Have you ever watched HGTV's Secrets of a Stylist with Emily Henderson? I've loved Emily ever since she walked onto the set of Design Star. Her process is to interview the homeowners and find each of their styles then layer one on top of another to eventually reflect both points of view.
So, our latest room re-do all started with Zane's dresser.
Zane is getting older...9 now. And his small upright 5 drawer dresser was just about to fall apart. Actually the bottom drawer had been glued together 5 times and was just about beyond repair.
So one day last week I loaded the three boys up in the car for a field trip to my favorite thrift store in Norfolk. We walked up and down each aisle multiple times and he would take time to carefully opening each drawer and get down on all fours to look at the feet.
After looking at all of the 20 or so dressers we found this beauty. A mid-century piece with clean lines and little cut outs for your hands to open the drawers. Zane says these drawers are "stealthy" because there are no knobs. And I love that it was only $40. Score!
This dresser is quite a bit longer than the upright version he had previously so had some rearranging to do. But the new dresser will will provide a young boy with treasures plenty of room to display them.
And you all know what happens when you move one piece of furniture in a room...right?
Yep, we ended up moving the entire room around. Which is always fun in my book!
When we are in Texas, my mother always asks the boys to pick one item from her antique shop to take home. Last time we were visiting, Zane picked the American flag that now hangs above his bed. And he loves, loves, loves bald eagles.
I could see a theme was developing. Enter layer one...vintage americana.
We moved one of the vintage metal school chairs from the kitchen into the room. And some thrifted bed spreads with ships and eagles on them became new curtains for the closet...instead of those dreadful bi-fold doors.
On the same trip we found the dresser, this little eagle holding an olive branch and three arrows caught our eye. Considering our theme and the $4 price tag, we decided we couldn't resist.
And now for the second layer...legos.
Last year, S made Zane a lego table out of a shipping pallet with some legs attached underneath. Its super stable and has worked great for him. Now we've added an old printer's try above the table to hold all of his "guys". The little spaces are the perfect size for lego minifigs. I first saw this idea on Ohdeedoh a few months back and filed it away for future use. Love it when something is pulled from the old noggin' archives like that.
The model of the star wars solar system (did you think that was OUR solar system?) was moved from over the bed to the other side of the room - above the lego table. And that big planet is not Earth, its Christophsis. If you have a 9 year old boy, ask him about it.
The last layer we added was the Star Wars element. Scattered about the room are his action figures. And he has a few Star Wars posters that he's tacked above the bed next to the flag.
The embroidered pillow was one I did for him years ago off of one of his first drawings.
And there you have it - our version of vintage americana + lego + star wars using Emily's Secrets From a Stylist.
What do you think? What would your kiddo's style be?
----------------------
And with any home decorating project, its always a work in progress.
Still yet to do...
-find a new shade for the lamp on the dresser. as much as I love the original wooden shade, you can see the lamp parts below it which means the current shade is a bit too small.
-the wall next to the bed is still a mishmash of his star wars posters and artwork. i think he could use an inspiration line or at least a bulletin board to make it all look a bit more organized.
-and finally, i need to work on a storage system for underneath the lego table. i don't think there is a perfect lego storage system out there, but that doesn't keep me from trying.