Younger Boys' Bedroom Tour

I've been on a mission to make the younger boys' bedroom a little more grown up. I have a lot of things I'd still like to do in here but the first thing I wanted to do was to update their gallery wall. I had a bunch of art on the wall and it was cute but it was also really young.

GALLERY WALL BEFORE

It was the same stuff that I had had on the wall since my youngest was 4 (he's 8 now) and my second youngest was 7 (he's 11). It was time.

GALLERY WALL AFTER

I'm still in the process of tweaking this a bit. I'm not sure how I feel about the ampersand and the star--I was wanting to tie some of the colors in one of the prints together, but I don't know if they work or not. I might just paint them both black. I'd also like to replace the photo I took at Acadia National Park (in the center) with an Ansel Adams print.

I tried to involve my boys in making choices for what kinds of things they'd like on their wall. I also wanted to use the nail holes that already existed in the wall. The result is a pretty eclectic assortment of art that kind of took on a life of its own as I tried to add in various requests and make everything look cohesive and balanced. I made four of the prints on the wall and I will share them eventually, the rest is a hodgepodge of stuff I found on Pinterest and stuff I already had.

When we moved in there was this odd little corner in the room. I decided it would be perfect for a built in desk so my husband helped me build one.

The idea was that my kids could sit here to do their homework. More often than not it becomes a place to pile junk, or to sit and make origami finger puppets (my 11 year old's latest obsession) but I'm still holding out hope that they will use it for its intended purpose one day.

Aren't these Hardy Boys books great? They are part of a larger collection that a friend gave us when we lived in Rochester. I love them.

I found the shadow box frame on clearance for $5 so I filled it with a bunch of stuff from my boys' rock and fossil collection. It was all just sitting in a box and now they can enjoy it a little more.

I'll  eventually replace the cork board with a larger one. This is one that I just already had in the basement. The shelf with the colorful canvas bins might also be getting a makeover to help it look a little more grown up. I haven't exactly figured out what I'm going to do yet, but I have ideas. I had all the boys' hats on the pegs but they are home from school on winter break this week so the hats didn't even stay on the pegs long enough to act as a photo prop. I found the red folding chair in the basement when we moved in. It was gross, but I cleaned it up and it makes a nice distressed, vintage chair for the desk.

To the left of the desk is the closet. I stuck the dresser in there because why not. It fits and it frees up more space in the room for my kids to play.

Keep looking to the left.

I like this poster, but I have plans for a map wall here in the future.

Our pet snake, Sir Hiss-A-Lot, lives on top of this bookcase by the window. Snakes are my favorite pet because I am not the best pet owner and this one doesn't require anything from me other than to fill his water occasionally. My husband takes care of the feeding and stuff.

My boys have bunk beds and while they are great for space they are a pain in the neck to make. These beds are made to also work unbunked, but we just don't have the space in this room so this is how they will stay at least until an older brother grows up and moves out of the house (don't get the wrong impression--I'm sad about this, but I know it is coming very soon). My boys also seem to like sleeping with their heads away from the wall for some reason which seems upside down to me, but I'll humor them for now. There is a bedding update happening soon so keep your eyes open in the future for that. 

This little bookcase will probably get a paint job sometime soon. I love yellow, but it almost seems too juvenile for what I'm going for in the rest of the room.

The room is a work in progress, but like I have said before, I have to make these improvements just a little bit at a time:
--Replace paneled walls with drywall and replace ceiling
--Install overhead lighting
--Paint walls and window casing
--Window treatment
--New bedding
--Tweak gallery wall
--Paint/update some of the furniture (yellow bookcase, wall shelf, etc.)
--Map wall on small wall above snake terrarium

Boys rooms are definitely a challenge for me. I have four boys so you'd think I'd be a natural at this but nope.