When I Have More Money: One Room Challenge: THE REVEAL!

Sound the horns, strike the drums, or do whatever you do to attract a ton of attention because today is the day – today you get to see the AFTER of our 6-week One Room Challenge. Are you excited? I’m excited. But to quickly recap for anyone who might be new here for this ORC, I decided to transfer my son’s nursery into a toddler room – since he is three, going on ten, now. I’ve summarized the room’s before look for you quickly below.

one room challenge toddler room on apartment 34

And without further ado, here’s our after!

one room challenge toddler room on apartment 34

Do you love?! I love. I’m seriously so happy. But where to begin, where to begin?! Well, let’s dive into room layout first. I essentially mimicked the very same layout I used for my nursery design. As I’ve mentioned, this room is shoebox-shaped, and not particularly spacious. There’s only one solid wall. All the other walls are either broken up by windows or doors. So I stuck with what I knew. Thankfully, I was able to use an amazing new moving and storage service called Trove to come in and move all of my nursery furniture out so I could move all the new pieces in all in a single morning.

Bed on the far wall to the left of the central window. Bookcase to the window’s right. Reading chair floating next to (the dreaded!) curved wall. But suddenly it feels as if the amount of space we have has doubled. I accomplished this by getting rid of all things oversized. The 8×10 area rug, the floor-skimming drapes, the oversized glider – they are all gone (and I ain’t sad about it). Suddenly it’s like the space has room to breathe. But it makes sense. The nursery was about being cozy and nesting. The new version of this room is about making room for energy, fun, and play.

one room challenge toddler room on apartment 34

Shall we talk color scheme next?? I hinted at my paint inspiration in previous weeks’ posts, but did you guess what I would do? I really didn’t want to fully repaint the room as I still love its original light gray, but the transformation did require a little refresh – something to make the room feel more mature. Well, I went with the triangle around the toddler bed idea and I’m obsessed with how it turned out. The paint color is a gorgeous deep teal called Hague Blue from Farrow & Ball. It became the inspiration for all the other blue accents in the room.

I love how the triangle cocoons the bed and offers a graphic punch. I decided to go with a toddler bed because, well look at it, it’s just too dang cute. My son thinks its a car. I’m also hoping that the nest effect will entice him to actually sleep in his new big boy bed because right now he continues to opt for the crib (any and all parental advice on this one def welcome!). I kept the bedding nice and simple and added just a little graphic touch with a pillow from Pom Pom at Home.

Since we live in earthquake-prone San Francisco, art over beds is generally frowned upon, and so I needed to come up with some innovative ways to be able to hang art. I did that in two ways – first, I simply decided not to frame my art find – Sloths Riding a Tandem Bike with a Surfboard (love!). I then decided to hang the print using simple clips. It feels both more young and more casual that way. Bonus, using clips also doesn’t damage my 150 yr old plaster walls (more to come on the challenges of plaster – keep scrolling).

one room challenge toddler room on apartment 34

A simple, modern Nova End Table from Room & Board in black offers a landing spot for books, my husband’s childhood pinewood derby car and my latest favorite parenting invention – the Stay in Bed clock. These things turn from yellow to green telling your child when its ok to get up. Genius. A gorgeous Helix Light in deep navy created by my friend and rope artist Windy Chien serves as a gorgeous bedside light.

one room challenge toddler room on apartment 34

Opposite the toddler bed sits the room’s new play/reading corner. I love the open, modern vibe. It’s now super easy for my son to pick from his ever-growing book collection or pull out his legos for a major building session. On the upper shelves I added an homage to his current interests including a guitar print by another friend, artist Jennifer Ament, and a replica of Sutro Tower, a San Francisco landmark that we can see from our neighborhood.

The Wing Chair from Overstock offers a comfy seat to read. I love the low profile. It’s also really comfortable for humans of all sizes – my three-footer and my six-footer both really like it. A striped round rug from eSale Rugs offers the perfect little padded play space. And I continued to pull in my blue accent color through the custom roman shades I had made with Dwell Studio fabric at Calico Corners. I love the road-like ribbon pattern. Blackout shades are must for those tiny humans. They make bedtime so much easier!

one room challenge toddler room on apartment 34

The Woopsy Desk Lamp from LampsPlus offers a little whimsy. The Children’s Dictionary also comes from my husband’s childhood room. Some prized construction vehicles and jungle friends from my favorite kid’s shop Bitte take pride of place.

And now to my curved wall challenge.

one room challenge toddler room on apartment 34

To accentuate the wall, I added three dimensional constellations! Now I can’t take total claim for the idea. I spied something similar in a room by J&J Designs. I’d be hoping to incorporate something star themed for a couple of reasons. Carter had a print of his astrological sign hanging over his crib so I wanted to keep the theme going. We also sing Twinkle Twinkle Star every night.

But perhaps most importantly, the way I conceived of the solution solved both my curved wall and my plaster problems. If you’ve never worked with plaster – don’t. It is SUCH a pain. It is highly ill-advised to put holes into plaster as it can make the entire wall crack. And once you do poke a hold there really isn’t any covering it. So instead, I used magnetic paint (per many a commenter’s suggestion). Then to create the constellations I simply used a magnets to create each shape.

Truthfully, I’m a little disappointed with how the constellations look in photos. These images don’t really do the effect justice. It would have photoed better if I had used black cord, but I found glow-in-the-dark cord that makes his wall

one room challenge toddler room on apartment 34

Now, I couldn’t only use the Hague Blue around the toddler bed. I needed that color elsewhere in the room – and so to the closet I went! I painted both the exterior french doors and an an interior wall in that nice rich color.

one room challenge toddler room on apartment 34

I also transformed the closet back from a mini play area into the storage space I know we’re going to need long term. Thankfully I could find a stylish dresser that fit into the relatively small space at Room & Board. They have such a great variety of sizes, styles and finishes. I knew I could find the perfect piece.

A sturdy two-toned basket from Overstock serves as a new laundry bin and I added a simple coat rack for jackets, hats and backpacks. It’s never too early to teach a kid that there’s a place for everything and everything should go back in it’s place! We’ll see how that goes of course.

I couldn’t bare to part with the animal alphabet print I got before I was ever pregnant so it now adorns the back closet wall. A Hey Handsome print from Minted is another nursery holdover. I couldn’t help myself – it’s too cute.

one room challenge toddler room on apartment 34

So there you have it. I’m pleased to report that my kiddo is totally into his new room. He’s already spending more time playing in there then he had before (mission accomplished!).

I so hope you enjoyed following along over the last six weeks. I’ve truly appreciated everyone’s comments, ideas and suggestions.

one room challenge toddler room on apartment 34