Showing posts with label Joseph's Big Boy Room. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joseph's Big Boy Room. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Olive White!!!

After some debate, I went with Valspar's olive white for Joseph's big boy room.


It's a very pale mix of green & beige.


I think it works fantastically with the Pottery Barn car quilt.


Freshly painted rooms make me happy. Next on the big boy room to do list - some serious furniture rearranging. Can't wait!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Pondering Big Boy Room Decor

Joseph's big boy room is still in the planning stages. Stephen objects to paint fumes for some strange reason, so I'm not allowed to do any painting until it's warm enough to open all of the windows for ventilation. Where does that leave us? With an adorable car quilt, a paint chip, and lots of decor ideas to ponder. Especially since I haven't decided how cutesy little kid I'm going go.


As far as art goes... I have taken approximately 200 pictures of vintage cars thanks to the Cruise-in that took place in front of my house last summer. So I could potentially print and frame some of those. I don't think mixing the race cars on the quilt with vintage style cars will be an issue.


But then, instead of framed photographs, there is also the option of framing more cartoon style vehicles...


I'm thinking (thinking, mind you) about having a painted road all the way around the room.

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I'm not sold on the idea, but I know how much little boys like to run toy cars along the floors and walls. Or maybe a turnable steering wheel somewhere?

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There is also the option of creating some cardboard or plywood scenery. Not this car, per se, but maybe a little gas pump??

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I could create some little cars for the top of the dresser using this printable template and some cardstock...


There could be license plates or gas tank prices on the walls...


I could frame some street maps...


Should "JOSEPH" be spelled out on the wall?


Perhaps some checkered flags or a bunting?

Tires or hubcaps??


So, I'm not sure what I'm going to do... but at least I've got some ideas to work with. Thoughts? Suggestions? "Oh, Hell no!"s?

Monday, February 14, 2011

Joseph's Big Boy Room

For Christmas, Joseph's Aunt Sarah found him a beautiful race car quilt at the Goodwill Outlet for a whopping $7. Which is AH-mazing since it's from Pottery Barn and was originally something ridiculous like $300. First, that's crazy! Who spends $300 on a quilt?? Second, it's adorable.


You see, Joseph likes to watch the cars that drive by on the main road in front of our house. (Hopefully, he won't go all NASCAR on me when he turns 13. *shudder*) So, when Aunt Sarah found this beautiful quilt at Goodwill, she snatched it up, washed it thoroughly ;), and then sent me an email titled "Joseph likes cars" in which she asked me if he might want a big boy car quilt?

Duh. What kind of a silly question is that?? My only other free option was this Indian blanket that someone gave me at my wedding (I have a lot of relatives from out west).


It's nice, it's wool, it's good quality, but it's not my favorite. I'd probably use it in my decor if I lived in New Mexico... but I live in VIRGINIA. Besides, Joseph doesn't even know what an indian is right now, but he definitely likes cars. So we're going with that. Besides, I think the Indian blanket would be a great addition to my growing dress up box. Dress up sounds so girly, but really the box is full of manly things like SWAT costumes & foam muscles. Now we are adding in an Indian Chief's cloak.

Fortunately, the car quilt means that I have an actual starting point for Joseph's big boy room. THANK GOODNESS! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Aunt Sarah! When I plan out how to decorate a room, I really need a central piece (such as an awesome shower curtain or quilt) to work from. So, to get the decorating juices flowing, I've thrown Joseph's big boy quilt onto the bed in the room that will eventually be his (I think).


Of course, he won't be sleeping in that full sized bed. He'll be in a twin bed. Possibly surrounded by this race car bed frame...


We found one for free, but I haven't made my mind up yet about whether or not I'm going to use it. It's not really my style... But I keep asking myself, if I were a 2 or 3 year old boy, wouldn't I go bananas for something like that? Um. YES!

Anyways, bed frame debates aside, I already had navy curtains that perfectly match the quilt's car wheels, so I'm using those.


Now to pick out some paint. I grew up in military houses with white walls. I'm rebelling. No wall in my home may go unpainted! Must have color.


Originally, I thought I would find a nice light gray with some blue undertones. Then I realized that I was only gravitating towards beige paint chips, so I eliminated everything else. I would seem that I am only comfortable with blues, greens, and beiges on my walls. Or a combination thereof.

Can you guess which of these I liked best and immediately picked out?


If you chose the middle beige in the bottom row with the green undertones, you are spot on. Anything else, and you are fired! Leave immediately!


Of course, the color isn't exactly right in that picture, but I like the lightest Olive White color the best. Which I find amusing, since my hallway is Olive Gray. Olive is very high up on my chart of acceptably nifty colors.


I stared at the green beige paint chip on the quilt for a while and then I had a sudden flash of the nursery & kid's bathroom walls - painted a lovely Willow green. I'm pretty sure that the light green car, the paint chip I just picked, and the walls are nearly the same color.


Did I just pick out a paint chip that almost exactly matched the color of the walls in the nursery?


I got pretty darn close. The Olive White has more beige in it, but it's very similar to the Willow color. I swear that this wall color isn't even my favorite color. Teal/turquoise is my favorite color. It's just that this is the color that best suits the decor that I'm working with. In my opinion.



Besides, I like blue and green together. So, should I just get another can of Willow paint or should I mix things up a bit and go with the Olive White? Both blend cohesively with the rest of the paint colors in my house. I really, really like the Olive White against the blanket because it ties in both the green and the beige blankets... but now I'm not sure. Thoughts?