toddler bedroom | Operation Home

Howdy folks! So, the last time I posted about Lucas’s Room was when we added a pair of Expedit shelves with a little pop o’ green behind them, which transformed the “play-zone” part of his room into this…

Back then, I stated something along the lines of “next will be shelves between the units”. And I’m happy to say that a whopping five months later “next” is finally here!

This is gonna be more of a “before and after” post rather than a tutorial since I was a bad blogger and didn’t take proper pictures. It all started when I found two shelves on clearance at Target for $4 a piece (marked down from $14.99). They were the perfect size and color (similar to the Ikea white of the units) for the space above Lucas’s toy trunk. So, I possessively shoved them into my cart and chauffeured them home.

I threw a few ideas around for brackets, but in the end, cheap won out. I purchased four of the brackets below from Lowe’s for just over a dollar a pop…

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I spray-painted them gold with leftover spray-paint that I had from when I created my Target-inspired bench. I wanted the brackets to play off of the gold accents on Lucas’s toy trunk…

The pic above was taken about halfway through painting. After the brackets had cured, Joey hung the shelves above the toy trunk, level with the shelves on the Expedit units…

I’ve thought about dabbing the screws with a smidge of gold paint, but really… they don’t bother me that much. Once the shelves were hung, I loaded them up with a few accessories that I’ve been saving for this very occasion…

…A few jugs to play off of the other orange accents in the room, a two-dollar painted mirror from Goodwill to bounce some light around…

…his little guitar that had been precariously teetering in his closet for far too long, a wooden dinosaur that we brought back from Mexico and some model cars (of course). 🙂

Here are a few wider shots…

And just as a reminder of where we started… a before shot taken just after we moved in…

Here’s a pic with the toy chest lid open just to demonstrate our reasoning for shelf placement…

There’s plenty of space for Lucas to rummage about his toys without the shelf crowding the lid.

I’m pretty much loving it. The new shelves provide additional storage and brightness and offer a great space to display larger items that were taking up space in his closet. They also act as a visual bridge between the two Expedit units which makes it feel more cohesive. For a smaller bedroom, I really feel like we’ve made pretty good use of the space for storing Lucas’s toys in easily accessible ways, which in turn, leaves more room for concealed storage in the closet. Win-win in my eyes. Thus, I hereby dub this play-zone complete (for now). 🙂

So anyways, I hope everybody has a fantastic weekend!

Linked up at: I Heart Organizing I Heart Nap Time, Lines Across, Say Not Sweet Anne, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z, Upcycled Treasures

So, Lucas’s room has definitely experienced some growing pains along the way, but I think we’re finally on the right track. Hallelujah!!

When we last left off his room looked like this….

If you remember from this post, I’ve had some difficulty keeping my valiant decorating attempts in his room intact. First, half of the license plate wall went kaput, next the bicycle print over the bed went away, then his wall lamp was a goner. The final straw came when I was forced to remove the curtains. Every time Lucas climbed up the end of his bed to go to sleep (which happened an unfortunate number of times per bedtime) he’d tug on them. Or hide in them. Or curl up in them. Oh, no… they weren’t just curtains. They were a fort. Boys. Give them anything and I guarantee they can find a way to build a fort with it.

One morning I walked into Lucas’s room and the curtain rod was hanging on by a thread. I had horrifying visions of the metal rod plummeting down and konking my sweet baby boy on the head, so down it came. Dunzo.

And every time I walked in there, his room proceeded to mock me with it’s strip-tease. More and more naked it became despite my best efforts.

I searched for different window treatments that Lucas would be less likely to pull on, but came up empty-handed. His window was so close to the corner of the room that it eliminated many options, including the cool panel curtains at Ikea that I’ve desperately wanted to use somewhere. I didn’t think roman shades were right for his room. And roller shades didn’t feel right either.

Then, I realized the solution was so simple (and free). Duh. Move the bed, smartie-pants.

So, we moved it to this orientation…..

SO MUCH BETTER.

The curtains went back up (after being reinforced with heavy-duty anchors) and he hasn’t touched them since.

I have to say, it absolutely amazes me when I’ve been at a decorating stand-still with a room and can’t quite determine a plan…. Then, one simple change opens a world of possibilities. Kind of like our sofa switcheroo. Suddenly, I had a clear vision of the direction that the room needed to go. Finally!! I think I just need to play with furniture layout more in general. That seems to be the recurring theme here, huh?

Also, pay no attention to the license plates. They’re left over from my previously failed attempt at a license plate headboard/wall. I’ve actually acquired 20 more license plates since then (thanks to my glorious friend Sara) and have a plan for them, so the current arrangement that you see before you will be relocated and expanded upon at some point soon.

Anyhoo, next, I measured and realized that the chest of drawers in our room (we finally found a long, low dresser to replace it… Holla!!) would fit perfectly on his angled wall….

Here’s the before…

And Now…

Hello again, dear bicycle print!!! And note the cool car built by Pop! This change now opens up this entire wall…

Which looked like his before…

…for his toy chest, shelving for books and other playthings…

A localized play-zone, if you will. which could never have happened with the previous layout. I’m thinking shelves around his toy chest for sure. Maybe a little built in desk? Or an organizational unit of some sort? Lucas is asking Santa for a race track that gets mounted to the wall. If he remains on the Nice List and Santa brings the goods, maybe we can work that in somehow. Hmmm…. Possibilities. And excitement!! No, excitement(squared)!! This is the part of decorating that I love the most. When it clicks.

But, now I have a small dilemma. The dresser is a dark walnut-toned wood. Part of me really likes it that way up against the navy walls. But another part is considering painting it a lighter color. But it’s a really great dresser in perfect shape. The thought of painting good wood makes me feel green (with illness, not envy). So, paint the dresser? Leave it au naturel?? What’s your take on this subject? Tell me. I wanna know.