Alena's Room

I wrote a post about my boys' room so I decided to go ahead and make a post about my daughter, Alena's room.  For Alena's room I already had the pink curtains and the pink sheet set.  The bed was actually given to me by a great aunt who had this white metal bed that she was ready for something new, so she was sweet enough to give it to me.  We cleaned it up and then we spray-painted it a bright pink to match all her other things in the room.  It's hard to see but hanging up in front of the curtains is a mobile I made her when I was pregnant with her.  I got the the butterfly wind chimes from Hobby Lobby along with the mirror butterfly rope that goes through it.  I'll put up a post about that again some other time.  My mother had a ton of pink and green fabric and she had started to quilt a few years ago so we finished it together... turned out really gorgeous 

  This heirloom dresser was given to us by my in-laws... sadly I don't know the story behind it (if you know what era or who may have bade it I'd love to know.  a few of the original plastic handles had broken or went missing but I found a great hardware store in down town Salt Lake that specializes in hardware and even in antiques.  I'll look up the exact name and address and re post that info.  The green and pink flower hangers I got at Hobby Lobby a few years ago too.

  This beautiful wood vanity was up for grabs on the side of the road so we took it home and gave it a home.  it has beautiful glass and mirror shelves and a beautiful full mirror that Alena loves to look at herself in the mirror.  Now hanging up on the wall is just a straight ribbon that I have some of her flowers and hair clips on.  Then next to it is a foam board for her to hang up pictures, artwork, etc.  I posted the tutorial in "My boys' room".  It's basically a foam board cut in to squares and covered with fat quarters my mother had.  then a 3 inch ribbon was put on to hide the seems between the different boards and we used hatpins to attached it to the wall.  You can buy the foam boards at Lowe's or Home Depot and they usually come in large sheets (I think mine was roughly 8' x 5').  now the waste basket was originally a black wire basket that I spray-painted it pink to match the bed.  Just like my boy's I took an old trash can and spray-painted it pink also to use as a laundry basket (you can kinda see it in the closet in the mirror).

My Sons' Room

So just over a year and a half ago we moved suddenly from Surprise, Arizona to West Jordan, Utah.  We had to move quite suddenly because my husband Jake had a job opportunity that needed him to move within a month.  Due to not having the funds and the time we decided that at first we had to find temporary housing for a year or so to decide where we wanted to live, if we'd like the new job and area, and ultimately what we wanted in a home.  So we found this lovely three-bedroom town home to rent in the meantime.  
   I have a lovely family of five.  My husband and our three children and I of course, Boston age 5, Alena age 3, and my youngest Logan age 1, so we did what we could with what we had at the time.  I tried putting my son in one room and my daughter in another but my son Boston wouldn't have it and was upset that he wouldn't be sharing with his sister.  So against better judgement I had my son and daughter share a room and I made the other bedroom into a space for me, a craft room.  When we first moved I was massively pregnant and after Logan appeared he stayed in a small cradle in our room, but sure enough he grew up and we were ready to kick him out and have our own space again.  So we some how put all three kids in one tiny room!

As you can see I bought an Ikea loft bed for my eldest son and my daughter's toddler mattress is on the floor underneath it (yes she is sleeping on a mattress on the floor because she broke the slats on that held up the mattress on her toddler bed), and my youngest was in his massive crib.  I tried my best to personalize it with a few decorations on the wall; they were using plastic drawers for their clothes and a glider chair was under the loft bed.  It was complicated but it somehow worked... but I was kind of done with it and I wanted something more for them.  Their own Space!  So sadly I packed up my craft room and split the rooms.  I kept my sons together in this room since it was much bigger than the other, in which I put my daughter.  This is the post dedicated to my sons' room.  This room costed about $100.  

Beginning with the furniture.  This furniture set is over 20 years old.  My parents bought it when my siblings were really young and it's been handed down among us over and over again and who knows how many colors they have been painted (brown, pink, yellow, etc) but in the photo below you can tell it went from this green to my son Boston's favorite color... ORANGE!  I remember thinking how do you decorate with bright orange!!!  So I put it on the furniture... mostly because we are renting and can't paint the walls.  So I ended up painting the bookshelf, two dressers (one for each boy) and a desk this bright orange.  I even was planning on painting my daughter's old toddler bed orange (we ended up putting in a board of mdf to replace the broken slats).  My father was mortified... ORANGE... everything is ORANGE!  He thought I was nuts... but there is a method to my madness... I promise and it did work out in the end.  

So I wanted something in the room to help bring things together.  So I decided to make a cork board to put up on the wall where he could hang his photos, homework artwork, etc.  So I already had a precut foam board from a previous project (easily found and cheap at any Lowe's or Home depot).  I cut a few diagonally to make a cool design and then I hit my mom's fat quarter collection and found a great surprise!  Look at the swirly multi colored fabric!  It's perfect, so I used that and found matching green and blue fabrics with different patterns.  I attached the fabric to the boards with a hot glue gun then used hatpins to pin them to the actual wall.  I then used a 3 inch dark blue ribbon to hide all the seems and it turned out great. 

                                  

Now with the left over fat quarters, my mother and I quilted a great bed spread for my son!  We even used an old flat sheet for the backing and his Lightening McQueen pillows and Toy Story accessories went perfectly with it. 

  Under his loft bed is where the desk, bookshelf, and the foam board hung on the wall.  The trash can that my mother had lying around and I spray-painted it with a matching orange.  Hanging off the bed is what truly gave me my inspiration to do this room.  When I found out that I was having my boy I bought a bunch of matching blue, green, and orange patterned organizers from Joann's Fabrics way back in the day and when I found these deep in his closet I got excited in putting this room together.  Now that should be a laundry sack but I used it for all of his stuffed animals.  

To help break up all the bright orange I took the patterns off the laundry sack, the hanging fabric shoe organizer and the other green, blue, and orange organizers and painted them on the book shelf.  I wanted different shapes so I used a plate, cups, and other round objects to draw the circle patterns on the desk and painted them with acrylic blues and greens.  

  With the smaller of the two dressers, I painted long lines on the dresser and then painted "Logan" on it.  There is Logan's bed, it was originally Alena's white toddler bed, but we fixed it and gave it a great paint job with the left over paint.  I got the bed from a friend in Arizona for $25, it was originally Boston's back in the day, then Alena's and now Logan's.  Again I used the left over gat quarters and we quilted the blanket and round pillow for him.  

Here's some ingenuity.. My mother had these great ceramic sconces that I spray-painted orange and we hung up a shower curtain that a friend passed down to me, and I used it as a window treatment! As you might be able to see that is a shower curtain rod... and yes those are $0.99 clear shower curtain rings that I spray-painted orange as well.  So for this whole thing $6!

Boston got the taller of the two dressers... yes another ORANGE dresser and a different pattern on it.  I also wanted it to be a bit personalized by putting on "Boston".  Now behind the dresser is another old trash can that my parents had lying around and I spray-painted it orange, this became their new Laundry Basket.  Hanging up on the wall behind it is growth charts I got a long time ago from Hobby Lobby and they even act as a great way to organize and store those clip-on ties. 
  

My boys love this room!  It's simply amazing and the perfect place for boys to be boys!  I hope this gives you some ideas for your own homes!

My family and me

I'm a loving wife to my husband who is a phenomenal band director at a high school here in Utah. Together we have a beautiful family of 5. Our eldest son is Boston who loves being a typical boy, dinosaurs, the color orange (as you'll notice), and loves learning. Our middle child is our only daughter, Alena, who believes she is THE princess and has the attitude to boot. Our youngest is Logan, the true glue to our family.

Growing up we had good times and rough times. I learned that if I wanted something, I either saved for it, found it cheaper, found a close second cheaper item, made it or go with out. I love being the frugal stay at home mom and spouse. I love making and creating things to strengthen our home and our family. I hope you enjoy following, sharing, pinning my things to help teach and inspire you and those you know.