A Little Space, Please...

This project has been on our minds for months. Back at the beginning of June, DaddyBoy and I made a kidless trek to IKEA to measure...and plan...and dream. Our fantasy was to give Kayci her own space for her 8th birthday. The $2500 price tag? Not in our plans, or dreams. So we put it on the back burner, thinking we'd tackle their room when we had more time and money. Ha. Instead, we tackled it last week. It turns out, we just needed to get creative. And, several weeks ago I found coordinating duvet covers at IKEA that I absolutely loved...I couldn't get them out of my mind. It was driving me nuts, which meant I was driving my Boy nuts, which meant he was happy to go along with my crazy plan after Christmas. We live in a 2 bedroom house, it's a fact. We love the house and don't plan on moving anytime soon...but the kids are growing. Fast. And they need their own space. We weren't sure how they would react to two beds--they were both thrilled. Even better for me, when I presented then with comforter/duvet options, they both chose the one I had chosen for them (squeal!) with no coercion or trickery at all. That was probably one of the highlights of the experience for me, honestly. So, I could go on and on about how they didn't figure out what was going on until the day after we went to IKEA and bought *two* twin duvet covers (ah, hello?)...the next day I put them in front of the TV and made quick work of taking apart their big bed. They were SO excited to come in and see the beginnings of Kayci's bed...they were ready for their own spaces, the timing was right. Whew. Noble moved into Kayci's room when he was one. It's almost three years later, and the poor kid was still sleeping in Kayci's room. Other than a dresser drawer and a couple of shelves for his board books, there was nothing in the room that was "his." In fact, even he called it "Kayci's room." As excited as we were to give out growing girl some much-needed space and privacy, we were also happy to *finally* give our Bubby a space to call his own. I'm a little sad to say that after three years of cohabiting, the door still had Kayci's picture on it. You can't tell in the picture, but that's both of them at Kayci's piano recital. :)

Behind the door:  we couldn't survive without their hooks--a place for each of them to hang tomorrow's clothes. These save a lot of time every morning! I can't think of a better place to keep Noble's ties and hats, so they'll stay there.

To make our plan work, we needed two shelves to divide the room. Our budget settled on these closet organizers from Target...they're the cubes you see in the pictures. The kids were sharing a dresser...well, he had a drawer in the dresser and the rest of his stuff lived in baskets.  Poor, poor second child.  The other, most necessary, part of our plan:  keep the blue walls and orange curtains and Kayci's dresser (it works well for one kid, just not for two).  

 Here we go...Noble's bed. :) We had to buy a new mattress and bunkie board, but we had the bed frame, linens and pillows. The stool is Kayci's that's just been hanging out, waiting for a purpose since a) we moved here or b) she outgrew "the sad stool." It's a little crazy, but it fits in the space and it holds his CDs--I'm sold. Oh! We bought him a lamp, too. I'm a liar. He wanted a red one, like Andy ("Toy Story"). Done, $7 on clearance! His folded clothes are in three fabric drawers/bins on the shelf. So far, it seems to work!  Noble's Angry Birds poster fit perfectly on the (finished) back of the dresser that faces Kayci's side and makes up part of the divider, so that was a fun treat for him.

The Pixar poster was in their room already, the other frame came out of the office (Daddy switched the print for a hero poster), and I did the canvas. I did one for each knucklehead, using my current favorite pics of them. They're both from December, and Daddy managed to capture each of their personalities right now.  (I'm a little biased.)

This is the same sign and saying that's been in Kayci's room for years...I just flipped it over and redid it to match their new space. I'm still shocked that pink didn't make it into the color scheme this go round, as it's Noble's absolute favorite color. Funny: when they went to Lowe's to get a paint sample for patching, Noble was confused and thought Daddy was painting the whole room. He picked out a pink chip and gave it to Daddy...imagine the poor kid's disappointment to get home and see that the paint and the room were still blue. Maybe next time, Bubby...

Here's Kayci's bed. This is a bed frame from Mom & Dad that we've had in storage since the fire. It needed a little TLC, but I'm happy with the end result. All we bought for Bitty's bed was Rustoleum and the duvet cover/new comforter inside.

I just realized you can't really see it in the picture, but Kayci's night stand was an issue. We found one she loved in a thrift store, painted it...then realized it just couldn't work in the space.  So, I pulled in a black and white Hoosier chair (from the table I use as a desk) and stacked Nancy Drew books to make a pedestal for her new lamp (rookie mistake--I bought a new lamp instead of buying a shade for her old lamp. Dang it.). Her iHome and bedtime books & water fit, so this may be a keeper.  Plus, it's a little silly having a lamp on top of a fun stack of books, and I think she likes that it's so different.

We brought Noble's desk in from the office. We have all been piling stuff in and on their desks for too long, so getting them clean was a bit of a battle. But man, seeing them mostly clutter-free feels good! Kayci's shadow box is actually a Silhouette advent calendar; I'm going to make the boxes for the empty spaces for jewelry storage. Her typewriter has been banished to its case most of the time she's owned it, but I really wanted it to be out for her. Her plastic drawers fit the bill...we just put fun paper in the drawers so Mommy doesn't have to see the clutter. :) And the karaoke machine? Has been a dust catcher for YEARS. Let me know if you want it! (Kidding. Kind of.)

We still have one more project to complete for their walls (hint:  the colored canvases above the beds), then we're DoNe. It's funny how much time the kids have spent in here in their own spaces...reading books, listening to music, crafting (Kayci), or just pulling toys off the shelves and puling them in the bed (Noble). It's a simple thing, space, that makes such a big difference.  I'm so happy that we jumped in and got this done!