Boys' Bedroom Makeover

I'm trying to embrace the fact that my boys are growing up... there are days I sit satisfied knowing that I am eating up and enjoying every square inch and every sweet moment of motherhood, but then there are other times when I can feel myself wish for days gone by when they were just lil-little guys, toddling around here in diapers. Yes, I know.... they are only 10 and 4 1/2 but still I find myself in reminiscent mode from time to time and wanting to hold onto these sweet times with my loves. But, I would not be a good mother if I didn't savor the memories and yet rejoice in the new chapters that each progressing year brings each of my boys... and just plain savor the beauty of watching these two grow up into amazing boys.

In the vain of letting them grow up... it was recently time to re-do the "nursery". It was becoming quite evident that the time had definitely arrived when we would hear Luke give his friends a disclaimer before entering his room whenever they came over... "Don't mind all the baby stuff on the walls...it's my brother's!" When in reality it was not exactly just his brothers but they both were living in the nursery I had originally set up for Luke. And truth be told, Luke LOVED that room.... he cried big tears one night when we were about to begin the process of the re-do and verbally walked me around the room of all the things he would stare at when he was trying to go to sleep at night. I love that I have such a rough and tumble sporty kinda guy...who is really just a mush ball of sweetness and tenderness inside!

But, it was time for the transformation to a big boy room and I gave Luke the honor of making all the decisions of the room. This control was really hard for me to let go of... but I wanted to know in the end the new room would truly be a reflection of his personality and not my influence. I have to say I think this little guy of mine has some good taste and put together a pretty cool room for he and his little brother! The only near hiccup was during the "makeover" we went to go see Toy Story 3 (best movie ever!) and as the movie began and they scanned Andy's room who was about to head off to college, Luke grabbed my arm and whispered, "Mom..... look at Andy's room, it is still the same as it was from the first movie when he was little". I could tell Luke was swallowing a frog and knew what he was getting at and asked him if he wanted me to keep his room the way it was (we already had the wallpaper border off of 2 walls at this point). He took a deep breath and hesitantly said, "No, (sigh) let's keep going". And so we did.....
Before Pictures:

I had already taken the border down before I thought to snap this picture. I had originally bought this cabinet thinking we were having a girl before Luke was born and I was planning to go with a Shabby Chic look and thought I would hang little dresses behind the glass doors. But, I loved it so much I found a way to make it work in the boys' room...

After Pictures:

I framed this piece of artwork Luke made back in the 2nd grade of he and his brother... it is the first thing you see as you walk in the room. :)

Toby's contribution to the room was this red shelf up top... we were planning to put white shelving up around 2 of the walls but he thought it would be fun to add a red one in the mix... I like it, I think it is "kicky". ....I must also confess I took control of the paint color for a brief moment. Luke wanted dark brown and I was afraid of it so made him make a lighter choice, but once we put it on a couple walls it was more like a paint can of "oooh ick!" so we went back to the store and got the paint color that was Luke's original choice.... once again I had to remind myself.... I was letting Luke run the show ;) . The pictures don't show the true color, but it is dark, think hershey chocolate bar.

Our good friend Keith put these baseball card collections together for our boys. It started when Luke was born, he dug out his old Nolan Ryan cards he had as a kid, placed them in the black frame, and surprised us with it soon after Luke was born, knowing that we chose his middle name after Nolan Ryan. ....When he heard that we were re-doing the boys' room and I was going to start searching for Greg Maddux cards so Reid had one too..... a fun box soon arrived on our doorstep from Keith... and he surprised us again, this time for our youngest. The fact that he did this for our boys still just touches my heart!

For Luke's 9th birthday we got him this signed picture of Nolan Ryan. Luke asked that we leave a note for Nolan, who would be coming to Angel's Stadium to sign the 30 paintings in this series, to be sure to have him sign his name as "Luke Ryan"... so it reads To Luke Ryan, Best wishes, Nolan Ryan. He also chose #9/30 because he was turning 9.... lucky for us I think that was one of the only ones left, whew! ;)

I think this jar of balls is probably one of my favorite things in his room... I especially like the beat up one in front with the seams busted!

Luke saw this chalkboard paint in a magazine and asked if we could use it on the closet panels. I love how it turned out! He and Reid love writing on it. Look at that little person Reid drew... ;)