Bigger Boy Room Reveal

Hey there!  I'm so excited to finally reveal my son's "bigger" boy room.  I feel like it has been in the works for the past one meeellion years.  But no, it hasn't.  Maybe like the past one year.  Or less.  I don't know for sure but it's been a long time in the making and it sure feels good to have it done.

See how to make his rustic, lighted headboard here.

Anywho, I am calling it a bigger boy room because it isn't the typical so-called big boy room we're all familiar with.  You know, the room that happens after they move out of the crib and you change it from a nursery to a big boy room. He already had that, it was really cute but very little-kid looking.  Now that he's the ripe old age of 8 he needs something more grown up.

So, I am coining the term "Bigger Boy Room" right here on Chic on a Shoestring Decorating.

Bigger Boy Room:  the room created for your son after he is too big for the big boy room and too little for the tween/teen room

You heard it here first.  Exciting to be a part of decorating coined term history isn't it?  Or not.

I linked everything at the bottom so if you can't stand the suspense to find out where I got this stuff scroll all the way down now.

Let's get down to it.  My boy has always loved trains.  Train toys, train tables, Thomas the Train- the real stuff too, Amtraks, freight trains, steam engines.  If it runs on rails he's into it.  Mr. Chic's grandpa was a train engineer so he and his dad (our son's Grandpa) love trains and have always taken my boy to see trains and train type things.  He comes by it naturally.

So, naturally, a train theme was a good choice for his room.  I wanted it to be a sophisticated train room, no train shaped pillows or primary colors.  And no Thomas, my boy says he's not into Thomas anymore (how did that happen?! sniff, sniff... anybody wanna buy 100,000+ Thomas toys, trains, and DVDs?) 

I wanted his room to be industrial/rustic-ish with a subtle train them running through it.  I decided to start with a trio of black and white train photos I had framed that are now hung next to his bed.  They were from a train calendar that someone gave Mr. Chic, I cut them out and taped them into mats in black frames.  I know, I'm fancy.  They look much nicer than pics chopped out of a calendar in my opinion, you never know where you can find good art.

I knew I wanted gray walls so that was easy.  I chose "Passive" by Sherwin Williams.  It is a true gray that doesn't read green, blue or lavender.  I am really picky with paint color and went through a lot of samples before I found it.  I am very pleased with the no weird undertones gray results.

We wanted new furniture for my sweet first born son, he had some dated, fake oak, MDF junky-ness going on.  We didn't want to spend a lot so we got creative. Mr. Chic made this amazing bed.  I couldn't be happier with it.  He came up with it himself, didn't see it anywhere, just made it.  He's good, huh?

He used an outdoor light I picked out from Lowe's and wired it to a cord so that my boy can turn the reading light on and off with the click of a switch.  There is a little hole in the headboard below the mattress where the wire and switch come through for easy access.

Click here to see how to build this headboard.

We used new wood for the headboard, not pallet wood.  I know that isn't the green or trendy thing to do but some wood pallets are full of nasty chemical stuff, some aren't.  Even the "safe" ones are usually full of dust and maybe some mold if you're really lucky.  We have enough allergies in this house (and dust) so didn't want to mess with a pallet.  Besides, I wanted large and wide boards, and it wasn't that expensive to buy new wood for this headboard so we did.  We came up with our own stain concoction as well to get this dark and rich color.  A tutorial will be posted soon.

I hit up Craig's list for a desk.  I was psyched to get this one for $30 bucks and it even came with that awesome leather chair on wheels.  Mr. Chic did my dirty work and spray painted the desk and pulls for me.  It is supposed to be a hammered look spray paint which would've added some nice texture but it totally didn't work.  Oh well, at least it matches.

It's a great place for my boy to do homework, play Legos, or run the HO train that goes around the ceiling of his room.  The control sits on the left side of his desk for easy access.  Mr. Chic and Grandpa Chic (I'll have to tell Grandpa about his new nickname) built the train around the ceiling when we moved in to make the move easier for my then 4 year old.  Isn't it cool?!  There's even a bridge.  I'll share more about this in another post too.  If you are looking to start Model Railroading with your son (or your husband) this site has some great info and items.

I totally lucked out when I found this chevron rug on clearance at my most favorite-ist store, TJ Maxx.

It's textured and wool and gray, mustard yellow and white and I am in love with it.  It adds a nice texture and pop of color that the room needed.  It was less than $100 bucks, total score for a cool, wool rug... Woot!!  

Some crazy lady at the store almost tried to steal it from me.  I had it laying over my cart and she came over and was all like "Oooooh, this is really cute, my daughter would love this, it's her favorite colors, how much is it??" and started trying to take it off of my cart.  "Hello crazy lady! Would I have put this big ol' rug in my cart and be pushing it around if I wasn't buying it!?"  Sheesh!  Some people.  Of course I didn't say that, only in my mind.  Although I can't blame her because it is a pretty darn awesome rug.

Mr. Chic made this Railroad Crossing sign/clothes/hat hanger.  Again, totally his idea.  It is currently only holding a Cub's Scout uniform shirt, Mickey Mouse ears and a prized "lucky"shark tooth necklace from our last trip to Florida.  This sucker has been very handy and we use it to hold PJ's, hats and clothes and is a good option to keep clothes off the floor.  I threw some pillows on the floor next to it for my boy to plop down and read if he wants.

We got him this new black dresser which I scored for $100 bucks.  I bought it at a used furniture store ironically where I was planning to buy him an old dresser and paint it.  They happened to have some new stuff too and this was perfect.  Most of the old stuff was the same price as this or more, plus I didn't have to paint anything, hooray!  The vintage lantern is old and worn, that's a good thing.  We picked it up at a flea market.  I think I'm gonna put a battery operated candle in there just for fun. 

This custom pillow is one of my favorite pieces in here.  (I think I am saying that about everything) Yes, those are my boy's initials, we are not the world's greatest CBS broadcasting fans, not one bit. Since I can't sew a thing I searched Etsy and found the lovely and talented Allison of Nest 2 Impress.  I contacted her, described what I wanted and she did it exactly right.  She's currently making a similar monogram pillow for my other boy and his big boy room, yeah!  She is now my newest sponsor... hooray for awesome sponsors!

The above picture gives you an idea of how the room is arranged.  I originally wanted the bed to be on its own wall to truly be the focal point of the room but darn it, there just wasn't enough space.  But, I am really happy with how it turned out.  This arrangement gives him a lot of floor space to play and shows off the amazeballs rug.  

Mr. Chic usually doesn't care much about decor and lets me do my thing but he was really excited about this room and came up with ideas for a lot of the decor himself.  I already mentioned he made the headboard with the built in lantern and the HO train track around the ceiling.  The map near the window in the picture above is of the route that his Grandpa's train used to run, the old Illinois Central Rail Road.

In the collage below, top left, Mr. Chic bought 3 real steam engine blue prints from an estate sale on Ebay for a few bucks each and created the hanging art piece you see.  In the top right corner below Mr. Chic made a sort of diorama shelf of an old toy steam engine, he used old railroad spikes found near tracks as the hooks.  The middle picture below is a simple document he typed, blew up and had printed for a few bucks.  It is the city of each stop in his Grandpa's train route.  Aren't these amazing and meaningful decorating ideas?!  I am so proud of him. :)

My unsentimental, not handmade additions to the collage above are the hammered metal garden stool he uses as a bed side table.  It was the perfect option as it would have been strange to have his desk right next to a bedside table right next to his bed.  The lid comes off and we store stuffed animals and other randomness inside.  We bought a cheap, black, bookcase at Target and added contact paper to the back as well as some base and crown molding to dress it up.  We filled it with some decorative items and his treasures.  His 2 pinewood derby cars and the 5 trophies he's racked up in 2 derbies.  (I have to brag on him).  Plus, a couple baskets at the bottom to hold books and magazines. 

I really love how this room turned out and also that it has so many personal touches.  I also love that it didn't cost us an arm and a leg.  My boy loves his new room and that's the main thing.  This room will easily transition to a tween room, could likely pass for one now but since he's not a tween or close to it, it's going to remain the bigger boy room for the next couple of years.

Stay tuned for tutorials...

Where'd it come from list:
Quilt and Euro Sham: IKEA, similar gray quilt and sham found here.
Chevron Sheets: Kohls, similar chevron sheets found here.
Mustard Throw Blanket: TJ Maxx, similar yellow throw found here.
Monogram Pillow:  Nest 2 Impress on Etsy
Curtains: IKEA, possibly discontinued, similar gray curtain panels found here.
Rug: TJ Maxx, yellow and gray 5x7 rug, kinda similar. :)
Metal Garden Stool: TJ Maxx, similar pounded metal garden stool here.
Bulletin Board: TJ Maxx, similar large bulletin board here.
Desk & Chair:  Craig's List
Black Tall Shelf:  Target, similar black bookshelf here.
Dresser: New but from used furniture store, unsure of brand. Similar black 5 drawer dresser here.
ICRR Map & steam engine original blue prints: Ebay
Paint Color: Passive by Sherwin Williams

Note: I linked everything to Amazon because pretty much everyone has access to Amazon.  Not everyone lives near an IKEA and TJ Maxx... like their old commercial goes "TJ Maxx is never the same place twice" so good luck finding this stuff there.  These are affiliate links but they will not increase your price, it just gives me a small (ahem, very small) commission on the sale.  Please see my advertising and disclosure tab in my menu bar for more info on that.