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11 May 2017

the boys' room

Yikes - I've been been meaning to get this up for almost two months but I've got a very full plate of napping when the kids are napping, reading vapid beach reads when the kids are napping, and keeping my young fed. Busy! Busy! But, here we are - finally.

Unlike the girls' room - the boys' room didn't make me cringe every time I walked in mostly because their carpet was actually in decent shape and NOT littered with stains galore and I'd put a little more effort into it previously but Sebastian was getting a little tall for his toddler bed so we figured it was time to make the jump to bunks ...


All photos taken by Becca - one day I'll take photos 1/4 as lovely as hers - I hope. 

I was determined to find an IKEA Kura bed on Craigslist (or similar secondhand site) which proved to be a lot more difficult than anticipated because apparently the secondhand Kura market is a hot one. The beds were always claimed even five minutes after they were listed but f-i-n-a-l-l-y after over a month of persistent scouring - I found one. Simon went to go pick it up and when he got there it was partially assembled so he took the rest apart and brought it home. I was also (stupidly) determined to paint it light grey with paint leftover from painting our room despite the fact that there were 2934829038490283490238423948 pieces to paint. It took over a week of nap times and late nights but I got it done - with Simon's eventual and generous help.


Aren't you glad I'm telling you this story? Anyway, we went to put it together and realized that it was actually missing 18 screws.

Ooooops.

Luckily, our local IKEA had said screws (not usually the case, apparently) and only charged us 50 cents for all of them. But, while Simon was there buying the screws he went ahead and just bought the girls a new Kura bunk and Grace went ahead and did not paint that set.


Even after all my painting - I still totally missed one side of one visible piece. C'est la vie.

We did replace the boys' carpet because we bought super inexpensive factory grade carpet and to buy and install it was right around $100 and it felt worth it in the likely event that we'll be moving and have to list and sell our house in about a year.


It seems fitting that Humpty Dumpty would be a little crooked. I guess. The secret to keeping everything else in place is this museum putty although I'm pretty sure Sebastian has since switched the shark and the panda. I guess there's a bit of an unofficial and unintended animal theme only because I hung up what we already had on hand.


The boys are loving having their own little areas and I knew we'd like the bunkbeds but we REALLY love them and I almost wish we'd made the switch sooner. Well, I don't love changing and washing the sheets especially in the second half of the third trimester BUT - it's not that bad. I think I mentioned in the girls' room post that when it's time for Bosco to move in with the boys we'll move the boys to the girls' room because it's a little bigger and there will be room for a toddler bed (or crib - he still LOVES his crib and I'm not going to upset that relationship) in there.


Dresser complete with drawer not totally pushed in - we'll all survive. I'm probably a little overzealous about constantly going through the kids' clothes and weeding out what doesn't fit, or they never wear, or is torn/stained beyond repair so that we don't have clothespacolpyse all over the place ALL the time (it's still that way some of the time - especially in the girls' room because one of them changes her outfit 78 times a day). Sometimes I'm tempted to look for bigger dressers for the kids but that just means more clothes and more mess and more laundry so - we're good for now.


Am I counting down the days until the kids are out of school for the summer for the sole reason that I can empty their uniform drawer to store away in a closet and free up some drawer space for swimsuits? I am. Do I have a problem? I might.

Also, yes I do such a wonderful job of combing through the kids clothing as Phoebe showcases her favorite dress-missing-a-button.

I love the boys' sheets because they bleach well, haven't faded, are soft but not super thin and almost want to get a set for the master bedroom - I still might. They also have extra thick pieces of elastic on the corners which makes them SO much easier to put on than regular fitted sheets which normally frustrate me to no end. Bravo, sheets.


I don't know why but I normally end up changing Bosco's diaper on the top bunk (I don't climb up there - it's just the perfect height for me to stand) and he's endlessly entertained by that shark head so it works out well.


faux succulents (fau-cculents? no, Grace) forever.


And that's it! I admit that I thought the room would magically stay cleanish with the new setup but that's not even kind of the case and I'm constantly baffled at the speed of which they're able to trash it real good but - such is life with humans - big and small.

Happy Thursday!

Oh! Here's a look at the before bunk arrangement!

13 comments:

  1. I'm in love with this! I have my second (boy) on the way and this is my favorite shared boys' room inspiration. So, my question is, am I better off spray painting the bed parts? We'll probably buy a new one because it's tricky to find them secondhand here, too (CA). What would you do paint-wise if you were me? We love ya, Grace!

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    1. I'm not very skilled at spray painting (always looks uneven to me!) but it might work! It's just tough to find a way to paint all four sides efficiently bc one side is always wet so it take foresight and planning. If I did it again I'd tape a drop sheet to a wall and paint them upright - saves your back too!

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  2. It's like I could have written this post, Ha! We have the same bunk beds (hate changing the sheets!), have the same Target sheets (by far my favorite of almost any we have) and can not wait until school over so I can box up the uniforms and have ample room for swimsuits (FL living problems). That's where it ends because you have 3x more pictures in your kids room then I have in my whole house :/ .one day. Looks amazing and you are amazing for painting that thing!

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  3. I'm so glad to see another mom whose kids dresser-share. It keeps the clothing to a relatively necessity-minimum and our fourth still has a shelf in the linen closet because I'm the worst.

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    1. Ha! I just emptied out a tiny drawer of a bedside table for this baby so - we can be the worst together :)

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  4. I can still squeeze each kids' non-Sunday clothing in one drawer, but it is really a squeeze during spring and fall because New England! I think they're doing their best to destroy all of their cold weather clothes to make room for swimsuits.

    I wish I could bunk them up but we just moved into a Cape which means low ceilings, even for a Kura. Do I look for matching twin beds on Craigslist or live with the fact that I can never match my oldest son's bed because IKEA discontinued it? C'est la vie.

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  5. I love these! Are the beds twin or toddler size?

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  6. Tell more about the Museum putty... you can use it to hang photos, clocks, etc and they actually stay put on the wall? Do you think it would work in a bathroom hanging clock and canvas image? How easy is it to get off the walls and does it ruin the paint?

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    1. I only use it to reinforce the nail/screw and keep it straight (bottom corners, usually) super easy to get off the wall and hasn't taken any paint off for us at all :)

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  7. Where are the teal shelves from?? So cute!

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  8. I haven't been keeping up as well with reading your blog, which I regret, because it is awesome, as usual. Where did you get the cute shelves? I want a few like them for the kid room in my house. (Just one- huge rooms, all 2 bedrooms in this house) Also, my boys are sleeping in bunk beds that used to belong to Mary and Elizabeth, I think. Adrienne was re-homing them.

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  9. I use that same brand of sheets for my (very adult) bedroom, and I love how easy the fitted sheet is to put on the bed!

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