As I walked into my son’s room to put away laundry, I looked around his Pottery-Barned room and thought sadly he is no longer a little boy (in fact, Jack is in high school and approaching 6 feet) and it’s time for a refresh. Knowing that boys are so hard on everything, my hope was that I could make just a few changes and we would go from a 10-year old’s room to to 16- year old’s room. I thought changing the walls and bedding and maybe adding a few cool accessories would do the trick.
He started collecting Fatheads (re-moveable wall decals) when he was about 10 and in an attempt to give him some say in his room decor, I let him go wild. His room was literally filled with them – hockey, football, baseball and basketball images by the hundreds. They started on his doors, then spread to his walls, then he added small ones to the big ones . Soon, they were everywhere— thank god he couldn’t reach the ceiling!
So, after getting his buy-in, we started the project. The first thing we did was say goodbye to all but the two largest decals. After we removed them, the walls looked so bare. Now is was time for art. To start, I thought four square pictures (in keeping with the sports theme) to flank the large window in his room would look nice. I found these from Restoration Hardware.
While I really liked them, the $169 price tag for each would have meant with tax & shipping I would be looking at close to $750. $750 was more than I really wanted to spend, plus it wasn’t quite the vintage-y look I was hoping for. Then it came to me: I had bought Jack a cool “golden age” football book a while back that had been collecting dust in his closet. Why couldn’t I turn those pages into art? Now I had my pictures and all I would need would be some simple black frames—so off to Amazon I went. I found this set of four for $62.
I armed myself with a razor blade, my paper cutter, and double sided tape and off I went to create my own vintage works of art. It was so simple to remove the pages from the book with the razor blade. Next I cut the one rough edge (to a measurement that I carried through to all four photos.
I then cleaned the glass and I actually centered the photos on the outside of the mat so I could utilize the whole picture.
It was that simple!
Next, it was time to hang the pictures. This can sometimes be a little challenging. I came up with a great tip to help with placement. I took the cover photos that came with the frames and placed them on the wall to decide exactly where I wanted each picture to be.
I then measured where the hanging wire would be in relation to the actual frame … it was that easy. I grabbed my hammer and nails and then hammered the nail into the stock cover photo. When I ripped the paper away, the frames were perfectly aligned. I definitely would have far fewer holes in my walls had I learned this trick sooner.
Here are some books with great sports photography:
Jack loves his hats. So, we decided to hang his hats on a wall—another simple idea for “wall decor.” I love this idea too because it meant they weren’t on the floor! I used one of my new favorite products: 3M clear Command Hooks. By the way, these hooks are great and so multi-functional because they are clear; you might even consider using them on a glass shower door when there isn’t a great place for a towel bar. (Oh, and I also am obsessed with their velcro strips.)
Goodbye gingham, Hello stripes & paisley. A new duvet cover and shams have a big impact in the transformation of the room.
Fun Accessories:
New lighting and a few fun accessories complete the refresh. I love the idea of some vintage items mixed with modern-day conveniences. An industrial size laundry basket is on order and I love that it’s on wheels. A simple square valet is perfect next to the bed where he can stash important items (his license, head phones and his phone… oh and did I say his PHONE?!?) A magic 8 ball always provides a little entertainment and the Wemo plug-in is a fun (and functional) way to turn on/off an outlet. Of course what teen room wouldn’t be complete without a way to listen to their play list. I love this speaker from Ultimate Ears – it’s small and portable, yet kicks out some serious sound.
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