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Thank you for visiting my blog...and for allowing me to share with you my addiction. I love to collect recipes. I love to read cookbooks. I have been collecting recipes for as long as I can remember, and on any given day there are one or two (or more!) cookbooks residing on my nightstand!

This blog is chronicling my adventure as I fulfill my resolution of trying (at least) one new recipe each week. I hope that you enjoy!

I invite you to join me in my journey, simply by clicking the "Join this Site" link below. And please feel free to comment on any of the recipes, and pin away. Thanks, I look forward to sharing with you!

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Bedroom Makeover

You are probably wondering, what does a bedroom makeover have to do with  a food blog?!  Well, the bedroom makeover was for our oldest son (J), who celebrated his 5th birthday this month.  The bedroom makeover took me away from creating in the kitchen for a few days as I was working on the project - and I thought my friends in my blog world would enjoy seeing a different part of who I am.  The new room was part of his birthday present from us, bye-bye to the little boy room with trains and hello to a big boy room.  I had found a picture on Pinterest that I loved (the squares - second picture on the link) and wanted to incorporate the squares into the room makeover.  I had all sorts of ideas in mind, I had hoped to incorporate orange into the bedding as J's favourite colour is orange, but I had NO LUCK finding something that I liked.  So after much searching, I decided to go with shades or blue and white, as I finally found a bedding set that would work for the makeover.  I was all ready to start picking paint when J informed us that he wanted fire trucks in his new bedroom (J has wanted to be a fireman for most of his 5 years).  Red fire trucks with the blue & white bedding that I had picked out did not work well together...so my original plan went out the window! 

Back to shopping here there and everywhere to see what I could find.  Finally I came up with a new duvet cover that I felt would do the trick.  It had the red for fire trucks, plus new colours to work with.  A girlfriend and I spent an evening "accessory" shopping for the room, I picked out the paint colours, and my revised plan/vision with squares on the walls was back in action.

We started slowly packing up his room for a few days prior to the big makeover.  Thankfully my parents had J over for a sleepover so that we only had the baby to care for on the weekend we were doing the work, and this enabled us to surprise J with his new room.

Here is the BEFORE:



And here is the AFTER:

The final result of our son's bedroom makeover

And here is what we did!


Modern style for this boy's bedroom
Furniture: Some of the furniture is still the same - no need to replace perfectly good furniture!  The bed and nightstand are still the same.  We added a "new" chest of drawers, which was mine out of our closet. I repainted it red to match the bedroom.  The chest of drawers that J had in his room went into his brother's room (matches the furniture in there).  We found a used desk for sale on a local buy and sell the week of the big re-do, and it matches perfectly.  It cost us a whopping $12!  Cool!  There is a bookcase, however, it is not paintable so my handy, woodworking Grandfather is building J a new one that we can paint red to match the rest of the room.  Lucky boy!

Closet: My husband added a second row of shelving in the closet so that we had more hanging space.  Our son loved it - not only did he get new hangers to hang his clothes on, he spent forever organizing and re-organizing the hangers into different colour patterns.  It was (and still is) too cute!


Workspace in or son's bedroom, with a stripe of orange, his favorite color
Wall Colours: I have a hard time painting a room just one colour.  Most of the rooms in our house (that aren't still "Builder's Beige") have been repainted with at least two colours.  I can't help it, it's just who I am!  And with the squares being incorporated into the design, there had to be a few colours in there.  So the walls are painted with four colours.  Yes, four.  Actually five.  But the fifth colour matches the existing trim, so I'm not really counting it (white).  I had three colours picked out to match the new bedding and accessories, but (as mentioned) since J's favourite colour is orange, he would have been sad if there wasn't orange in the room - so we added a stripe of orange on a little angled wall next to his desk that is perfect (he can see it from his bed and desk, but the rest of us can't see it when we walk in the room).

Red - General Paint (GP) Sizzle
Dark Grey - (GP) Artesan 
Light Grey - (GP) Spray River
Orange - (GP) Glazed Carrot
White (GP) - used to paint over the blue wall and over the trains to ensure the new colours would go on evenly


Wall Vinyl: Fortunately for us, my husband owns a vinyl business and was able to create the wall vinyl for J's room.  He found a maltese and a few fire trucks to go up on the walls.  Saved me from having to hand-paint them (like I had the trains way back when...before he had the business).  It was great too as he was able to match the vinyl perfectly to the paint and accessories.

Window Coverings: The blinds are the same as before, the curtains are new. Long. Bold. Red. Love them!  The curtain rod is also new.


And this was our son's reaction to his new room...I think it passed inspection ;-)





72 comments:

  1. Wow! That's one cool room! Great job on the paint!

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  2. I love the room make over, great job.

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  3. His room is a masterpiece! I love the squares and how you did his little desk area!

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    1. Thanks so much! He loves his desk area, he likes to make up homework for school :-)

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  4. your lil prince room looks gorgeous...wat a fantastic b day gift..awesome..:)
    new to your space
    happy following you.;)
    do stop by mine sometime

    Tasty Appetite

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    1. Thanks so much Jay! And thank you for the invitation to your page, I will come by!

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  5. I love that squares wall!! It looks so nice and clean and like a mature boy's room! -Jessica

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    1. Thanks Jessica! I've always loved squares and am glad I finally had the opportunity to paint them!

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  6. Wowweeee. That is more than wonderful! I love the squares and the colors. It's all so perfect!!! Boys need nice rooms, too! Have a great weekend. Linda

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    1. I agree Linda! Boys do need nice rooms too. Lots of great girls' stuff out there, boy's rooms are a little harder. Thanks for stopping by!

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  7. Just amazing!! You are so gosh-darned talented Dawn!!!! J is a lucky boy for sure. I am inspired....

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    1. Thank you Annette :-) glad to have inspired someone so inspiring!!

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  8. I love the wall! I don't think I've seen that done before. And the colors go together well :)

    I'm stopping by from the "Freaky Friday" blog hop, I'm your newest follower :) I can't wait to read more!

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  9. His reaction is simply priceless! :) I would feel the same if my room looked like that.

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    1. Thank you very much! His reaction was pretty priceless :-)

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  10. WOW! That is sooo cool. Our son is getting ready to pain his girls' room...I will be sure to share this idea. Would love to have you link up a favorite recipe (& more!) at Weekend Potluck...I'm a new co-host! =) Enjoy a great weekend. http://thebetterbaker.blogspot.com/2012/04/invitation-party-potluck-yall-come.html

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    1. Why thank you so much for sharing! And I will most certainly stop by your party, thanks for letting me know! Have a great weekend!

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  11. Wow! I love it! I would not be that daring to paint a wall with so many colors, but after seeing the results I want to. I absolutely love the desk nook. My oldest little chef would LOVE to draw and write stories in a space like that!

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    1. I was nervous for a few minutes before I started painting the squares, but I just kept reminding myself of my vision for the room. I am really happy with how it turned out. And my son lives his desk nook, he loves to "do homework" there! Thanks for stopping by!

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  12. GREAT WORK!!!
    I love his reaction!!!

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  13. His reaction = priceless!

    The color scheme is so chic! I totally want to sleep in that room. :D

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    1. Thanks Czjai! Quite the compliment from such a stylish woman! :-) thank you!

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  14. Very upscale!! Great way to go from a boy to a man.... ;) Fantastic reaction!

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  15. Hi,

    Thanks so much for linking up to Creative Thursday this week. You did an Amazing job on your sons room. I love the color scheme, great for any age.

    Hope to see you again next week. Have a wonderful weekend.

    Michelle

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    1. Thank you very much Michelle! And I will be back to your party :-) for sure!

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  16. What an adorable big boy room! love it!!!

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  17. Wow what an amzing color combo- certainly a BIG boys room now!! Love the desk area- will come in super handy in just a few years! Proud FOllower of yours!
    Hugs, Jen @ f5

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  18. Great job!! Beautiful room. Looks fantastic. Happy Birthday to J!!

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  19. Wow! What a room! I love makeovers...they are so fun, huh:)

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    1. Yes, they sure are! The whole process from vision to reality - like cooking and baking - from recipe to masterpiece :-)

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  20. Amazing room! He looks so happy! I love how the colors go together perfectly! The squares look perfect! Nice job!

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    1. Thanks Angela! He is in love with his room, makes us really happy that he is happy!

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  21. WOW! That looks fantastic! I love, love, love what you did with the wall! Thanks for sharing at Shine on Fridays!

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    1. Thanks so much Amy! That's a huge compliment coming from someone as talented as you. We had fun doing this makeover and our son is so happy :-)

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  22. New follower from It's a Blog Party! Love, love, love what you've done! Very swanky!

    www.parsimoniousswank.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you so much!! I will come visit your site too!

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  23. WOW! you did an amazing job! I'm a little intimidated to paint a square pattern in any of my rooms... I'm afraid it won't look 'squared". You really did a fabulous job. I like how you found the Fire Department decals too! Thanks for going Sightseeing with us!

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    1. Thank you so much for hosting! And thank you for visiting. I bet you could do this too :-)

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  24. Great Job! I'm a square girl too and this is fabulous! Stopping by from the Creative Corner Blog Hop - TFS!

    Holly
    http://hollysstampingaddiction.blogspot.com/

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    1. Thanks Holly!! I am in love with the squares, so happy with how the room turned out :-)

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  25. That wall is amazing! Thanking for sharing at Beautify It Monday!

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  26. That looks so great! I bet he loves it! I would love for you to share this (and any other creations) at Pin It & Win It Wednesday @ www.cheapcraftymama.com (open now!).

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  27. The room looks great, but I love the wall! The colors are gorgeous. Thanks so much for sharing at Mix it up Monday :)

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  28. Love the wall of squares! If you have time stop by my link party and share some of your creations! Have a wonderful day!
    Amy@homehappyhome

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  29. I love this! Especially those squares. I would love for you to come link up with me.

    http://www.thesasselife.com/2012/04/crafty-sasse-wednesday-link-party-34.html

    Hope to see you there :)
    Kim

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    1. Thanks so much Kim!! I love the squares too. So glad I could get them into my house!

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  30. Thanks so much for sharing at Toot Your Horn Tuesday. I know I told you on FB but my boy has a big boy room now too, Outer Space! Have a great rest of the week!

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  31. Love that wall! Fantastic!!!

    Angie from Little Inspiration

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  32. wow!! What an impact! I love the squares on the wall! I would love for you to come and link your project up at my party - Well Crafted Wednesdays! You can find it here:

    http://thewellcraftedhome.blogspot.com/2012/04/well-crafted-wednesdays-link-party-1.html

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  33. Your bedroom makeover will be featured tomorrow for Functional Friday!

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  34. This room is so cool! Thank you so much for sharing it on Dare to Share. I am pinning this for sure. I love how you did the wall!

    Pam
    http://thethriftinessmiss.blogspot.com/2012/04/best-broccoli-salad-ever.html?showComment=1335578342506#c349471620658998231

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  35. This is a fabulous transformation and your little man is such a cutie! Your wall is just to die for! Thanks for sharing with us this week! Have a nice weekend!

    Take care,
    Trish

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  36. Hi, I discovered your blog from BPOTW. I must say it is one of those cute blogs!! Your room makeover is fabulous. Loved those squares and also the expressions of your li'l prince!!!

    Have a nice weekend :)

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  37. I'm featuring this at What's New Wednesday :)

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  38. I love this! The wall turned out amazing! I'm featuring you today on What I Learned Wednesday! http://weliketolearnaswego.blogspot.com/2012/05/features-and-adjusting-to-new-place.html

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  39. What a transformation.. I love the wall.. Thanks for linking up at friday fun party.. :)

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  40. I love the squares!!! Thanks for linking up at Well Crafted Wednesdays!

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