Friday, April 26, 2013

Sailor’s quarters

After we moved last May, I began trolling Craig’s List for a big boy bed. When this fancy Pottery Barn Kids bed popped up for a song, Erik brought it home on Elsa the very same day. It had been assembled incorrectly, cob jobbed, and abused a little, but with Erik’s magical repairs and a little cleaning, it was seaworthy once more! 

Luke adores it. He takes “boat rides” constantly, mentions it in his prayers, and spontaneously thanks Daddy for “building it” from time to time. Erik and I love that bed too: it brought a breakthrough in Luke’s bedtime battles when we were out of ideas. With such a cherished status, it’s not surprising that it inspired a nautical bedroom theme. We pulled together boat-themed art with special meaning for our family and added a US map so we can talk about where various relatives live. There’s a vintage Lake George photo (taken by my dad in the ‘70s) of the tiny campground where Erik and I vacationed every year as kids. Below it is a housewarming gift from Erik’s parents – a print of the lighthouse we visited on our romantic Maine getaway two years ago. An oar is the perfect size for above the closet.

I try to limit the number of colors I use in each room to keep things cohesive. For Luke’s room, I stuck mainly to blue (because it was painted on the treasured bed) and yellow (which is the primary accent color throughout our house since it’s my favorite of the warm southwestern colors). Of course there’s also brown everywhere in wood tones, black and white to balance out the value spectrum, plus a few other fun colors that sneak in since it’s a kid’s room. (PS: I like this color post if you’re into home design like me.)

I changed out the hardware on Luke’s dresser to make it a little more big-boy-looking, hung curtains, added a hand-me-down bookshelf, and collected a grouping of watercolors for the wall. Here’s a close-up of a few of the paintings. I just love the happy carefree spirit of them, and tell Luke that the figures in the boat are him and Daddy. The big painting is Grand Lake, a vacation town in Colorado where we spent a week right before Eleanor was born, and the smaller two are Maine, near Erik’s parents’ lake house. The snazzy ocean scene on the dresser is a L.R.N. original. (:

On the other side of the dresser we hung some hooks to facilitate cleanup. It’s hard to tell, but the row of hooks has a handsome distressed finish courtesy of someone else’s family ($1 at a yard sale down the street)!

We keep Luke’s hanging clothes in Eleanor’s room and turned the bottom shelf in his closet into a “library”. The darling dino book ends from my aunt make it extra fun, and it’s so nice to no longer have all these kids’ books monopolizing our living room shelves. The library’s preschool height is perfect for entertaining Luke during his quiet time (sometimes).

We painted the walls Sea Pearl by Benjamin Moore and eventually want to wallpaper the closet to make a more enticing play nook. Other to-dos – better closet organization, add some fabric to lengthen the curtains, and change out the lamp. But it’s come far enough to pass my one-year house-iversary deadline. Here’s a flashback to the day Luke chose it for his room when we first saw the house.

So much happier now, most of all because of the sweet little boy who lives there!

{Next up, a meadow friends princess room!}

1 comment :

  1. It's been wonderful reading your recent updates! And seeing the lovely photos -- a couple of Eleanor in particular were just stunning! I love all the sweet details in Luke's big boy room and can just imagine how much fun he has in it.

    So glad to hear you all are doing well! Hope to see you guys again sometime soon!

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