Today I want to share with you the progress made in my 7-year old’s bedroom in the past couple of months. It was supposed to be my home project focus for February as you might recall from THIS post. For those of you who might wonder why you are just hearing about this room in April if I was supposed to be done by the end of February, well…there was a little battle between perfectionism and progress. In the end, progress won, but it wasn’t easy. Let me show you where we started and what we were able to accomplish.
Shortly before Christmas, the boys decided they were ready to have their own rooms, which meant no more playroom, and that Max would now use the room as his own. Here’s what it looked like after bringing in his bed.
Similar to January’s project, the objective for Max’s room was to help make it more of his own space. I wanted it to reflect more of his personality. Max loves music and his favorite color is red. I knew the most impactful change we could make in the space was by painting it. I was excited about painting it bright white to serve as a backdrop for some pops of red. The other important objective was to get some clothes storage in here. We took the closet out when we moved in 7 years ago, and since then the boys have been sharing the one in Ben’s room.
Although the decision to paint the rest of the walls white was easy, the implementation ended up taking a lot longer than expected. The room was a pretty saturated blue, so I had to prime all of the walls first. Ugh. That took several days, after which I was pretty burnt out on painting. It then took all the initiative I had to spend another weekend painting it white. The only other things I had done throughout the month were pick up the much needed dresser for the room as well as the lamp and red throw pillow.
By then, it was pretty much the end of February and I was supposed to move on to the March focus: the living area. But there was still so much left to be done in here. And I started feeling like it wasn’t the transformation I had wanted for the space. I felt like I lost this round with the 1-month per room challenge.
Then the realization hit me. I didn’t go into this to make over every room in my house each month. I went into it for the purpose of making a little bit of progress in each room in the house and not getting stuck. Which is exactly what was happening.
Once I recognized this, I decided the way I would move forward is give myself the month of March to tie up loose ends, while I made some tweaks to the living room simultaneously. I got a few additional things accomplished, and then just gave myself grace on what was left undone and imperfect. So today, I am showing you the progress made in Max’s room refresh during February and March.
One of my favorite additions to the room is the Aerosmith “Dream On” poster. It’s a song Max loves and it totally fit the music vibe of the room. I designed the poster using Adobe Illustrator, and just sent it to be printed at Office Depot for less than $2. I then had it put on foamcore and framed at Michaels with no glass. I am sure it will fade in a few years, but it will be an easy fix to switch out the art at that point.
Since we were losing a play space, we still needed some of the storage for the toys. We had the IKEA storage shelves already when the room served as a playroom. The tall shelf (also IKEA) got a little makeover and was painted from white to red.
The map wall was something I was very indecisive about. It’s been up for several years. I originally wanted to cover it up with something else interesting, but nothing really inspired me. So I left it as is. In the future, this wall will be where Max’s desk will go. Both boys are asking for a desk in their rooms, so I am thinking next year’s projects will involve adding a desk space.
This side of the room where the new dresser went in was where I ran out of steam, inspiration and money. It feels a bit unfinished. I would like to add a hamper and something fun for shoe storage. The space over the dresser needs to be filled with something (or several somethings) in a larger scale. I knew if I kept going in here, I was going to force it and in the end not love it. So in the spirit of being content with making progress, I decided to come back to this in the future.
Going back to the original goal of the one room per month focus, I remember that the plan was to do the best I could each month with the allotted time and budget. It’s crazy to think how quickly that turned into higher expectations. In the end, I do think we made quite a bit of progress in Max’s room. We have increased the functionality in that he no longer has to go into Ben’s room to get dressed. He has a reading lamp and plenty of place to play. Best of all, it totally reflects his personality and style. Plus, I think this experience will help with setting realistic expectations with future projects. We will see!
