Monte's Room

So my little turkey turned 6 month old a couple days ago (blog post coming soon) but before I post that I wanted to finally write a post about his room. I FINALLY finished it!! (ok I still have to make/buy curtains and do a few other finishing touches, I want to put a lamp somewhere and maybe a little table/end table thing.)

I don't have any before pictures because all it was, was an empty room with white walls.  Not too much of a before, pretty much a blank slate which was fun!

So first I had to choose a color scheme.  Blue and grey (I mean grey is the new beige, after all) Greys are hard!! I'm pretty sure I tried 4 or 5 greys before finding one light enough and non purple enough. I had everyone look at my samples, most of the females agreed with me that each one was too purple, most of the males said "Purple?!?!? I don't see it, looks grey to me!" HA! Anyway I finally found one I liked, Ground Fog, and started painting. 

The trim was SUPER dingy and yucky so a fresh coat of Alabaster white by Sherwin Williams (thanks for the tip Sara T.) made a world of difference!

There were three outlets in the room, each with a DIFFERENT type of outlet and all painted over and old. It's amazing how just changing out the outlets and light switch made such a difference and gave the whole room a new, fresh and complete feel!  I also changed out the light bulbs in the fan so that instead of 3 different types and shapes of bulbs, all four were the same.  I'm telling ya, it's the little things that can really make a difference. 

I didn't bother to cover the floor while painting because it was already dirty and gross and in need of some serious scrubbing and to me I'd rather clean paint off the floor than spend a lot of time prepping the room to keep the paint off.  It's amazing what some serious elbow grease did to brighten up the floor.  It almost looked like I had sanded and restained, it made that much of a difference!

So I did the pretty typical three and one.  Three walls grey, one accent wall blue. I wanted it to be blue but not baby boy blue.  I wanted it too feel like if you changed out the furniture (ya know, took out the CRIB) that it would be a great room for an adult!  I couldn't find a blue I loved so I ended up making my own. I took a light blue that was a little too periwinkle and added a little dark navy and it was perfect! (thanks for the brainstorm other Sara T.) I BARELY had enough to do that one wall and if I ever need to touch it up I guess I'll just be out of luck haha

Fresh paint on the window! Such a game changer!

Now it was time for the fun part! Furniture and decor!! Monte approved of his new crib!

I had a little trouble figuring out the best way to arrange the furniture but with a few ideas from some friends (the most genius one from Kristi M.) I got it the way I wanted it, which meant I would need another pegboard!! ha! I already had one huge one!  So a trip to Lowes, a sample of paint, and 10 minutes later I had a second smaller pegboard for the changing table area!

Monte helping getting everything set up! So I found that rug at Home Depot one day and it was on clearance. I didn't know where I would end up using it but I liked it and it was super cheap (as rugs go anyway) so with Gunnar's encouragement I just bought it and figured I would decide later where to use it.  Well it ended up working perfectly in Monte's room. I'd still like to find a rug with yellow in it someday but for now this works great!!

So with a little help from my handsome partner in crime I got the pegboards up and the furniture arranged!

  

Originally I was going to hang the small pegboard horizontally and try to put a shelf above it but while I was taking a nursing break looking at that wall, it occurred to me that hanging it vertically and putting two shelves beside it would look a lot better and be a lot more functional.  After going to SEVEN stores to find shelves I wanted I finally gave up and ordered some off Amazon!

 

The baskets hold Monte's cloth diapers and inserts (I obviously need to fold laundry and fill those back up!) By placing the pegboard where it is, the baskets are easily accessible and yet are out of the way of someone's grabby fingers and flying heels! Having a shelf allowing me to have bottles, wipes, coconut oil, or whatever else I need making this area cute and functional.  

The letter "M" was a gift from Aunt Sara.  She made it out of buttons!  Some of the buttons were my grandmothers and some were button from a decorative piece someone made for Jonathan when he was born.  Eventually it fell apart but mom kept the buttons and Sara used them in the "M".  I love decor that has history and a story! The monkey was mine when I was little, it was well loved to say the least.

I finally got to hang this awesome frame!  My friend Jon surprised us by hand making this frame and matte. Penny did an AWESOME job with Monte's newborn pictures and this one looked great in the frame! The wooden frame really went well with the wood floors and the wood in the glider bringing a lot of natural materials and textures into the room which is just what I wanted.

I love decor with a story or memory so I love how this room turned out!  Again the frame was a hand made gift from a friend, the "BABY" letters Penny made for my baby shower.  The glider was my great grandmothers.  I still need to add to the pegboard.  I have some antlers that I'm going to turn into a place to hang towels to dry or whatever, but for now it works ok. 

 

Next, I finally did a gallery wall above the crib!  Penny came over and helped me get it figured out.  (she also brought me breakfast after a hard night with the little stinker...God bless her!)

 

After arranging and rearranging and rearranging we finally got a layout we liked!

Again, most of these items have a story!  The "BOY" letters were from an "It's a Boy" banner Sara made for my baby shower. The "S" was an engagement gift Sara made us when we got engaged!  

 

The yellow and grey blanket I made while I was pregnant, the other blankets were gifts from family and friends. 

The wood piece was Gunnar's first Father's Day gift!  A friend of mine makes wooden pieces and all I did was give him an idea and he created this!  I LOVE it!! Check out his facebook page here if you want something done! The plaque is based on Psalm 127:3-5 which says, ...Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth..." Pretty perfect for Gunnar right?!

The green frame has a picture of Gunnar walking with his Granddad.  The bear thing was mine when I was little. The batman sign is just because I know how much Gunnar loves batman!  The "M" was a $3 find at Hobby Lobby and the world poster was an etsy find!   The pictures were part of  Penny's newborn shoot and add the needed color to help balance out all the color in Batman!

I LOVE how this room is turning out and kinda wish it was my room! I love nursing in there and love seeing all the pieces with history or memories.  After I get some curtains, and add a few more pieces it will be perfectly imperfect!