House changes

When we built our house 4 1/2 years ago, we planned on the nursery being on the main level (and later convert it to Seth's office). We have 2 bedrooms upstairs. Adelyn moved up there before she turned 2 and the other bedroom has been a guest room. James has been in the nursery on the main level. This "bedroom" doesn't have a closet. He's been in a toddler bed (crib converted) and is ready for his big boy room. And I'm ready for him to have a closet and more space!!

Here's what's been changing in our house lately: 

I don't have any before pictures of James's room. It was the guest room- with a king size bed AND the twin trundle bed shown here and some random furniture. Nothing to brag about. TA DA!: James's Big Boy room! It's not finished, but we're off to a start! It's a large room and I have space to fill. 

This is his reading area. We bought the race car shelf off Amazon, and I think it's pretty cool that he has a framed picture of his Daddy's race car. This is a great photo and gift from Halston Pitman, who does a lot of amazing race car photography. 

I love having James in a twin trundle bed. He and Adelyn have already had several sleepovers on the weekends. It warms my heart that they want to spend the night together. I bought the bedspread/shams/decorative cars pillows from a friend with twin boys that outgrew them (so there's 2 of everything!). I ordered the prints off Etsy and framed them with inexpensive frames from Hobby Lobby. You can't see the lamps well, but they're matchbox cars in clear cubes- AWESOME! I found them on a local online yardsale site. 

Problem area: I need a wide dresser to fill up this wall. I have Seth's mom's dresser from when she was little. I have plans to get that furniture refinished and use it on down the road. For now, this'll do. And James rocks- he doesn't get out of the bed and play with his train table. I'm not sure why; we're just lucky!

Bathroom

This is the trophy on the vanity. A hilarious relative gave both my kids a go-cart trophy when they were born signifying their first win at 5 years old. "Doodler" is Seth's grandfather's nickname (and James's middle name is his first name- Mahlon)

Toilet is ready for potty training....if we EVER get there. The Batman poster was Seth's when he was younger.

 In order to move him upstairs, we had to have a guest room. We have a bonus room (room above the garage) that we halfway finished when we built. It had unpainted walls, primed beaded paneling, and a painted ceiling (plus heat/air and can lights). It's been a hodge-podge storage room for years. 

Messy unfinished room! 

I started painting the walls back in June. I JUST finished it all a couple weeks ago. Yes, it took me almost 4 months to paint this. Ever painted beaded paneling?? Oh my gosh....it takes forever! I rolled on the first coat just to get a base and then had to hand paint the grooves and panels with a brush. Again, this room is the size of a 3 car garage, so it's pretty big! I basically painted a little at night or when the kids were napping.

The only casualty I had in this project was my cell phone. One morning, I thought I could paint ONE window trim while the kids played in the playroom next door. Nope. James came in and dropped my cell phone in the bucket of paint. Seth was sweet enough to order himself the new iPhone 5s and I got his old one. 

Now, we have a serene guest room! I am so happy with the way the wall colors turned out. Side story....this mint color reminds me of my grandmother. Her whole house was mint and rose- even the exterior was a shade of light green. A couple Christmases ago, we visited the Billy Graham house in Charlotte. It had a lot of those colors too and my mom and I just loved it. Since my mom stays a lot, I wanted the colors to make her happy. 

Again, I'm not 100% done. I'd like to get some runners to go beside the bed and some wall art. 

My plans are to make the back half of the room a work out area! We will bring up Seth's exercise bike and I'm really hoping Santa will bring me a treadmill. Eventually, I want to get some room dividers so it's hidden.

When my dad comes, he often has some work to do. For some reason, he can't do it with my kids running around. Now he has a little place to work. It's a great view out that window of the pasture!

Future Thomas Gym. (not accepting membership, sorry)

closet, dressing stand, and armoire

We tried to do as much on as a budget as we could. The biggest expense was the hardwoods and blackout shades in the guest room, but totally worth it. We'll keep adding to these rooms as money allows. I'd love to have all matching furniture, but for a guest room and a 2 year old's room, I think it's just fine the way it is. Now, who wants to come visit?? We love to have guests! 

This little desk area is at the top of the steps outside the playroom and kids' bedrooms. I told Adelyn this is HER desk area. You would've thought I sent her to Disneyworld for a week. She loves to do her "work" here. She has markers, coloring books, pencils, work books, etc. She'll turn that lamp on and get busy!!