Big boy room

My 5.5 year old son requested black walls, superheroes, and toys in his room. His favorite superhero is Ghost Rider and it took awhile to find art that featured him, but wasn’t too scary. I used his favorite colors throughout the room: black, blue, gray, and red. To maximize toy storage & play space I installed a closet system that accommodates all of his clothes & costumes as well as puzzles & boardgames.
 
The room came together with pieces from all over the place- some we’ve had for years. Bed/ headboard (Wayfair), chair & fan (Home Depot), art & blue pillow (Etsy), rug & red pillow (Home Goods), black bookcase & blue floor bin (Crate & Barrel), blue striped sheets (Walmart/ Gap), white duvet, white sconces, globe light, gray felt bins, nightstand, closet system (IKEA), curtains (West Elm), black sconce & air purifier (Target), smart piggy bank, door hook & black furniture legs (Amazon). 
Although there are a lot of things in his room, there is still room to add more clothes and toys into the existing storage especially since we regularly purge (donate/ sell/ toss) items that no longer suit his needs.

With a little girl on the way, we needed to take the furniture from our son’s room to put in her nursery. We decided to go big with his furniture and buy a queen bedroom set. His nursery theme was Peter Pan, and while I wanted to keep some elements I wanted to tie in the decals and navy blue so added some ocean friends to his space. I also updated his faux fur white area rug to something more contemporary that matched his new color scheme. Since I was in the process of designing our little girl’s nursery, I didn’t want to spend too much time or money redoing his room. I’m obsessed with the decals and they were so easy to install.

My client’s son wanted a room that showed his love for hockey in a way that was understated. We added a accent wall using Urbane Bronze, followed by a custom desk/shelving unit. fresh bedding, and sweet decor.

I began dreaming up my sons “big boy” room soon after I fell pregnant with baby #2. I knew I wanted to keep his current room the nursery and move him to the guest room but we had to finish construction on another space before starting his so the transition took awhile! I planned the new room around a wooden “house bed” and an amazing mountain wall decal I found on Etsy. I wanted something cozy but also fun for him to grow into and with plenty of open space to play. He has an awesome teepee that he and our 85lb dog like to snuggle up in together, a little book nook and plenty of storage for his toys! The large shaggy rug is so comfortable I often find myself just sprawled out on it. At first the room was taking a very neutral, black and white look, but slowly I began adding in pops of green and I’m so happy I did! Adds some nice color while going along with the mountain vibe. So in love with the way the room turned out and I think he is pretty into it too! Definitely my favorite new room in the house.
The best advice I can give readers is to get your toddler involved somehow in the process of creating their new space. Our son was always “working” on the room with his Dad and I. He would bring his tools up and help us put together furniture, hang things on walls, etc. It made him feel really proud and a part of everything which I think in turn made this huge transition (for all of us) a bit easier!

I knew it was time to makeover my son’s nursery after removing the changing pad and baby toiletries from the changing area. My son has also developed quite the interest in cars, it’s beyond toy cars. He loves flipping through car mags with dad and can name almost any model that drives by us on the road or he’s sees parked on the street. I really wanted to bring in “some” of his love of four wheel vehicles into his personal space. Especially since we don’t do toys in the bedroom.
We took our time and didn’t race through the process and both mom and kiddo are champions of this new space. For  five simple makeover tips for a smooth transition from the nursery into that more mature space check out our blog post 5 Tips Transition From Nursery to Big Kid Bedroom.
To see the before images of the original nursery click here.

When we moved to a lake cottage, in walking distance to Lake Erie, it was time to transition my son was to his “big boy room”. His room was previously a guest room with tan walls and blue carpet. It wasn’t in the budget to replace the carpet, so the initial design focused on creating a room that would work with the blue, and make it look purposeful. While there isn’t a “theme” in the room, since the house is a lake cottage, the “lake life” vibe is very fitting.
I painted the walls Benjamin Moore’s White Dove to freshen everything up, and added shiplap to the back wall. There are red/orange and blue details throughout the room to give hints of “nautical”. I also installed a floating window seat in the dormer. This seat can be used for reading when he gets older, but for now serves as the perfect train table.
I fastened a few wooden crates to the wall, sideways, to create a wall of shelving. I wanted most of the shelving to be accessible by my son, but wanted one area that was out of reach. We kept some of the art and decor from his old room (he still loves the planes over his bed), and mixed in some nautical pieces. The maritime flags, over the bed, are actually his initials which is a fun twist on the “initials as art” trend.
I love to mix pattern and texture to give some depth and interest. Keeping things more eclectic and less “matchy” also helps with the transition of decor as his tastes (and mine) change.
 

Since he could walk, my son has been OBSESSED with garbage trucks. I admittedly cringe at the idea of an overly “themey” room, and especially when garbage trucks of all things are the theme (ha!), but I think we made it work when we moved him from his nursery to his big kid room and big boy bed! I love that the wall color (SW “Iron Ore”) is an unexpected dramatic hue for a child’s room, but mixed with several pops of color and details that are near and dear to my two-and-a-half-year-old’s heart, this space has become one of my favorites in the house!  From newspapers stuffed into his lamp to blowing up a photo of his with “his” neighborhood truck on an engineer’s print, I love how we incorporate his favorite things in here (trash, essentially!), while keeping it stylish! See more at www.lifeinyellow.com!

My sweet boy, Daniel, is three and a half and recently became a big brother!  As we were decorating the baby’s nursery, we decided to update his nursery to make it a big boy room….and included him in *some* of the decisions.  His pool blue + lime green nursery was featured on Project Nursery three years ago – it was a preppy, fun room centered around my love of graphic patterns – so I thought it would be fun to share the “big boy” update!
We left the shell of the room the same – the fabulous Thibaut wallpaper feature wall, blue walls, striped rug.  When he outgrew his crib/toddler bed and it moved into his baby brother’s nursery, we replaced it with a twin size bed from Pottery Barn Kids.  I purposely decided to order both boys furniture from Pottery Barn Kids all in the same finish (white), so that the pieces could be swapped out between them in the future, or even placed in the same room as they get older.
Like most three year old little boys, Daniel has a love for all things CARS!  So when he got to weigh in on his decor update, he wanted cars, cars and more cars.  I decided to oblige and we infused cars into a few key places: the oversized print over his bed, the artwork over his dresser, and we added a little table corner for playing games and added two ledge shelves to house a few of his matchbox cars to play with up there.

One of the first things our client told us about her son when she asked us to design his room, is that he was a nature lover. When we finally met Léo, there was no mistaking it…he likes to spend all of his time exploring the outdoors; rain or shine! So we decided that his room was going to reflect exactly that.
This was going to be Léo’s first big boy room, as he was getting evicted from his current nursery to make room for his soon-to-arrive little brother – YAY! The bedroom that he was moving into was left with walls in very poor condition on the bottom half from the previous owners. So the first order of business was to find the best way to treat the walls, and we settled on some beautiful beadboard (installed by Léo’s very handy dad), which tied into the nature theme perfectly.
A few pieces that we were asked to keep in his new bedroom were the recently converted crib and Léo’s current dresser.  With just a few tweaks to the original colour story, everything seemed to work together perfectly.  Our original floor plan was designed around a single bed that we were going to use, so although the toddler bed fits right into the room, there is also enough space once Léo is officially ready for his big boy bed.
Léo’s mom thought he had more than enough stimulation throughout the day and wanted his room to be more serene.  Done! The walls were painted in a soft, calming grey and the custom bedding was made to match (by Léo’s talented mom) – with an adorable bird pattern to boot. Beautiful birch wallpaper spoke to our client’s Finnish roots and she loved the idea of a play tent in his room for some quiet reading.  We sourced this fun chevron fabric for a small pop of colour and our client once again took the reins and made the tent herself! Isn’t it great?
The rest of the small details for the room fell into place once the main design pieces were chosen. We had so much fun finding all of these great little nature inspired accents for Léo’s room (tiny branch crayons!? Come on!), but our favourite is definitely the custom wood slice wall hanging. We found out that an old high school friend and her father have an amazing local business together and make the most beautiful hand made wood ornaments and accessories.  It was the perfect finishing touch for little Léo the adventurer’s room.

A light and airy star and airplane themed big boy room.

Baby nursery to toddler room – this room is occupied by the adorable Hudson!

A vintage truck themed big boy room for a 2 year old.

This was a very special room for my client, her son was finally done with his crib and it was time for a big boy bed! We wanted to make this a room that would be suitable for him throughout the years so we decided to go with a queen size bed.

As we are lucky enough to have a playroom elsewhere in the house, our boys’ bedrooms (see also Jesse’s Rustic Vintage DIY Boy Nursery) were intended to be spaces where they can enjoy some quiet time: reading, dressing, sleeping, hanging out. That said, we used to have a rug in here, but the floor has become such a transformative space for play and imagination that the rug now lives beneath a tepee in the playroom and the floor is bare so that it can be covered in whatever ‘worlds’ our children decide to make.

This room was designed for Borden when his family was moving into a new house.  It was time for him to move into a “big boy” room and he needed a special space all his own in his family’s new house.

Out little client loved geography so our first quest was to find a way to incorporate traveling elements to his room without being excessively themey. We wanted something elegant, inspirational and yet fun for a 6-year-old boy.

Sam was starting middle school and the Winnie the Pooh wallpaper just wasn’t cutting it any more. It was time for a change! Sam and his mom came to me with his hand drawn floor plan and room inspiration images. We created a fuctional space that represented him fully.

A big boy room with bunk beds, built-in’s and playspace on the floor!

In anticipation of his baby sister’s moving into the nursery, we created a big-boy bedroom for my son.  Some of the items moved with him from the nursery; others were thrifted; others were purchased new and one iconic feature, a reverse-stenciled dresser, was DIYed.