Interior Design for "Every Other Weekend"

When I first met the two little boys who are now my step-sons, the youngest was about to turn five and the oldest was eight years old. Until then, my only parenting skills had been forged through a career in management--which may be loosely compared to parenting if you consider that it, too, involves mentoring, conflict mediation, holding accountable, rewarding and setting expectations for others on a regular basis. I'd also raised two spoiled-rotten dogs and managed to keep a few plants alive. However, being as I was into world travel and keenly focused on my career, children weren't exactly in my master plan. It's not that my biological clock hadn't ticked loudly enough yet; it's just that it hadn't ticked at all.

Yet as Fate would have it, the man who turned out to be The Love of my Life came with contractual clauses which could not be waived. Luckily for me, said clauses were these two charming little boys. So I dove into step-parenthood with an open mind but also with the same degree of caution one would need to travel safely to a foreign land--allowing myself to get excited about the adventures and sights to come, yet vigilant and alert to compensate for my lack of fluency in the language. Would I have what it takes to navigate successfully into this unknown?

Fast forward three years (and countless hiking trails, arts and crafts, baseball games, and road trips together) and the journey turned out to be a LOT less scary than I expected. Just like with any voyage worth taking, I also learned something new about myself. In this case, that I don't suck at step-parenting. So much so that I've grown to feel a deep sense of gratitude for these two vibrant, affectionate, creative little monkeys in our lives. 

A firm believer that actions speak louder than words, I sought a symbolic gesture to affirm my commitment to them as the Thanksgiving holiday approached, a labor of love that would reassure them in a tangible, meaningful way that we're in this together for the long term--even if it's just every other weekend. And oddly enough, THIS is how I finally got around to re-designing their bedroom, which was the one space in our home that still had an unfinished feel about it.

Perhaps because they only inhabit this bedroom every other weekend, or maybe due to the sudden circumstances under which they first occupied it three summers ago, this space was put together in provisional fashion with mismatched furniture and random bedding purchased in haste. Eventually--as time marched on and life became normal again--the bedroom began to resemble a storage cave for all sorts of "boy things:" Legos, sports equipment, wheeled trinkets, coloring books and Pokemon cards. It was also often strewn with clothes which exceeded the capacity of the old, wobbly drawer chest assigned for their storage.

I had to start somewhere, so I went about this project with the realization that painting walls was out of the question if I really wanted to get this done during the brief Thanksgiving break. Having accepted this, I turned my attention to Pinterest for inspiration. I found it in the blues, creamy whites, and corals of coastal design.

So the flimsy old bedding went straight into the donations bin-- and I headed straight into Target. I hit the jackpot right off the gate: a set of high thread count sheets in a shade nearly identical to that of the blue walls.The bounty kept accumulating--an isle away, I found an affordable twin comforter set made of durable fabric, in a broad-striped gradient of ocean blues with a cool crinkly texture. I'll take two, please!

I wanted to kick up my color scheme with a strong coral contrast--which is how the rug and the throw pillows made their way into my little red bottomless Target shopping cart.

As for the furniture, I chose this particular set because the color and grain are reminiscent of wooden baseball bats--and with baseball being so close to this family's heart, it seemed like a perfect choice.

A few beloved baseball mementos, a whimsical night lamp, and some of my own photography (enlarged to poster-size and framed to hang on the walls) gave the room a personal, custom touch. 

Of course, the addition of a large flat screen TV is not something they objected to. 

With Christmas coming up, I had yet another excuse to add an extra layer of whimsy and so I installed a 4-foot Christmas tree and decorated it to punctuate the room's color scheme.  

Combined with the blue twinkly Christmas lights stringed around the celiling's perimeter and the remote-controlled moon (which I combined with circular mirrors of different sizes to resemble a nocturnal sky scape),  these boys will never lack comforting night light sources to keep the Boogie Man away at all times.

Every-other-weekend rooming can be a challenge if you have two children of different ages sharing the same small space. Using contemporary furniture and an age-neutral color scheme (and staying away from character fads that are bound to become outdated as soon as the next Ninja Turtles/Iron Man/Lego movie comes out) the space will be able to grow with them for the next couple years. 

I will leave their playroom's re-design for a later post, but having the luxury of yet another spare room in the house at our disposal, the decision was deliberate to keep their sleeping space combined--rather than give them separate bedrooms. By isolating the play room, I hope to also isolate the mess that naturally comes hand in hand with boys and all their trinkets and toys, and therefore have a better chance to keep this bedroom a tidy, restful retreat where they can go to wind down free of distractions, with the exception of watching movies on the big screen TV. (The decision to not hook up a video game console or cable/satellite TV in this room was very deliberate, as those features are best suited for a playroom.)

Finally, here's the BEFORE and AFTER comparison you may have been wondering about...

Here's the embarrassingly cluttered and boring "BEFORE"

        

And here's, once again, the "AFTER." 

This redesign came in at just under $2,000 USD. Even without painting walls or ripping out carpeting (as I would have loved to do with more time and a bigger budget), I'd say we've come a long way, wouldn't you?