Boy's Bedroom Makeover - All Things Automotive

Hi Y'all!!  Can you even believe it's been 3 months since I've posted anything?!?  *sweeps cobwebs away* When I looked at the date of my last post my jaw dropped.  I could not believe so much time had passed.  It certainly didn't seem that long.  But life has been speeding along and our summer has been filled with a growing baby (she's 6 months old now!), swimming lessons, trips to the springs, family visits, shower curtain making, attending Hubby's softball games, church get-togethers, etc.

But....onto today's post.

Let me preface this post about my son's room makeover by saying that this room has actually been done for well over a year and I've never shared it. *hangs head in shame*  I won't bore you with the details of why it never got shared, so let's just go with...I'm sharing it now.  : )

This is what his room looked like for the first year that we lived here.
Poor kid.

 

As you might recall from some of the other room makeovers I've done so far, most of the walls in this house were a weird peachy orange color done with flat paint that had absorbed years of dirt and stains.  This room was no exception.  He had a hodge podge of furniture and not enough toy storage.  His bed was handed down from my daughter when she got a double bed.  The headboard was too girly so we sold it and he was left with just the basic frame. The quilt was too big, just an extra one I had picked up at Goodwill for $5 that we were using for the time being.

 

 The blinds on his window were dirty and broken and the right one wouldn't extend all the way down.  We had to keep an oscillating fan on the dresser to keep things cool in the summer.  (though why the fan is still there when there's a Christmas tree in the corner baffles me.  Or maybe the Christmas tree was still there come summer time.  I really can't be sure).

This room, like all the others, also had the dark wood trim.  I had already started priming the ceiling trim when I took this picture.

 

In the picture below you can see a set of brown metal shelves.  I got these at a yard sale for $5 knowing I wanted to do an automotive theme for his room.  They were a catchall for awhile there until his room got its makeover.

Once or twice a year the kids spend a week or so down south with their grandparents and last year during one of the times they were gone I decided to get his room done and surprise him when he got home.  He knew I was going to be working on it, he just didn't know what all I had planned. 

The boy has been obsessed with anything and everything automotive since he was 9 months old and started making car noises while pushing a car along the floor.  So I knew he would love a room with that theme and I had been collecting things for quite awhile.  So after a whirlwind week of hardwork he walked into his room looking like this instead.

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To say he was excited would be severely understated. His jaw dropped, he raised his hands in the air and yelled YES!, and immediately began jumping around on the bed, lol!

His favorite color is orange so I had promised him I would include it somehow in his room.  He LOVED the stripes on the wall.  Blue is his second favorite color.  : )  The rest of the walls were painted a khaki color.  I don't remember the specific name of the color, but it was some sort of khaki/tan.

 

When you first walk up to his room you actually see the side of his closet first.  I found the sign at a flea market for a few dollars and had bought the numbered hooks years before at Hobby Lobby knowing I would use them someday in his room.  They hold his cowboy dress-up clothes, his hats, and on Sundays he hangs his church clothes on them in between services.

I took down the broken blinds and replaced them with roller shades.  I found the curtain rod at a thrift store for $3 I think, and the curtains actually came from a single curtain panel.  A local thrift store has a 50% off day once a month and I found a single, navy blue, panel with tabs on it at the top.  With the discount I only paid $2.50 for it.  I brought it home and cut the tabs off since they didn't line up with what I planned to do.  Then I cut the panel in half, sewed new rod pockets on them, and then sewed on stripes of green ribbon that I already had.  So for only a little over $2 I had a cute set of curtains to match.

 

I spray painted the brown metal shelves gray and bought canvas bins for his toys.  

You can see that he keeps them stuffed full, lol!

 

On the top of his shelf is a little wooden train that spells his name.  I bought the magnetic train letters at a craft fair.  He has his great grandpa's name and it's very unique, so we never find it in stores on key chains and cups, so its fun for him to have something like this instead.

At a recent yard sale he found a whole collection of vehicle emblems for 50¢ each.  He had brought a dollar along so he got to pick out two of them.  We added them to the front of the shelves.  The old gas can was a $1 yard sale find that was originally supposed to be for my Etsy shop, but I decided to keep it for his room instead.  He's kind of over it now, but there for awhile he loved the movie Cars so we added this Route 66 sign.  He says he's over Lightning McQueen now, but he still likes the road sign.  : )

Above his bed is a set of reproduction gas station signs I had bought the year before this makeover and had tucked away.  I had actually forgotten all about them and when I opened the box of stuff I had collected for his room it felt like Christmas morning!  : )

 

My husband built the headboard for me and I beat it up and stained it. It turned out just how I wanted, I love it!  The bedding was the big splurge for this room, it's from Pottery Barn.  My son actually picked it out.  I showed him several options that I thought would go well with his room and this is the one he picked.  He liked all the different colors in it and the fact that it had orange on it.  We got automotive themed sheets to go with it.  He found the little car pillow at a thrift store for $2.

 

He still takes a nap most days and he hated having to remake his bed twice a day so we started keeping a blanket on the end of his bed.  I found this red and white afghan for $5 at a thrift store and it has become his favorite.  You can't really see it, but I also found a navy blue bed skirt at the same thrift store for $2.

 

Beside his bed I put this little red table that I made over a couple of years ago.  The gas pump is from Hobby Lobby and is a little bank.  He loves Legos and always has some sort of creation of his on display.  And one of my absolute favorite things in his room is his night light.

 

It was a turn signal from a school bus that I got for $1.  We added a light to the back and made it into a night light for him.  It has a nice warm glow at night.  I just love how unique it is!

And the knob on the drawer of the little table looks like a shifter knob.  He found it at Hobby Lobby and was so proud of it!  : )

 

This plastic bucket keeps his Hot Wheels collection contained.  Well....mostly contained....some of the time.  You can see I decided to leave the trim in his room the dark wood.  I painted only the ceiling trim so that it would blend in with the ceiling and make the room look and feel bigger.  The rest of the trim I left alone for 2 reasons.  1) it has a more masculine feel to it being wood, and 2) he's a 5 year old boy who loves cars....I knew it was bound to get crashed into and banged up so I didn't see the point in painting it and then getting upset when he chipped it.

 

On the other side of the curtains he has a shelf and a big bucket for his stuffed animals.  He always loves to sleep with 2 or 3 of them.  : )

 

This shelf was actually made for me by my grandpa when I was in high school. It's been painted a couple of different colors through the years depending on what room it's being used in.  For now it holds his little T-ball trophies and soccer medals, his baby handprint, and a jar of shells collected on beach trips with the grandparents.

 

Next to his closet is this little bookcase that we've had since my daughter was a baby.  She got a desk with built-in bookshelves so we passed this on for him to use.  Above that is a speed limit sign that I got at a flea market, I think I paid $15 for it.

 

On top of it he has his tractor bank.  He loves anything with wheels, but especially anything John Deere since his daddy is a John Deere diesel mechanic.  I found the little gas station sign at Hobby Lobby.  I'm old enough that I can remember my dad buying gas at Standard stations.  Besides his love of all things with tires and engines, the boy also loves art.  He's constantly drawing and creating.  I found that metal thingy-ma-bob at a yard sale for $1.  It's something or other automotive related and it makes a perfect pen/marker/scissor holder.

A couple of other fun little touches in his room are this diamond plate light switch cover I found at Walmart....

 

and this motorcycle ceiling fan light pull (we were able to get rid of the ugly oscillating fan when we put a ceiling fan up). 

So let's do a quick look back at the before and afters.

 

I don't know if you noticed that I never showed the 4th wall in his room.  The wall opposite the bed.  That wall has his dresser and that project isn't complete yet.  I'm very very close and SO excited to finally show you that project reveal as well.  Hopefully very soon!

In the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed this automotive themed boy's room makeover.  

I know we've sure enjoyed the change! 

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