Plans for Caleb's Room

We have been doing some planning (and buying) for both Caleb's and Aubrey's rooms!  I think this might be my favorite part about preparing for the arrival of a child.  Although you could never tell by the looks of my house, I love home decorating.  The problem with my house is that I have a Pottery Barn taste on a Target/Walmart budget, LOL.  Well, that and the fact that I can never make decisions.  Oh, and another problem I have is that I get an idea/vision in my head and then I cannot find the right things to buy to create it in my home...so it just never happens.  But, kids' rooms are a little easier!  (ok, enough about that)  :)

For Caleb's "big boy" room:

One thing I have learned from having Caleb is that kids have no understanding of or respect for "nice" things.....and that includes furniture!  (I already knew this, but now I really know it!)  As you may remember me mentioning before, Caleb gnawed on his crib like a beaver and pretty much ruined it (obviously, it is still functional but he ruined the finish in those places).  We didn't buy the most expensive stuff out there but it was not cheap either.  SO, as much as I would love to buy Caleb an adorable bed from Pottery Barn Kids, it's just not gonna happen...not to mention, their stuff is expensive!  A while back, I came across this website/blog where a mom/homemaker named Ana White comes up with and shares plans for all sorts of furniture for free - a lot of them being "knock-offs" of Pottery Barn furniture and other more expensive stores like that (Restoration Hardware, Land of Nod, etc).  I could spend hours looking through her plans - there are tons of them and so many things I would love for Rhett to build for our house!  One cool thing about the site is that people who have used her plans can post examples of their own projects they've done...so it is neat to see what other people have made.  So, the plan is for Rhett to build Caleb a twin bed with a trundle!  That way, we can do it for a much cheaper price and have a fun project to do, too!

Here's the drawing of the bed (from the plans) that Rhett will make.  As much as I would love to have a dark/espresso stained bed, staining wood is just a lot of work, so we are going to paint it instead.  Not sure yet if we will do navy/blue, red (maybe?) or something more neutral like white or brown.

Here's a drawing of the trundle (with a different bed, though).  Since we are not going to have a guest room anymore (where we have a queen bed right now), this trundle will give us a little more sleeping room in case we do ever need to house guests.  We might let Caleb sleep on it, too since it is lower to the ground and he won't have far to fall if he falls out, ha!  We bought both mattresses this weekend and Rhett will probably start building here within the next few weeks.  I can't wait to see how they turn out!

Caleb's nursery is done in cars, trucks, and some airplanes so I originally thought I would do a totally different theme for his new room.  But, Caleb loves cars and trucks AND I found the cutest quilt set at Target for a reasonable price! 

I also found this cute rug that will double as a play mat for his cars and trucks and it matches perfectly with the bedding (even though it's not part of the bedding set).

We are not planning on painting Caleb's room since it is already a neutral beige/khaki color.  I think it will look fine and that is one less thing we have to do!  Right now he's got a dresser/changing table in the room but since the twin bed will take up considerably more room than his crib, we will probably not get another dresser.  Honestly, he does not have a TON of clothes that we need drawer space for (and don't need to store blankets, bibs, etc for him anymore) so I think we will just put his clothes in the closet, hanging up and/or in the little storage/drawer thingy that we already have in there.  If that's not enough space, we can always get something a little larger, but ultimately whatever his clothes are stored in will most likely be in the closet.  I'd rather him have the extra room to play and put his toys.  I'm thinking I might get Rhett to build a shelf or something kinda small/reasonably sized that we can put toys and books away in, but I have not picked anything out yet.  Luckily, there are tons of various storage solution plans on that same website we got the bed plans from!  We will also be removing the glider and that will go into Aubrey's room with the rest of the nursery furniture.

Stay tuned for plans for Aubrey's room!