Ever since Keller lived in the corner of our bedroom in our apartment, I promised him I would get him a “man cave”.  He told me he needed a place where he could find peace and solace…away from the girls.  And I believed him.  The girls pick and pick like chickens and it’s a wonder he hasn’t given them his fist yet.  He takes it well and he’s learned an emphatic “No!” at a remarkably early age.  {Much earlier than the girls ever did.}

If you’re new here, you must know I’m a remodelaholic and a lover of all things design related. The downside is that we are renting our current house.  Because of that, I refuse to spend much money on decorating it, but I also want to make it “my home” while we’re here.

So, here’s my design on a dime in a rental space!

This tiny space doubles as our guest room, so my goal was to make the twin bed and the crib look like they went together.  I made the headboard and hung it so the height would be even with the height of the crib. And hung coordinating artwork above each sleeping space.

Every room was painted the exact same color when we moved here.  Everything.  Even the ceilings.  I decided to go for one wall in Keller’s room:

I was able to use some dark “oops” paint I had for a base and then all I needed was a quart of the chalk paint and voila’! Wall done for $11!

The wall sconce was a $5 craigslist find and I just painted the base black and the shades a beige color.  It’s completely not functioning, since we didn’t want to wire it when we don’t know how long we’ll be here.  But I wanted to add some cozy to the space, and small lights by the bed are just that.

I created the headboard using mostly stuff I had on hand.  You can read the tutorial HERE.  The ultrasound canvas is a favorite of mine.  I’m a sucker for ultrasound pictures.  We’ve always printed off a ton with each baby and sent them to family.

I had a canvas with a painting on it I didn’t like.  So I painted it black and then just taped on the various ultrasound photos from each of the kids.  I love that 4D one of Shiloh.  Absolutely a miracle, isn’t it?!

I did a similar thing with the other canvas…

We had a game that we had gotten tired of playing and I used the wood pieces and just hot glued them on.  It’s not perfectly measured, so just go with it, ok???

I had wanted a mobile for Keller, but didn’t want to go the traditional route.  I had this idea to hang paper airplanes, but couldn’t remember for the life of me how to make them.  {Isn’t that sad?}  So, I googled it.  I made them from mailing paper and old dictionary book pages and hung them with thread and thumbtacks.  If you ask me, my airplane-making-skills still look a little sad, but Keller was absolutely mesmerized by them.

I called it a success.

I didn’t get a good photo of the other wall where you walk in, but I got some closeups of these frames I filled with more homemade art.  We’ve been working on the “Fruits of the Spirit”, so I wanted to incorporate that somewhere…

I had wanted the room to have more of a vintage feel with the gingham ,wood toys and maybe an old school desk.  I only got so far as the gingham and wooden toys…

We went all-wooden-toys-for-Christmas this year…I’m thinking we’ll make that a tradition.

Gotta love Ikea!

This plane was found at a yard sale and I do love it…

Sometimes, when the girls are being bullies, Keller will go in his room and play with his toys. 

And it makes me smile.

Linking up to A Bowl Full of Lemons and Oopsey Daisy.

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