Restoration Hardware-inspired big boy room reveal

as i listen to Big A trying to ‘soothe’ himself to sleep in his new big boy room, i feel guilty.

poor little guy. sometimes he goes down quickly, and sometimes, he’s over-tied, i think…and he fights it.

so i’m distracting myself with this post as i obsessively check the monitor…

we got him into a queen-sized bed so that we could all snuggle down together and read at nap and bedtime.  the glider was getting a little tight with me, the two boys, all the stuffed animals, and several books.  we’re small folks, but c’mon!  that’s gosh dang ridiculous (as we often say around here!)

i bought this lovely bed on craigslist and refinished it with my fave…Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  you can see the step by step here.

it was a white glossy late-90s mess.  but it had good bones and details.

and it reminded me a lot of this, from Restoration Hardware, which i LOVE.

the bed is pretty high, so we needed a taller dresser. so i hacked this Ikea Tarva.

painted it with Annie Sloan, used a super secret, cool magnetic paint on each drawer front, and added some bin pulls.  {tutorial on its way…please stay tuned…}

perfect for a little guy to stick all his cool magnets!

the dark bronze bull pins are much more industrial than the wood knobs that come with the Tarva…

the lamp is from our incredibly talented designer, Erica Bryen.  it’s super cool, and a perfect size.  the trash can is from the late 90s when i ran my own dot bomb.

we sold most of them in our post-dot-com fallout garage sale, but i kept a few b/c i loved them so much.

one random guy actually stole one from the garage sale!  i turned and noticed him sprinting down the sidewalk with the trash can tucked under his arms.

who does that?  desperate times….i mean, it was a garage sale!

and the reversible duvet is also something i whipped together.  it was a ton of fun fabric shopping with Big A.  he kept saying “wow!  that one!”

he loves Lightning McQueen and Thomas the Tank.  so he got a two-fer.

nice soft flannel on one side, and cotton on the other.

i just love the finish that Annie Sloan with dark wax gives.  delicious!  and lest you be confused, Annie Sloan’s paints aren’t JUST chalkboard paint.  it’s a paint made with chalk  in the mixture.

i love it b/c i don’t have to sand, prime, or use toxic chemicals to paint over prior colors.  glossy?  no problem.  just paint over it and use the Annie Sloan waxes to get a certain detailed effect.

i used Duck Egg for the shell of this Tarva dresser, dry-brushed some Aubusson Blue, then clear wax, then a mix of clear and dark wax.  i’ll do another post on the full tutorial.

i learned how to mix the waxes by the lovely Debbie at Peinture in Costa Mesa.  She has a gorgeous new store in SOCO next to Ikea.  really?  an Annie Sloan stockist next to Ikea?  i mean….danger, danger, Will Rogers!

ahhh…finally, it’s nice and quiet.  I think Big A likes his new room.

thanks for reading!