Big Boy Bedroom

For those of you using the blog to keep track, there's no baby yet...just keep waiting patiently! We are! ;) After Jacob/Max arrives, I'll have Keith get a little something on Facebook & the blog as soon as he's able. I promise!

The next time you visit, Alex will probably want you to follow him into his new Big Boy Bedroom so he can show off his fancy new room. Don't forget your sunglasses, by the way, because it's really bright in there! :)

Keith usually doesn't have much of an opinion when it comes to decorating. He chose the color of the office. That's about it. But when it came time to choosing a theme for Alex's big boy room, he really wanted a Chicago Bears theme. The hardest part was deciding whether the wall should be blue or orange. Keith voted blue. I voted orange. Keith painted orange, but he warned me that was taking no blame or credit for the color...and he wouldn't change it if I disliked it, either. Thankfully, I love it! I think it's growing on Keith, too.

Alex LOVES his new bedroom! He loves to play with toys on his bedroom floor. He proudly shows off his new bed. He points out the footballs on his fleece blanket. He loves to sit at the table & play blocks, sit on the floor and play "Tate" (Mr. Potato Head), and roll trucks around his bedroom. He is EXCITED (weird kid!!) to go to bed each night.

He has only fallen out of his new bed a total of 3 times, and he's been sleeping in it for um...probably about 6 weeks now. The only time we have trouble is if he wakes early from his nap. Sometimes he wants to hop out of bed & play (even though we put the toys in the closet at naptime) when he should go back to sleep. Oh, and once he woke in the middle of the night & was sitting next to his nightlight so he could read books to himself.

My goal was to make the room fun & boyish without spending much money. We already had the furniture for this room, as it was the guest room for the past few years. We found a toddler bed that came close to matching the furniture. To that, we added:

• a Bears fleece "blanket", an orange "locker bin" and an orange hamper from Joann's - all purchased with Mom's 40% off coupon stash
• a Bears pendant & sign from Shipshewana for $15
• a peel & stick Bears helmet that Deb found online for $6 (and free shipping!)
• a Bears picture frame from Grandma Purdy
• 2 pictures of Alex in his Bears jersey
• blue curtains on clearance at Walmart
• blue crib sheet on clearance at Meijer

I love the simplicity of it, and quite honestly, I don't plan on adding much more. More = clutter, and I love how uncluttered his room is! As he gets bigger, I'm sure his toys will provide plenty of clutter to fill the extra space!

We have a couple of silver metal strips with magnets that I may hang by the little table if we keep it in that spot. That way, he can put up alphabet magnets, hang his artwork, etc in the future. We'll see.

I'm thinking about painting this table "Bears Blue". Keith says I'll regret it. What do you think?

The glider is from Grandma & Grandpa S's basement. It's a rusty orange color, covered in a blue blanket that was hiding in our hall closet. Wish this picture wasn't so dark, but I'm too lazy to retake it. The "locker room" Bears sign is fun!

Uh, ignore the boxes on the floor - they're full of kids' books, and they are too heavy for me to lift. They'll find a new home soon, I'm sure. For now, they keep Alex from accessing the craft supplies in the bottom drawer.The large frame on the dresser is a poem that Keith wrote for Alex's first Christmas. It's framed, and I'll be hanging it on the wall near Alex's bedroom door. The locker bin holds diapers & rash cream. And the lamp? Well, the old shade broke. I have to decide whether to replace it or just put the lamp away.

It's sad how disorganized his closet looks, as it really has been straightened & tidied. I still have 3 BIG boxes of "teacher stuff" in this closet, but we have nowhere else to store it. The shelves at the bottom hold some favorite toys. The rest of the closet floor has bags/boxes of clothes waiting for Alex to grow into them.

And that's about it! Just pretend to be surprised when Alex has the opportunity to show off his new room in person! ;)