I promised embarrassing pictures of mess, and I wasn’t lying! I’m going to post a less embarrassing picture of how the kids’ room looked back before we started messing around with it first, though.

This is back before we made their lego table and before we hung up their Ikea Ekorre chairs, but aside from that (and extra mess) things have stayed pretty much the same.

My main issue with this room (because they’re still happy with their amazing 80’s dentist office wall mural) is that I hate, hate, hate the bunk beds we bought. They were super cheap from Target, and I like the way they look, but they are very wobbly and…..cheap. They don’t seem to be for sale anymore on Target’s website, so I guess I’m not the only one who doesn’t like them.

So we decided to get rid of the bunk beds (I’m not even sure what to do with them. I don’t know if they’re even worth donating) in favor of twin beds. Gus has been lamenting having the top bunk spot for awhile now, because it means Rory always sleeps with Milo. For one thing. Also I’m tired of dealing with bunk beds. I’ll never have to change a top bunk sheet again this way!

And this change, as changes do, has turned into a whole list of changes to be made. In this post, I shall discuss them. In the future, I hope to actually execute them.

My search for matching or coordinating twin beds was much harder than I expected. Craigslist failed me time and time again. But then my aunt and uncle had a pair they were selling, so we grabbed those. Here’s a really exciting picture of them, unassembled, in our garage:

There’s nothing remarkable about these (they are, ironically, former bunk beds), but I wasn’t looking for remarkable, because I’m going to paint them a FUN COLOR, and that will make them remarkable.

We picked out the paint at Lowe’s the other day, and the plan is that this will be the first project we attempt with our new paint sprayer. I decided to bring some more red into the room, to go with the Ekorre chairs (it’s hard to make silver and red chairs look woodsy, but that’s the only color they come in). We wanted a darkish red–not fire engine, not too orange, not too brown, definitely not too pink; we settled on Valspar’s Heirloom Red. This is what it looks like when you paint a whole house with it:

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Painting the beds was one of the rain-thwarted projects from last weekend, but this coming weekend looks promising.

Most of the other changes we’re planning are a direct result of the decision to get rid of the bunk beds. The reason we had bunk beds in the first place is because it’s a little tricky to figure out where to put two twin beds in this room. The room is about 12 by 12, so a decent enough size for a kid room, but I wouldn’t mind a few extra feet since there are two kids in here (and they play in their room a lot these days).

In the end, after considering a couple of options, we decided just putting the beds against either wall (so one straight ahead when you walk in, the other under the windows) made the most sense. This meant the desk needed to go and the Ekorre chairs will need to be moved.

My other project this weekend, aside from closet organization, was clearing out their massive desk and getting it out of there (it’s already on its way to my mom’s shop). So, as promised, here is a scary picture of the room, post desk and closet cleaning:

You can also see the taped over missing windowpane. I mentioned that one fell out awhile back; we finally have new windows on order now, but it will be a few weeks before they’re installed. Which will make pretty “after” pictures of this room tricky. Hurry up, windows!

Okay! So! How about a list of things we need to do in here?

1. Paint new beds

2. Switch out beds

3. I’m thinking some fun storage/display space over their beds. Like maybe some hexagon shelves like these (outrageously trendy, I know. But I like hexagons). I’m not sure if the shelves between the windows are staying or not, but either way, they can never have too much space for displaying amazing lego creations, assorted Doctor Who figurines, random stuff found on walks, etc.

4. Other storage: we have some shelves floating around the house that could be painted and brought in here. Or we might just get some more baskets and use the closet space more efficiently for toys and books. Legos are the toys that get used 90% of the time, and they already have a dedicated space.

5. New bedding? Nothing wrong with the old stuff, but I’m keeping my eye out for something I that will go better with the new beds

6. More stuff on the walls. With the bunk beds in here, there was never much wall space to work with (one wall for windows, one wall for closets, one wall for bunk beds, and one wall for enormous mural pretty well had it covered). So I’ll have to think on that.

And I think that’s it! Just a minor revamp to make this space more functional for them. I can already see any hope of summer down time slipping away with every project I add to our list…..