alex's room

As I had mentioned a few months ago, I was decorating a friend's nursery for her and even though the room was completed almost 3 months ago, I still have not taken any photos of it! That being said I've decided to post some pics of my son Alex's room. I really love his room! Now his room was completed at least 2 years ago when we moved him into a big boy's bed (he's 4 now), and I was determined to do something that he could grow with.


















Since Alex was only 2 at the time, I knew that if I asked him what he wanted the room would probably be plastered in cartoon characters of some sort (something of which I am NOT a big fan), so I turned to my husband for inspiration so to speak. My hubby LOVES cars...vintage cars, new cars, motorcycles, remote control cars, toy cars...the list goes on and on. I, however, did not want to do my son's room in a theme that would easily be forgotten or look like something that lots of other boys had.


















Thankfully my husband also had other interests, one of them being skateboarding. As a teenager he used to skateboard, and I'm pretty sure we still have a couple of his old skateboards in storage somewhere! We used a skateboard deck as a shelf, skateboard wheels as knobs for his dresser, and I was lucky enough to find mini skateboards that I utilized as 'drawer pulls' for storage bins and as wall hooks for hoodies, hats and bags.


















Finding a skateboarding themed quilt proved to be a little difficult, and after scouring numerous design and furniture sites I was lucky enough to find a surfing monkey quilt at Target. Normally I wouldn't have chosen anything with a character on it, but seeing that surfing kinda fell into the same category sports wise as skateboarding, and that Alex was born in the year of the monkey (Chinese calendar), I think it was the perfect solution.


















Storage was a big issue in his room as well, especially since his room was originally a den/solarium! Yup...NO CLOSETS!!! Thankfully his clothes all fit into a dresser, and the few items that do need to be hung are in his sister's closet or hanging from his skateboard hooks. We also turned a TV stand with a drawer into a toy bench. By removing the legs and adding some cushions it also serves as a nice little reading corner for our little one.

One of the most important things I learned when decorating my son's room, as well as my daughter's (pics will follow shortly:)) is that you can find great ideas anywhere...you aren't limited to things you find in children's furniture stores. I found great blue metal buckets to store toys and blocks in, but you'd never know that they were supposed to be used to house drinks and food for outdoor entertaining. Anyway, I hope I can inspire some of you mom's out there to think outside of the box, and try to do something unique for your kids...they will be just as proud of their own spaces as you are!