Updates to Big Kid's Room

Ever since I moved into my place, I've felt bad about the kids' room situation.  My home is a three-bedroom with a master and two smaller bedrooms, but as between those two other bedrooms, the one is much larger than the other.  I gave the larger room to my daughter, who is two years younger than my son, only because as the baby, she seems to get "seconds" in many things, and I thought it might do them both good for her to get the better choice.  

My son has made it clear to me that he views this as an injustice and a travesty ... that it is profoundly unfair that his room is so much smaller than his sister's.  I understand, and I feel bad, but short of moving walls, there is nothing I can do.  So, this year, I told him that we would make some changes to his space and asked, again, short of moving walls, what I could do to make his space better for him.  

He asked for a desk and for a place to store his Lego creations.  Easy enough!  I knew that in addition to those things, I wanted to give him more storage and to organize his closet.  I bought a couple of things over the past few months and got them ready, and then on a rainy day off, spent a few hours finishing up the room.  Here are the before and afters:

Before

This picture is pretty old.  But this is the view from the door.  I made the window treatment and headboard myself.  

After

Most of the changes were things I did a little while ago.  I added the print over his bed.  The nightstand used to be in my room but wasn't big enough to hold my workout clothes, so I upgraded the chest in my room and moved this to his.  I did a two-tone treatment on it.   

Before

The dresser wall was pretty good.  I had the one large dresser for his clothes but no other storage.  The big red tub in the corner held his sports equipment.  There was a set of shelves on the opposite side of his room, but it did not hold enough of his stuff.  

After

Yah - this is a lot. A lot of shelves!  But it's all working storage and holds things that he loves and uses  The shelf on the right is the Kallax shelf from Ikea.  The top holds his Lego creations.  In the top cubes, I bought some lidded storage from Target, and those hold Legos and Lego kits.  The bottom cubes hold his cars and trucks, which he still plays with quite a bit.  On the left of the dresser, I broke up one of the three shelves that were once where the desk is now (see below).  This is his Pokemon area.  The top two shelves hold his Pokemon cards and the very bottom shelf holds some games and random toys.  

Before

These are very old shelves from IKEA, and they worked for awhile to hold his toys and books.  But as you can see, he needed more storage and this was the only place in the room where the desk could go.  Luckily, those shelves are narrow and not attached.  So I moved the one to the wall with the dresser, the one into the closet (see below) and left the one here.  

After

And here is the desk!  I found it in January at Target.  It was on sale, I had a $10 off coupon and I used my Red Card for an additional 5% off and free shipping. I think it ended up costing about $45, which is perfect.  I needed a very compact desk and this one got really good reviews.  The chair is from IKEA.  I let him pick it out. I like the print a lot!  The shelf to the right of the desk [barely] holds his books.  I added a bulletin board over the desk so he can pin things to it.  And I had bought the bulletin board/shelf/hook combo at Target last summer and never got around to putting it up.  Oops.  I added his medals.  I also put his name in big wooden letters over the shelf (I cut them off purposefully so his name isn't readable).  Rather than drive myself nuts with nails and trying to get it perfect, I just used the strongest On Command strips to hang them.  Fingers crossed it holds.  

 I don't have a before picture for this section because it was pretty bad - the inside of his closet.  It wasn't *terrible*, but it needed some order, and that's what I added.  The black bins at the top of the closet were there, and they work well to hold clothes that are too big and other things.  I moved his sports bin to the floor and used the extra shelf to hold more sports stuff, his sleeping bag, extra "fancy" shoes, and his suitcase.  I added hooks to the walls to hold his bags and hats.  And his violin is front and center.  

So yay!  One more space checked off my list!  Now, of course, my little girl wants a desk for her room and wants to redo her space.  I told her we would work on that in the Fall.  As for the house list, I think the next project will be to tie up the loose ends in the playroom: I have a few piles left to address and some small storage to take care of.  I also need to get back to some cabinet organization in the kitchen.  But I'm definitely at the point in my home where all of the *big* projects are done.