Our 70s Split Redo Part IV: Our Toddler's Bedroom

It was really important to us for our little guy- Christian (2 yrs old)- to have a fun, happy & organized room when he transitioned out of the crib/ nursery to his "big boy bed" & new room this past summer. (And of course it had to be budget-friendly!) It's a TINY space and we decorated it with jungle animals & made a really big deal out of the move and he handled it perfectly. (Straight to bed and slept through the night from the start- wahoo!) Unfortunately I don't have any 'befores' of this room. Basically just picture it empty. With a combination of thrift-store finds, Ikea pieces, some DIY items and a splurge or 2, we got just what we wanted:

The inspiration for Christian's room came from these Ikea curtain panels. They reminded me so much of some of my favorite children's books: My Father's Dragon and The Saggy Baggy Elephant.

I decided to rip out the Saggy Baggy Elephant's pages & make a big story wall for him out of all of the different animals. (We used Michael's frames on sale for $10 each)

It's a super-easy & inexpensive way to treat a wall in a kid's room. Christian loves pointing out all the different animals:

Even his lamp is a macaw (below, by Arteriors Home- inspired by an Eddie Ross creation in a House Beautiful Weekend Shopper article.) I wanted this lamp from the moment I saw it (way before I knew we were going with a jungle room) and when it came time for a lamp I was so excited to get to include it!! (I'm often tempted to take it to other rooms ;)

The trundle bed with drawers & bedding is Ikea & I have to say how impressed I am by the green velvet blanket. I wanted to go with a crazy mix of green patterns & layers throughout the room to make it feel energetic & happy:

Our dog's bed is in here for now but she never uses it (she prefers ours- argg) & it's ended up as a nice hangout spot for Christian. The rug is from Dash & Albert & it's practically wall-to-wall because I'm just not that into our plain jane white carpet.

Christian has so much fun playing with his trucks & trains on it because its stripes are roads & train tracks for him.

And a fun addition to the room is the vintage wallpaper lion from Romp. -below- (They have so many great silhouettes- adorable!!) Dave hung him across the closet door & we slit him so the doors would open properly. He surprised me with the project being finished one day without asking where the lion was supposed to go on the door. (I'd originally planned for him to be walking along the floor at the bottom.) And I came in and he was floating!!! :) (and you really can't complain at all when your man is that sweet- so the only option was to make it work.)

SO, we decided to make a hill out of (what-else - we seemed to be crazed by it lately!) chalkboard paint!! Sometimes the "mistakes" end up being the best things in a space. Now there's a whole new activity area in the room:

I pulled out the red from the berries in the curtains by using this vintage bookshelf/ cabinet piece I found for $26 at a thrift store a few years back. (below) It's great because the bottom hides toys (it's a "garage" as Christian calls it for his trucks to sleep in) and the top houses tons of books. The alligator head used to live on top of it but it started SMELLING. (I am SO not kidding.) The room started to stink because of it!!!! It was awful, so he's bagged up & on his way out.

We're hanging the red chinoiserie mirror (below) in here too because it matches perfectly & has those crazy vines all over it (and got booted from the entry ;)

And one last pic (because you know I always go overboard with pics! ;) of the room, below:

Hope you enjoyed & can't wait to show you the nursery!! (I'm waiting on the finishing touches until the baby comes so I can do the boy/ girl thing -- Only a couple more weeks!!! :)

xoxo,

lauren