Carl's Room Reveal

Here is one happy teenager...

Home from camp,

and surprised on his birthday with an extreme room makeover.

This was an enormous task.

Carl left for camp on Sunday.

We emptied the entire room.

Mark sanded the floors.

Three coats of ceiling paint.

Three coats of sealer on the floors...sanding in between coats.

Two coats of "Starless Night" paint on the walls (Behr- Home Depot).

This involved a run to Home Depot, literally, for more paint, just before closing.

I was desperate to finish a wall, and Mark had the car.

I looked like a crazy woman in my paint-spattered clothes and birkenstocks.

I made it with 9 minutes to spare.

A few blisters later, I was home.

All that is left is the trim.

I'll tackle that after the kids are back in school.

Carl is a kid who doesn't like change.

The whole time we were a little nervous.

Once upon a time he said if he could change his room from tan, it would be midnight blue.

So...we went with that.

I knew he'd never part with his bed, chair, desk, or desk chair.

I also knew he'd want polar bears, basketballs, root beer bottles, art, and books to be a part of the room.

This was a challenge....

Come on in!

Oar ladder leading up to the loft,

Initialed pillow on Great Grandpa Malcolm's Lazy Boy chair,

Curious little sister checking it all out up above...

Shelf and light added up near bed.

On shelf are some of his polar bear collection and a copy of Harry Potter.

Under the loft is his desk area...

Mark made Carl this bed when he was 20 months old and Linnea was soon pushing him out of his crib. We had an oar head and footboard, and the design is similar to an Ikea bed. When we moved to Batavia we purchased more oars, and had them around the room as a border.

The desk is an old Ikea corner desk, and Mark added an extension.

A new pillow purchased for up top.

Well-loved Arctic, Carl's polar bear, peeking over the top...

I would have replaced the desk chair, but this was a non-negotiable for Carl.

It was my childhood chair.

Carl's a sentimental guy. :)

We did add a large basketball chair to sit on...

not pictured here as his sisters were using it.

I used his bottlecap collection to make some new magnets.

An old cork board was recovered with burlap.

Scrabble tile pushpins spell out his name.

Shelf on the other side of the room holds part of his root beer bottle collection.

The biggest challenge was organizing his stuff.

More pics to come of the closet redo.

-julie