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Sometimes (really most of the time) room makeovers are not completed in a day or weekend. We started cleaning out this room and painting the walls a year ago! We painted the walls (and ceiling!), added a twin bed and a cube organizer for storage, refinished a cabinet for clothes, created a display for special artwork, and created lots of stations for creative play. Now, many projects (and many months) later, my 4 year old son finally has his big boy room! Check out the before and afters!

Kid’s Bedroom Before

I’m going to go against my better judgment and show you what this room looked like for 2 years when my husband used it for his office. Definitely not the most aesthetically pleasing. The room was kind of a catchall for all the furniture that didn’t have a place anywhere else. And there were a few too many deer heads for my personal preference.

We started by clearing everything out of the room to give us a blank slate to work with. The room is actually pretty large for our 1450 sqft house – plenty big enough for the boys to share one day. But for now, my oldest gets the whole space to himself. Ready for the after?

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Kid’s Bedroom After

I love it so much! I went with a bold color for both the walls and the ceiling – Sherwin Williams Manitou Blue. You might think that painting the ceiling dark would make the room feel small and cave-like, but I actually feel like it had the opposite effect here. Extending the color of the walls on to the ceiling made the room feel larger and more cohesive.

When I started planning this room, the monster truck sheets were my jumping off point. You can find the full mood board HERE. My son is really into monster trucks right now. I played off that theme, while also choosing elements that are easy to switch out – like art prints, sheets, display shelves – when he’s ready for a new theme.

Kid’s Bedroom Storage

Storage was also a must and I love these cube storage shelves for kids’ rooms. They are great for books, but also great for hidden toy storage with baskets or bins. This particular one from Walmart’s Better Homes and Gardens line was the one I had my eye on from the beginning. I had to be patient and wait for the “natural” color to come back in stock, but the color and quality are unbeatable at this price!

The closet in this room is not functional right now, especially for kids’ clothes (that’s a future project for sure). I wanted my son to be able to reach all of his clothes himself, so he can work on picking out his own clothes and dressing himself. My parents still had this cabinet – formally called a gentleman’s chest – that I used to use in my childhood bedroom. It’s solid wood and in great condition. I painted it Mint Whisper by Valspar and used Rub ‘n Buff in European Gold on the wooden knobs to give them the look of metal. It is now the perfect piece for my son’s clothes. I love that we can hang his shirts in the larger compartment and he can still reach them to pick what he wants.

Kid’s Bedroom Play Area

When I was designing the room layout, I knew I wanted this corner of the room to be for playing. My parents still had my brother’s train table from when he was little. They graciously allowed us to borrow it (along with tons of wooden track and trains), so my boys can put it to good use for a little while.

The other half of the play area has a kitchen and work bench. The kitchen (and lots of pretend food) was a Christmas gift a few years ago. The prints are from Etsy, but I really love these magnetic wooden hangers – they make it easy to switch out prints. For a preschool age child, these frames would be good for educational posters like THESE.

Kids’ Artwork Display

My son loves to do arts and crafts. This easy artwork display was a great way to showcase his paintings and preschool crafts. With a couple of screws, some leftover twine, and mini clothes pins, I was able to create a simple and affordable artwork display wall. You can see more details about this project HERE on my Instagram.

Display Shelves and Storage Solutions

The Nugget Play Couch was a Christmas present last year. Instead of buying an armchair or glider chair for the room, I invested in the Nugget couch instead. I knew it would get more use than a chair and it absolutely does – play area, fort construction, naps, book reading – it gets a ton of use!

As a side note, the white unit on the wall is a mini-split or ductless air conditioner. We added one in each of the upstairs bedrooms in our cape cod shortly after we moved in. While it may not be the most aesthetically pleasing to look at, it heats and cools and was one of the best investments we made in our home! Our cape cod only had one heat pump for the entire house and it did not effectively heat or cool our second floor (the first summer we lived here was pretty much unbearable on the second floor). So happy we invested in these!

I also wanted to make sure there were hooks in here at child-height, for hanging coats and book bags, or more accurately, robes and cozy onesie pjs. This accordion wall hanger was the perfect fit here. On the other wall, I added some low acrylic shelves for displaying a few monster trucks.

Night Sky – Glow in the Dark Stars

I mentioned early that I painted the ceiling the same dark blue as the walls. After it was done, I felt like it was begging for some glow-in-the-dark stars! Remember the plastic ones we had as kids?? I bought this pack of stickers on Amazon and I was super impressed with them. They are stickers, but I found they were easy to remove and don’t leave any sticky residue (the ceiling in here does have texture and the paint is an eggshell finish so there is a slight sheen – smooth ceilings with a flat finish could be different). There are also a ton in the pack and the variety of sizes gives a more realistic appearance of the night sky. So fun for kids!

Overall, I love how this room came together and so does my son! I think it will be a space that can easily evolve as he grows older and his interests change. When that time comes, I’ll be sure to take you along!