When it comes to designing a room for a boy, the key is to strike the right balance between functionality, creativity, and fun. A well-thought-out design plan can make the room a place where your little one can grow, learn, and play, while a carefully curated mood board can help bring that vision to life. My son loves everything a normal 8 year old boy would, sports stars, super heros and video games. My challenge is to somehow marry those things with a beautiful room design. So here is my plan….
Mood Board
Creating a Mood Board is always first!
It is always my go to when starting to think about plans for a space. I don’t really focus on the cost of the items, more just the cohesiveness of them. Putting everything out onto one canvas rerally can help you visualize how things will come together and if they mesh well. I use Canva and have a blog post for “Crafting the Perfect Mood Board” here to explain how to create one. Another example is this one I created when planning my dining room built ins.
This is just the best visual representation of your design ideas in my opinion. It can include color swatches, fabric samples, furniture styles, and decorative accents. This is where you can play with different elements to see how they work together before making any purchases. I also use this as a way to show my son the ideas I am thinking so that we can prevent any future mishaps when the project is underway!
Marrying “Sophisticated Style” with “Kid Style”
Probably the most difficult part of this room makeover is trying to please both myself and my son. Me as a mom, I want a designed room and needing that to mesh with the needs of my eight-year-old who wants toys everywhere.
The Focal Point - The Bed
To start I wanted to upgrade his bed to this faux, leather upholstered bed, I found on Amazon. The number one reason is because it gives the sophisticated charm I am looking for, but also provides a ton of storage underneath as it has built-in drawers that pull out. This also eliminates the constant annoyance of finding things underneath his bed, pairing that with the roll out storage leaving no gap under his bed, will solve all of these problems.
It also has built in USB ports on the side which will benefit him as he gets older.
The Closet
Next step is his closet. Because of where it is situated in the room right next to the entrance, the bifold doors are not able to open unless the bedroom doors are closed. My solution to fix this is to remove the bifold doors and make them join together to create a barn door that can slide. The added detail of making cut outs that have reeded glass inserts, will bring the sophistication up a bit. This is a pretty hefty DIY that I have no idea how I will complete, but I am definitely up for the challenge. Inspiration is to the right.
I also wanted to make his closet built-in. His current dresser can fit inside of the closet where most of his clothes get stored anyway. My thought is to build this out with hanging room across the top and dresser drawers all along the bottom. I am contemplating painting all of it a bold burgundy color to tie in the rug and possible accent wall.
Artwork - AKA Posters
The next element I needed to incorporate was the love he has for posters. In order to make them more cohesive I decided I would build 1×2 wood frames that would all match in the different sizes needed and create a gallery wall that all of them could go on. I haven’t quite decided the exact layout of this wall, but I might make it stand out by creating an accent color behind them that leads up onto the ceiling to create visual interest. The thought of a burgundy came to mind, tell me if thats crazy! Click the pictures to see all of the other posters I am having to work with!
Curtains
When I asked him the colors that he wanted his first choices were of course the Green Bay Packer colors and if you know me green is always my go to. I wanted to try a more bold curtain so I found these linen pinch pleat panels from TwoPages that bring a lot of sophistication and the green that he loves.
Rugs
I wanted to ground the space with a more vintage vibe rug, even though initially I wanted this plaid rug, but with the curtains, I think the two would clash.
Lastly, I would definitely bring in a faux plant and some gold accent lighting along with plush navy bedding and amber, green and rust throw pillows to tie it all together!
I am super stoked for the vision I have for this room and I hope it all comes together the way I see it in my head! Let me know what part of the project you hope I get to first and keep following along on my socials to see real time updates!
