(David's room when we bought the house - exciting, I know)
(Closet & Bookshelf when we bought the house)
I wish I could show some better before pics of his room, but I didn't own my wide angle lens 2 years ago... but you get the idea - boring blue. I suppose it could have been a whole lot worse.
Little did David know that I was going to begin an entire bedroom makeover for him - actually, I think he got the point because he slept in his sister's room all week long and by the second day he really, I mean really, wanted his bedroom back. So how did we transform this room into every little boys dream bedroom. Simple: Here we go!
We started this project with a good primer and a few coats of yellow paint. David was very clear that he wanted to have his room painted yellow and based on his love of the Transformers, I used an overhead projector to draw Bumble Bee & Optimus Prime on his walls, along with the "logo" for the Autobots. You didn't know I was that awesome with Transformers details, now did you? I went with the animated Transformers because they are a whole lot easier to draw.
To save some money on this part of the project, I printed off a few images of the Transformers from the Internet. Then I used masking tape to tape plastic wrap to the overhead projector. I don't know if you have ever priced transparencies, but they are pretty expensive. Once I traced the images with a marker, I used the projector to draw the 4 foot tall Transformers on the walls and then I painted them.... This part of the project took 10 Hours (for 3 full size paintings) - but I am a TOTAL perfectionist, so it might not take a normal person that long.
Once the images were done, I used black semi-gloss paint to paint the trim in the room black. If you are at all familiar with the movie Transformers or my son's obsession for Bumble Bee, the yellow and black makes total sense.
On the one remaining wall that I had left empty, I attached three movie posters to the wall and I finished off the decorating with his Transformers curtains and comforter.
(Finished room - I'm looking forward to going to get him a cool bed frame this weekend!)While I was doing this, Matt used a black spray paint to paint the previously yellow bookshelves black. I also had him paint David's closet doors. We waited a few years to paint David's room because we had a huge issue with him coloring on his walls and we didn't want to go through all the work to have it ruined. So, I thought it would be cool to paint David's closet doors with chalkboard paint. What a cool idea that turned out to be!!!! You can buy chalkboard spray paint for about $4 a can at Walmart, or you can buy a small can of actual chalkboard paint for about $9. The spray paint only does about 10-15 square feet, so the chalkboard paint was a much better choice for this project. Now David has his own area to color and practice his letters without totally destroying the walls.
For a final touch to the room - and since the Transformers come from outer space - I wanted to paint the ceiling of David's bedroom. Now normally this is a remodel no-no. Painting the ceiling a color besides white tends to make the ceiling look a lot lower, however, this is a little boys dream bedroom and not my living room, so I wanted to go all out. Yep - I painted it black and then attached 130 glow in the dark stars.
So what was David's reaction to this totally transformed Transformer inspired bedroom? See for yourself....
I think it's safe to say that he loved it! I can't keep him out of his room and even better.... when I tuck him into bed at night, he tries to count the stars until he falls asleep!
