It’s clean out and paint day at house Shaw. We are continuing to set Jaiden up with a room that he loves. Note: I think that it’s VERY important as we move forward in our story here that we all agree that this is a safe place and there are no harsh judgments as far as how this room started. I have already admitted to ya’ll that this has been a really unfortunate room for a really long while. Admitting there is a problem is the first step, right? Saying that, oh my gosh I can’t believe I am going to show this to you all, but…breath in through my nose, out through the mouth…This is where we started:
before pic, remember we aren’t judging..LOL
I’m sure that Jai would appreciate any cards or letters of encouragement. He is a strong young man who has been through a lot, design speaking. The before pic looks pretty bleak but in full disclosure, this was actually after some extensive cleaning out of all the junk. Yes folks, it started out worse!
OK, so with the benefit of hindsight, maybe it’s been a while since I had Jai clean out his room. Like a really long while. I’m not talking, “clean your room”. He does that all the time, I’m talking CLEAN OUT the room. Seriously, time sure does fly when you are distracted by life and and not focused on just how much stuff gets crammed into your kid’s bedroom! I wanted to start this project with a blank slate, not just shuffling things around from one room to another as typically happens around here when we’ve had the kids move out or around. This was going to be a real deal Tabula Rasa opportunity to make a change for the better and I wanted to do it right.
With that, first things first. Clean it all out. Dressers, closets, all of it. While we were doing this, we took the time to evaluate what Jai actually uses, how it’s being used and, most importantly,, what’s NOT being used. For instance, Jai had an IKEA desk for a computer that he never used. I mean NEVER. The thing wasn’t even plugged into the wall. Why was that desk even in here? OH, I know…to collect old candy wrappers from last Easter and school event pamphlets that Mom never saw. Right. I think that parent night potluck 3 months ago might have been fun! This desk was just a place to put stuff and going through it was a lot like an archaeological dig of his high school career. There may have been evidence of past cultures in there if we had not just one arm swiped it all into the garbage bag! Sorry science!
With the palette clean and ready for some design magic, we turned our focus to the headboard wall. Jai really loved the idea of a watercolor focal wall, as did I. I ran across some really neat ones as I was researching this project. I priced out watercolor wall paper, and if you haven’t caught hold of this yet, you need to. There are some amazing watercolor wallpapers at muralswallpaper.com and through Etsy. It’s a one-of-a-kind look and I love the moodiness of it. For me, this approach priced out to about 2/3 of my overall budget, and with Jai graduating high school in a couple of years, I just couldn’t rationalize the price, no matter how amazing. For me, the cost just didn’t seem like the way to get the most bang out of our budget buck. I only budgeted $600 to do this top to bottom, so, we tried this instead…
Now, I am not much of a DIY-er, I’ll be the first to admit. I was really bummed and a little freaked out over the thought of trying to paint this thing as a watercolor. I searched YouTube high and low and there was nothing that I could find specifically on how to do this, but we were going to paint this wall anyway, so we figured we had nothing to lose. Jai and I decided to go for it!
Yeah, gang, That’s the wall. I know, right? Not too shabby for some first-time muralists! We decided we totally liked how it came out. It was our own version of the watercolor and it shows that sometimes you just have to go for it and see what happens. Design is an adventure. You never know where the path is really going to lead you once creativity takes over the drivers seat. This process has proven so far to be a complete blast and I can’t wait to share how things ultimately come together. Keep posted, ya’ll!
Go to Instagram @shawsquaredesign and follow the adventure of shawsquare design. share your home with me at #shawsquarehomeshare. if you have a design snag or question, send them to me and let’s find a solution together. Share your kid’s room success stories or What-The-hecks in the comments below. I would love to see what you are doing in your home!
