A Blue Boy’s Nursery Alongside Clouds & Stars

Hope you folks are having an excellent week-between-Christmas-and-New-Years. We are soaking up some family time, along with sanding, priming, and painting our kitchen cabinets (it looks like a small paint bomb went off with some random gingerbread cookies among the fray), so we are hoping to share our progress on Monday. But today we hoped to drop by with a makeover by Katy for her son Gabriel. This transformation was not only completed on a serious budget (she estimates that it was under $200, including big things like a bed and a dresser), it was also done in a rental (and we know you folks enjoy to see those). Bravo to the landlord for letting her give this room some much needed enjoy! Here is her letter:

Hi The house team! I hoped to share my son’s room makeover with you. We moved into our house in 2011, a few weeks after I found it at a yard sale. Yes, crazy. We are simply renting it now, but would enjoy to buy it someday.

The house needed a lot of TLC when we moved in. But I enjoy a good project! Our son was not quite two when we moved, so his room was my first project in the hopes of making the move easier for him.

I knew I hoped to paint it a deep, peacock-ish blue, and your old guest room gave me the inspiration I needed to go for it! I got a gallon of Plumage (and tinted primer, thank you) and got to work transforming his room. My goal was to spend as little as possible. And I enjoy the end result!

My Mom is remarkable and found a Jenny Lind style bed for Gabriel. It was what I dreamed of for his room. Can you believe it was $80? Solid wood. Absolutely remarkable. And then she got some Annie’s Chalk paint to refinish it. We used French Linen and wrapped up it with the clear wax. I absolutely enjoy his bed.

I got this dresser on Craigslist for $20 and refinished it. The wall hanging is a tapestry I found at a thrift store. The trees are in fact Christmas decorations! my Mom gave us the charming paint by number pictures a couple years ago. The mobile is something I found, spray painted gold, and hung old pictures of my Dad, grandmother, and aunt.

As a child, my Grandpa gave me Shel Silverstein books. So I was thrilled to find ‘Falling Up’ at the thrift store and used the pages as art in Gabe’s room. We truly enjoy looking at the pages, reading the poems and playing I-spy with the illustrations. The bench is from our wedding and the basket holds some books and toys.

So there is Gabriel’s big boy room! I am excited to share it with you and I hope you like it. -Katy

Well, it should be no surprise that we truly like it. Gabriel’s a lucky guy. Thanks so much for sharing it, Katy! This may sound weird, but I think my go-to things are the Shel Silverstein pages casually taped up on the wall. What a smart and straightforward way to create some impact without spending a lot. Meanwhile Sherry’s obsessed with that excellent gray bed and the thrift store tapestry on the wall. Katy has more pics and the scoop on some other personal touches on her journal, but feel free to shout out your go-to part before bouncing over there. (How will you choose? Even the bedding is excellent.)