Shared Boys Bedroom – Nordic Industrial One Room Challenge Reveal

We made over our boys’ shared bedroom in 6 weeks as part of the One Room Challenge and the reveal is here! With a Nordic Industrial vibe- this blue boys room is packed with storage and simple, tone on tone style. 

You guys, I’m so excited to be finishing this space! We worked on it until last night and I woke up early this morning to photograph it but it is DONE and I am loving it. And so are the boys, which really is the whole reason we took it on! If you haven’t been following along with the makeover, I’ve taken on making over this room in 6 weeks as a guest participant in the Spring One Room Challenge. I shared my plans for the space 6 weeks ago- a nordic industrial vibe for our boys’ shared bedroom. There’s three kiddos in this space so it had to be completely functional with lots of storage and still leave space to play and create. And sleep ;)

I feel like we made it all happen and I’m pretty darn proud to see it come together in the final moments. Also… we kind of kicked the boys out of here the last few days since there was so much to do and we really can only work once they’re in bed (babies and paint are just a messy combination- just see the last photo in this) so everyone in our house is excited that the room is THEIRS again… they can mess it up and clean it up and I don’t have to take pictures or keep them from touching wet paint. In this room anyways, now back to painting the rest of the entry way… #renovationlife

OKAY enough about that… Ready to see it all?! Ahhh, me too! But first… BEFORE PHOTOS!

I honestly can’t believe it looked like this now. It’s a totally different space. From the flooring to the doors and trim and lights and valance and window… the room is totally refreshed. If you’re interested in more before photos from our home- you can check out a full video tour here. And now for the video tour of this space! A full blog post is below if that’s more your jam :)

*Some of the pieces in this room were sponsored either for this room makeover or for ones in our past house. Big thanks to Imagine the Room, Home Depot Canada, Walnut Hollow, Fusion Mineral Paint, Home Pop and Article for partnering on this space! Also- I’m a guest participant in the One Room Challenge which means I’m choosing to join in :)*

Going back to the design plans… the biggest things the boys had requested in here were blue paint and a desk. They had other requests, of course: a mirror, a cool light, a place for my rock collection, etc. And I feel like we checked all of those boxes with this space.

Let’s start with the blue. I picked the blue because of it’s muted nordic vibe. I wrote a whole post about designing a room with your kids but the picking paint part of that is basically to let your kids pick a general colour (blue), then pick a few swatches that you love and then let your kids decide which one. They will be happy that it’s their choice and you will be happy too. My kids are totally on board with this- I can imagine when they’re teens, they’ll be a bit more demanding but for now… it’s a great system for us! The colour we landed on is called Nor’Wester from Behr. It’s the perfect blue- I’m obsessed.

It’s even more beautiful on that skinnylap wall… vertical skinny shiplap that was sooo easy (I’m sharing a tutorial in partnership with Home Depot and Alexandria Moulding soon!) and adds the perfect amount of texture to the tone on tone space. I love that even though it’s all the same blue, this really adds a ‘feature’ wall to the room that you can focus on. Since the first thing that you see when you walk in is the desk, this really makes a second moment in the room. The letters on the wall are ones I had a friend pick up for me from Hobby Lobby (thanks Kala!). The whale print here is from Minted that we got a couple years ago for Windsor’s nursery in our old house. You can see how cute that whale themed room turned out right here!

Speaking of that feature wall… we carried that treatment over to under the desk area. This was a spur of the moment decision as we were building the desk because there was only ONE stud on the wall where the desk anchored (left). It was such a win of an idea (thanks Shane!). I’m going to be sharing a full tutorial on the desk (that was my plan for last week’s ORC update but it just didn’t happen in time!) where I’ll share more about it but I’m really in love with how that skinnylap looks under there. It also gives a great surface for those boys to kick at other than drywall because goodness knows they’ll be kicking while they colour.

The desk was such a big deal for the boys. They were dead set on having drawers for their desk but we knew we wanted to be able to have both of the older boys sit at the desk at one time. We decided building was our best bet to get a desk the size we needed but really didn’t feel like we wanted to take on a complicated build with drawers when were are knee deep in an exterior remodel as well. This desk is the perfect combination with an IKEA Alex set of desk drawers and a waterfall plywood top inspired by Vintage Revivals’ laundry room.

The chairs here are the same ones we have in our dining room at the ends of the table. They are the Ceres chair from Article and they’re such a modern staple- simple and clean and still comfy. Other little bits on the desk? The pencil can and the garbage bucket are both antique/thrifted and that lamp is an IKEA RANARP lamp that I’ve had for years that I wasn’t using in my office. I painted the gold bits black with Fusion Mineral Paint in Coal Black (leftover from another project!) and it’s now perfect for this boys bedroom space and cost me nothing #win. Oh! And that sweet letterboard I purchased from my friend Bethany at TLE Design + Build, they do such beautiful work!

Above the desk, we used IKEA SAMMANHANG shelves for the boys to be able to change up their decor and display their favourite art, collections, and creations. I’m sure they’ll have it redecorated by the time I wake up in the morning and I’m excited to see what they decide to display! For now, I’ve put some of their art, lego creations, rock collections and some of my favourite photos of them up there. Emmitt and Aubrey picked the quote ‘You Can Change The World’ for me to letter and add in (you can’t say no to that!). The other request was, ‘I like rocks and stuff’ but we agreed displaying the rocks would be even better. We did a similar shelf display above Aubrey’s desk in her room makeover last fall– it’s so fun for them to be able to decorate the shelves however they please and it keeps them from taping their pictures all over the walls.

To have a desk in the boys bedroom, we had to be really strategic with our storage. We partnered with Imagine the Room Kamloops to make over the boys’ closet and were able to ditch the dresser altogether. LIFE CHANGING. Seriously, after working with Imagine the Room on a few of our closets, I’m addicted and don’t know how we did life without good closet organizers before. I wrote a whole post showing exactly what we keep in our closet and tips for shared kids closets- find it here!

One of the things that we don’t keep in the closet is kids jackets- I just have one sweater on here right now to make it more pretty for photos, but these little hooks are easy for the kids to use each day and tuck nicely behind their door. That ‘Pastoor’ jersey name is such a sweet little sentimental nod that totally suits the style of the room. Shane’s grandma passed away earlier this year and this is something she had saved from one of the boys (Shane or his brothers) hockey jerseys as a kid. We’re grateful to have that bit of memory in the boys room now.

Right next to that is this sweet little wooden banner I made to match the one I crafted for Aubrey’s bedroom. They both say the same thing, ‘Kind is Cool’ with different lettering. I think it’s such a good reminder for kiddos every day and when crafts take less than 5 minutes and look this rad, I’m all over it. Would you like to see a tutorial?!

One of our challenges on the main floor of our house is miscellaneous toys that travel upstairs from the playroom and then have nowhere to go. When Home Pop reached out and offered to send a furniture piece for the boys room, I was so excited to find this buffalo plaid storage ottoman to use as a toy chest. But it’s way more beautiful than a toy chest and will grow with the boys as they become teens and no longer want a ‘toy box’ in their room.

We took this little nook with the toy storage and added Windsor’s requested mirror and that cute stuffed bear mount. Both of these are clearance finds from HomeSense over the years. I had the bear in the last kids’ bedroom and that mirror I bought 7+ years ago and never found a great spot for it. I’ve been on a bit of a minimalism kick lately, purging all sorts of things and I can’t believe that I held on to a MIRROR for SEVEN YEARS WITHOUT EVER HANGING IT. But it has a home now.

Speaking of my little fling with minimalism… I’m a long way from being a minimalist but each time I makeover a room I find I use LESS for decor. I had a couple rad shelves I wanted to put in here but felt like this was more than enough decor so put those downstairs to hang in the play room. The ‘reject’ pile of decor that I thought I would use in here (all that we already owned) was huge, I surprised myself. My affinity for less is coming through in every way.

Can we chat about that window for a minute?! Recognize that wood shade? Well aren’t I sneaky ;) I used my DIY faux wood shade hack in here as well, this time over top of a cordless black out shade. It adds the natural tones and texture that I wanted in here without the steep price tag of a blackout wooden shade.

Now… bedtime! Ha ;) This crib was Emmitt’s when he was a babe (way back before I really realized my style- see it in the very last photo!). It’s totally beat up under all that paint. Like… teeth marks and all. We decided to paint the crib and the bunk beds to give them a fresh look instead of replacing them $$$. Painting furniture is actually one of my least favourite tasks… ever. Give an Enneagram 7 a monotonous job that takes forever and you’ll have a girl in near tears. But it’s DONE  and was really worth it.

I used Fusion Mineral Paint in the colour ‘Pebble’ and did two coats before adding their ‘Tough Coat’ top coat. They’ve been painted for about a month and so far I’m totally impressed with how they have held up. We’ve scrubbed poop off that crib (wish I was kidding) and the kids have hung and swung and every other thing you can think of off the bunk bed. So far so good!

As for the bedding, we used what we had here too. I bought those comforter sets for the kids shared room at our last house (when Windsor graduated to a big kid bed!) and we’ve had that crib sheet since the twins were babies as well. The only thing that was new to their room here is those blue macrame pillows and those were from our living room at the last house. Shopping your house for the win! BUT just throwing this out there… these comforters are impossible to get looking not wrinkled. Impossible. IMPOSSIBLE.

While we’re talking bunk beds… NIGHTSTANDS?! They’re such a challenge. My boys have been sleeping with their water bottles in their beds because they haven’t had nightstands here. In the last house, we’d mounted little floating shelves for their nightstands. We opted for these sweet little wall shelves this time around. Walnut Hollow sent them to us and we painted them out the wall colour. They’re perfect for a few books and then they can put their water bottle there at bedtime too.

The other thing that they have in their beds is a little sconce each. These sconces are just plug in and have a little knob on the plate of the light instead of on the cord. I love that the older two boys can read in bed now without having the main light on (and without us replacing book light batteries all the time!). I think these little ‘personal’ things for them make such a big difference in shared spaces. That light, that nightstand… they are their personal things. They don’t have to share them even though they share everything else. They each also have a drawer in the desk that’s their ‘personal’ drawer. They can store whatever they want in there… rocks, drawings, chapstick… whatever.

The other pieces in this room? That shag rug is from their last shared bedroom and the pouff is from the nursery at our last place. The only other new thing in here is that light! I’m so glad to have that old ceiling fan out of here. Not only was it dated as can be but it would get turned on occasionally and was the perfect height for our kids to put their hands in from the bunk bed. No thank you. This industrial number is from Amazon. Emmitt found a very similar one on Wayfair he loved (shopping with 5 year olds is so much fun, you guys!) and then I found this one for a bit less.

Whew! That was a bit of a long post, hey?! If I’ve missed chatting about any of the details you’re interested in, drop questions in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer! If you’re looking for more room makeover goodness- make sure to hop over and check out all the One Room Challenge reveals today!

BOYS ROOM SOURCES:

Mmmkay, I know this list is comprehensive. But if it saves you asking me and waiting for me to respond as I dig through links for ya, that’s worth it, right?! Affiliate links were possible. XO

• Paint Colour: Nor’Wester from Behr
• Beds Paint Colour: Pebble from Fusion Mineral Paint
• Closet Organizer: Imagine The Room Kamloops
• Cage Industrial Ceiling Light: Amazon
• Wood Shades: They’re a hack! See the DIY here 
• Rug: Rugs USA
• Desk: It’s a DIY! Tutorial coming soon, drawers from IKEA
• Desk Chairs: Ceres from Article
• Metal Shelves: IKEA Sammanhang
• Desk Lamp: IKEA Ranarp (painted the gold)
• Buffalo Check Ottoman: Drake from Home Pop
• Bunk Beds: Leons Furniture
• Whale Art: Minted
• Metal Letters: Hobby Lobby
• Bedding: Target, discontinued
• Wool Baby Blanket + Numbered Pouff: Honest to Nod/ Crate + Kids, Discontinued
• Bear Ears Pillow: A DIY! Tutorial here
• Blue Macrame Pillows: Sears… so sad!
• Sconces: Globe Electric from Amazon
• All Sheets from Homesense (they have the cutest kids sheets!)
• Nightstand shelves: Walnut Hollow, painted wall colour
• Mirror + Stuffed Bear Mount: Homesense as well!
• ABC Hamper: Amazon
• Wooden Letterboard: This Little Estate Design and Build
• Yay Flag: DIY from wwaaaaayy back when I wrote for Bespoke Decor
• Black coat hooks: H+M Home
• Door Knobs: Bowery by Schlage
• Closet Pulls: Franklin Brass via Amazon
• All hand lettered pieces done by me… in a rush at the 11th hour ;)
• And since I’m a DIY blogger, I’ve got to link that copper dino DIY and the wood ‘kid you’ll move mountains’ art!