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Monday, March 14, 2011

Children's Tour: Ben's Room



This is Ben's room...and it is such a dream. All boy, all cowboy and indians and vintage. His mom is incredibly talented and put a lot of love and and elbow grease into creating this room for her now 7 year old son.


Every little detail makes the whole room come together perfectly...

His mom describes Ben's room as "complete, family and cowboy amazing". After spending time in this charming room, I agree.


These are vintage barn doors that Ben's mom sourced and used as closet doors in his room. These doors are one of my favorite things about the room - they add such unique charm to the space. I wish I had closet doors like this in my house!

When I asked Ben's mom what she loved most about his room she replied, "I love the pictures. They are of close family relatives. I also love the walls. These took a long time to get just right and I love them". I also asked her about any ongoing projects in the room and she said that some goals were "to get his closet organized. After that, we plan to do a little club house above his room with a ladder going up to it. There is a lot of empty space in the attic and I'd love for him to have a little man cave to hang out in. A boy with 4 sisters needs this". WOW, that clubhouse above his room sounds AMAZING. I can't wait to take pictures of that to share with all of you - stay tuned for when that comes to fruition!

Vintage cabinet painted the perfect shade of red with Ben's guitar resting beside it...

Footboard to Ben's beautiful vintage bed. Notice the walls? His mom handpainted those...

Ben's mom gave me a little additional background on the room to share with you all: "When I found out I was having a boy, I immediately though of a rodeo picture of my mother's cousin from the 1950's. Once I found the photo, I had it blown up as big as I could and framed it. The frame I got from Ikea and stained it with brown stain. The other pictures are of my grandfather. The other frames I dug up at a thrift store and matted all the pictures in a texture rich matting from Michaels arts and crafts store. Next I wanted a cowboy themed window treatment. My father, who works in demolition, just finished a project demoing a 100 year old barn in the central valley of California. Luckily he saves a lot of goodies from his demo jobs and I get to sift through them. I used the wood from the barn to cut the window box out and use the rest to create the baseboards and barn-like door for the closet. On the window box are nailed on horse shoes. My mom bought me one with my sons name on it. Before installing all these goodies, I spent 1 month plastering the walls smooth, and painting them a *Paper Bag brown from Glidden paints. The wall pattern was a great find. I wanted something amazing for the walls and finally found it. The pattern is a copy from stage props of a friend. I copied each hat, cactus, horse, and horse shoe and made stencils. After chalking the walls out in a large grid patter, I traced and painted the pattern all over the wall to give it a wallpaper feel. Time consuming, but worth it. Lots of great treasures are in the room; moccasins my grandfather traded with an Indian woman in Oklahoma, My grandfathers spurs, and many other great antiques and trinkets. The bedding and curtains are made from old jeans, and the bed is from the 1950's. My friend called me and told me that the perfect bed was waiting for my son's room. I drove that hour to Vallejo and picked it up. The red cabinet is an infant dresser that was my mom's as a baby. I painted it watered down red and added a little black to the paint for a stained look. The inside of the cabinet is the same as in 1944. I sealed the paint to protect little ones from possible lead paint. As a child I played hide and seek in it, and now my children do the same".

Inside of the little red cabinet; Ben's desk...

So much history and love and attention to detail all in one childs bedroom! I find this space incredibly inspiring. It just goes to show what you can accomplish with a good eye and a willingness to take the time to carry out your vision.

Thanks for joining me on this tour of Ben's room - hope that you enjoyed it!

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