’s bright and fun and a little wild, just like Beckett and Cooper, and I am so excited to show it to you!

This is One Room Challenge number seven in the books. It’s always a rush to the finish line, but once the room is done, it’s so much fun to take a step back and see what we’ve created through the lens of the camera. The boys were very active participants in designing this shared bedroom over the past six weeks, and it makes me so happy to see how much pride they take in their new space!

Let me remind you how the room looked as the nursery…

BEFORE

We first designed the nursery when I was pregnant with Beckett, who is now five, and then when Beckett was two he moved to a new room and Cooper took over this space. In the nearly four years that Cooper occupied the nursery, not much changed, other than the crib being converted to a toddler bed.

But a while back the boys started BEGGING to share a room, and specifically they requested bunk beds. The room is on the small side, but more than that, its proportions are awkward because it’s long and thin. Coming up with the right layout was a challenge, but we ended up with a space that that actually provides them with tons of storage for books and toys, and lots of open floor space to play.

Ok, let’s talk about the rainbow books for a minute. You might think, “Ugh, what a blogger thing to do!” But can I let you in on a secret? It wasn’t even my idea or my doing. Yep, my five year old son is OBSESSED with all things rainbow! He loves to draw and color – and it’s all rainbows all the time! He begged for a set of rainbow colored bowls on our last trip to IKEA. And when I asked him to help me bring some books in to fill up the shelves, he immediately started sorting them by color and asked if we could make a rainbow. What you see here is about two hours of his very diligent work! Of course, I don’t expect the boys to keep the books organized this way… so it’s totally up to Beckett if it looks this way next week or not. As long as they are on the shelves and not all over the floor, I’ll be a happy mom!

I know you guys like details, so I’ll link to as many of the products in the room as I can. Some of these are affiliate links – meaning that if you buy something that I recommend, I may make a small commission, but you still pay the same price. Win/win.

I don’t remember ever being very into stuffed animals as a kid. I mean, I had them, but I didn’t name them and create stories with them and LOVE them. But my boys are seriously into their stuffed animals and treat them with so much love and care. I feel like they are everywhere we turn, so I knew I needed to create a dedicated space for them where they could be put away but still easily accessible, and that’s where these adorable “wild animal” hampers come in.

When the boys and I started talking about updating this room and making it a space for them to share, there was never a moment of doubt that they wanted to keep the animal theme. It’s all animals all the time around here!

This collection of animal posters is really where the whole plan for the room began. As soon as I spotted them, I knew the boys would love them, and they have special meaning for me as well. All four are vintage travel posters posters from Qantas Airlines. When I studied abroad in Australia for six months in college, I did a ton of traveling around the country – always on Qantas Airlines.

Of course, boys who love books as much as ours do need a comfy place to read. We found this blue corduroy bean bag chair {which has now lost it’s oomph, but I’m replacing with this one or this one} and “Never Stop Exploring” pillow that fits the space perfectly. And because it’s so lightweight, the boys can easily move it around the room {or out of the way to get to the toy baskets at the end of the bed}.

We got really lucky when it comes to the bunk beds… they fit perfectly into this little nook, with only about 3 inches to spare. Had they not fit here, they wouldn’t have fit in the room at all. There was literally no where else they could go that wouldn’t block a window or a door.

Since the boys are still young, I was a bit nervous about traditional bunk beds with a ladder. While they can both navigate a ladder just fine, I worried about them knocking each other down in the midst of well-intentioned play. So I was thrilled when we found these bunk beds with stairs instead. And best of all, there are three large hidden drawers in the stairs, as well as extra storage shelves on the end.

Beckett has a major thing for maps, so it was a no brainer when I came across these world map duvet covers with animals on the various continents! And how cute are the orange and white plus-sign sheets?!

Thanks to GelFoamBed, who provided the new mattresses for the bunk beds, the beds not only look good, they’re also the most comfortable in the whole house! You can read much more about the mattresses in last week’s post, including why the boys think they are magic! There’s also a great discount code in case you are in need of new mattresses for your home.

The tiger and rhino pillows I bought at H&M Home are discontinued, but here’s a similar tiger with sunglasses pillow and a few debonair rhino pillow options.

The one piece of furniture in the room that did not change is this fun cabinet – called the Eiffel Bookcase – with the open center. It just moved from one side of the room to the other.

Above the cabinet hang three white faux taxidermy heads, including the cardboard elephant that they boys helped me put together this week. They are SO proud that they made him!

In the orange frames are photos that Scott and I took on our South African safari a few years ago. The boys were very young when we took that trip without them, but we spent lots of time reading them books about the animals we would be seeing before we went, and showing them photos when we returned. I really think that is what cemented their love of animals, so it seemed fitting that some photos from our safari be on display in the room.

We went on safari during spring in the Southern Hemisphere, which meant that we were lucky enough to see lots of very young babies – including a giraffe that had been born just the day before. When choosing photos to frame for the room, I decided to go with five of our favorite mom and baby shots.

Cooper’s love of animals is rivaled only by his love of cars and trucks, so it was important this room reflect that as well. He has lots of transportation toys in baskets behind the doors of the Eiffel bookcase, but some of his favorites are on display in the white wire basket in the center opening.

And the two side-by-side rugs are so, so much fun. The moment I spotted these rugs, I knew that Cooper would see the white dotted lines as roads.

He has already been having so much fun driving around his favorite dump truck and digger.

The rainbow zebra poster was a must have for my rainbow-loving kiddo. Bonus points to anyone who can identify the colorful things on the shelf behind the tall giraffe. If you said vuvuzelas then you must be a true soccer fan! These instruments were originally used to summon distant African villagers to community gatherings, but are now more commonly used at football matches. We bought these two hand-painted vuvuzelas for the boys during our trip to South Africa, and I just love the way the colorful patterns look displayed on this shelf.

My favorite DIY project in the room is the orange doors fronts on the bottom of the IKEA Kallax bookshelves. I thought about painting them, but then came up with an easier {and temporary} solution. I’ll share the “how to” details on this easy transformation soon.

The animal head handles on the doors I spray painted white to match all of the other white animals in the room. I had intended originally planned to use on these on the boys’ dresser drawers… before we decided to ditch the dresser in favor of two bookshelves.

Since I only had six of the animal-head handles {and they’ve since been discontinued} I decided to only install six door fronts on the bookshelf, leaving one spot open for a basket and blanket.

Behind each of the orange doors are blue bins to keep the boys’ toys organized and make clean-up quick and easy!

That framed photo on top of the bookshelf is one of my very favorite photos of my boys. It was taken at the San Diego Zoo last fall, and I just adore them in their animal print sunglasses carrying with the Fisher Price binoculars that were mine when I was a kid. They called that zoo trip their “safari,” so it seemed fitting that this photo be on display in their new safari bedroom. And I finally found the perfect place to use my mini cinema light box.

For those who are wondering what happens to Beckett’s bedroom {the one I designed for my first-ever ORC three years ago} now that the boys are sharing this room… the answer is, nothing is changing. That room is staying just the way it is – argyle wall, necktie play tent, belt shelves and all. B & C spent most of their time playing in that room already, so it will remain a play space. We’re calling it their “lounge.”

The open floor space in this new room is perfect for playing cars and building, while the round play table in the center of the lounge is great for puzzles and board games. We are leaving Beckett’s toddler bed in the lounge as well, so that if they boys ever need to sleep apart, they can. And the rest of the time that bed can serve as a couch for reading books {oh yes, they still have two more shelves full of books in that room as well}.

Oh, I almost forgot! Remember how I told you that we were making over the boys’ bathroom at the same time as the bedroom?! While we managed to fit a lot of the boys’ favorite things into the bedroom {animals, maps, rainbows, trucks}…we paid homage to their love of super heroes in the bathroom instead. We finished that space a couple of weeks ago, and you can tour the sophisticated super hero bathroom here!

Thanks so much for stopping by for the big reveal! Thank you also to Calling it Home, and media partner House Beautiful, for hosting this wonderful event!

Now be sure to head over to Calling it Home where you’ll find links to the finished spaces of all 200+ other One Room Challenge participants. Grab your coffee and settle in … there are SO MANY amazing rooms to see!

SHOP THIS ROOM

The post Shared Boys’ Bedroom Makeover appeared first on Blue i Style.

A Sophisticated Superhero Bathroom Makeover

blueistyle — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 14:46:00 +0000

No one has ever accused me of being afraid of color! In the nine years that we’ve lived in our current home, I’ve painted nearly every color you can think of on our walls. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, teal, gray… our house has seen it all.

But there is one bold statement that I’ve always wanted to make that intimated even me. BLACK! Sure we have a skinny black chalkboard wall in our kitchen, but I’m talking a whole black room… all four walls. BOLD!

Well, guess what? I finally went for it and I love it SO MUCH! I can’t wait to show you all of the details! Thanks to my sponsor, Lowe’s for helping to make this project a reality!

You’ve probably heard me describe our style many times as Modern Graphic Family, and today I’m so excited to show you a recent weekend makeover that is a perfect example of we strike a balance between bold, stylish decor and life with kids. This “before” bathroom was perfectly fine, but it definitely didn’t say “little boys live here.”

Since this bathroom is attached to Cooper’s bedroom {which the boys will soon be sharing}, I’ve been wanting to give it a fresh new look that better reflects the kids. But I was a bit stumped because this bathroom also has a second door that opens into the upstairs hallway, and it’s positioned such that you look directly in at the toilet when you reach the top of the second floor stairs.

As a result, I really wanted to create an updated look for this bathroom that the boys wouldn’t outgrow too quickly, and one that would also blend in with the rest of the house. That sounds like a tall order, but it turns out it was actually pretty easy to achieve.

I came up with an idea to create a sophisticated superhero themed bathroom. I envisioned black, white, silver and gold, rather than the standard primary colors that often come to mind for kids’ spaces. As the plan started to come together, I hit up my local Lowe’s in search of the perfect shade of black paint.

It’s so nice to be able to look at several different brands of paint all in one store, and I wound up bringing home swatches from Sherwin Williams, Valspar, and Olympic. Sherwin Williams had the widest variety of black options, and while they may all look alike, in various lights they actually look quite different!

It can feel overwhelming trying to pick just the right color of paint. I always analyze the undertones and wonder how it will look once it’s actually up on all of the walls. Thanks goodness for the Lowe’s Love Your Paint Guarantee, which takes the stress out of picking a paint color! I wound up choosing Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black, and it’s a perfect, true black. But if it had turned out not to be quite right, I could have simply returned the unused portion of the can to Lowe’s within 30 days and they would have replaced it with a new color or refunded my money.

I originally planned to just paint the bathroom and add some new art, but I decided that if I was ever

going to update the mirror and light, now was the time. I knew that any framed mirror I picked would end up being a bit smaller than the existing mirror, so it was much easier to remove the mirror now, sand the adhesive off of the wall, and paint the entire area behind where the new mirror would hang.

Once we had a totally blank palette, I was ready to start painting. I gathered up all of the paint supplies that I picked up at Lowe’s, including a small 4-inch roller {perfect for the tight spaces in the small bathroom}, a disposable paint tray sized just right for the roller, an edging tool, and a paint can lid for pouring and storing.

I always have such a hard time pouring paint from the can into the roller tray without dripping everywhere. It’s a job I always delegate to my husband because he has far superior pouring skills. I had never tried a Shur-Line paint can lid before, but it caught my eye when I was browsing the wide selection of painting supplies at Lowe’s, and now it’s my new favorite thing! You just snap it on to the top of the paint can and use the narrow spout to pour the paint. Then when you’re done pouring, the spout folds down for storage. No more hammering a paint covered lid back in place and searching for a paint can key to open it again!

Before I got started, I did have a few concerns about whether painting the walls black would really be a big enough change from our existing gray bathroom walls. But as soon as I rolled those first strokes onto the wall, I could see that it was definitely going to be the dramatic difference I was hoping for!

This bathroom is quite small, with lots of very narrow sections of wall between door frames, above the tile, and below the counter. To make easy work of these compact spaces, I used the Shur-Line edging tool that allows you to get a nice crisp paint line around all of the edges. You’ll notice that I did still use painter’s tape as well. I suspected that it would be hard touch up the white trim paint over the black, so I wanted to be extra cautious.

I used Sherwin Williams Infinity paint from Lowe’s, which is supposed to give good one coat coverage. I had to touch up just a few thin spots here and there, but there was no need for a full second coat, which was perfect for the one-weekend timeline that we allocated to this makeover!

Once the paint was dry, we removed the tape and started putting the bathroom back together. A few hours later, I was amazed at the transformation!

All of the white tile and trim in the bathroom creates a great balance to the pure black walls. I just love the crispness of the contrast.

The boys love superheroes, so I created this super simple framed art to hang above the toilet. It was a quick and easy DIY project, but I think that these streamlined gold and silver framed logos will stand the test of time. By making them a bit a more “sophisticated,” I’m hopeful that the boys won’t feel they’ve outgrown the look of this bathroom for a very long time.

On the tray on the back of the toilet, I added a framed photo of the boys in their Batman and Spiderman costumes from this past Halloween, because it really just doesn’t get any cuter than that!

The counter top in this bathroom is quite narrow, so a standard-sized framed mirror was too wide. Fortunately, we were able to find a smaller-scale white frame mirror in the decorative mirror section at Lowe’s and it fits the space perfectly. We also swapped out the aged-bronze and amber glass light fixture for a more modern pewter and clear glass version from the Lowe’s lighting department. The new light has three bulbs instead of two, which provides just the right amount of added light in the room to counteract the darker walls.

We also swapped out the old faucet for a newer, more modern style that I found at Lowe’s as well. I much prefer the straighter lines of this faucet over our old style, and I hope to eventually change out the faucets in all of the other bathrooms to match this one.

Did you notice the glasses on the counter? When my husband was the age that our boys are now, Superman was his favorite and he had would insist that he was Clark Kent {while donning the signature glasses}. Since our boys love playing dress up, we thought they now needed their own pair of Clark Kent glasses!

Beckett’s favorite superhero is Batman, and Cooper’s is Spiderman… so I couldn’t believe my luck when I found these metal letters with their favorites on their initials!

The boys LOVE their new superhero bathroom, and I love how it now coordinates with the second floor hallway. If you’re going to look right into a bathroom every time you come up the stairs, it might as well look coordinated, right?!

The new black and white color scheme in the bathroom ties together perfectly with the black and white artwork in the hall…

And I just love the way it looks next to the black and white striped hall cabinet that we use as extra storage for bathroom towels and other items that don’t fit in the small cabinet under the sink.

I’m so glad that I went for it with the black paint in this small bathroom! I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Lowe’s, but as always, all opinions are my own.

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