Boys' bedroom finish!

I am thrilled to be able to share these pictures with you because this project has been a long time in the making. My two bigger boys share a room. I picked the pattern (Cranberry Chutney by Madison Cottage Design) and began buying fabric for their big boy bed quilts in June of 2013. Since last spring, my mom and I have been working on these quilts--we each sewed about half the blocks (I think she made more than me), and then we each assembled one quilt. When I was back in my hometown in October, I visited the local quilt shop there to choose the quilting pattern and thread color, knowing that the quilts were almost done. I finished the quilt backs in November and Mom dropped the quilts off for me at Patched Works, with the promise of a mid-December delivery date.

Here are the quilts, done and on the big boys' beds:

Both beds, with the orange nightstand in the middle.
I love the teal lamps (from Target) that serve as reading lamps.

 A little closer look at each bed:

The best Christmas present? At her offer, I had given Mom the leftover fabric to make a scrappy binding. She not only made the binding for both, but sewed them to the quilts, and then hand stitched them to the back on about 90% of the quilts before we saw her after Christmas. Wow! Thanks Mom!

I finished the last bit this week and took pics on the beds this morning. Now to train the boys to make their beds!

Here are the finished backs of the quilts. Since I was putting so much time and money into these quilts, I decided to make them reversible, or at least more fun than just a single backing fabric. Each back is a version of the block concept on the front (except obviously not square). When I first came up with this idea, Thomas wanted the green and Jojo the orange. During the last few months, their favorite colors changed, and they flip flopped. I'm just happy that no one protested the colors I used!

A closer look at the green back:

And the orange back. I used a green-yellow thread on both, at the recommendation of the lovely Julie at Patched Works. You can see the quilting pattern a little better on this side, at least in the photos.

Here's the dresser on the opposite wall, as well as the wall art. The boys are really into superheroes right now, and I found these cool tin wall art pieces at Hobby Lobby. I found the center piece on Etsy. In case you can't read it, it says "Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero."

I'm really glad that their room is finished! Now on to the next project....

How many swatches does it take to paint a room?

By my count, at least 20!

I had a vision for what I wanted my boys' room to look like, and it involved a fairly dark wall color. I'm not afraid of wall color--the further away from white or cream it is, the happier I am! But choosing the right shade was tricky. If I was off just a little bit, the room would look like an 80s remake. And while those 80s styles are coming back in clothing, they're definitely not returning to popularity in home decor!
I was aiming for a dark teal. Every time I went to a home improvement store (often), I picked up more swatches. What looked perfect in the store was murky deep-sea green or super blue at home. Twice I thought I had the right swatch picked out and brought home a sample jar to try on the wall.

I wasn't kidding when I said I was all over the place on the right color--look how different these two are!
And, a quick side story. Getting the boys' room completely put together was absolutely first on my list (well, actually tied with removing the kitchen wallpaper).  The day the movers brought our things to the house, my best friend, who is an interior designer, was visiting to help corral the boys. She and I disappeared upstairs while my husband was immersed in kitchen boxes, trying to get our house in some semblance of working order. Meanwhile, she and I are merrily auditioning the first sample color on the wall, holding up fabrics for matching and looking from different angles to see how the light changed the color. I had an expert in the house--I wanted to take advantage of getting her opinion! Makes sense right?
About 20 minutes and several boxes later, he comes looking for us. Seven years of marriage means that he *knew* I hadn't disappeared to unpack boxes. His incredulous response: "You're painting? We have a houseful of boxes to put away and you're trying out paint colors?!" Yup. Clearly we had/have different priorities! :) And I'm so grateful that he's an incredibly efficient box unpacker. He had that kitchen whipped into shape before we went to bed!

The swatch that is X'ed out is the paint color I bought. Menard's mixed a primer for me that was the color of the swatch with the arrow. I put that up, thought it looked pretty good, and wondered how much darker the X'ed swatch would be. The answer: TOO dark. I went back the next day for a gallon of the arrow'ed color. And if anyone wants a gallon of a very dark (but beautiful) teal, let me know. I've got one to spare. Click here to see pictures of the finished room, the quilt(s), bumpers, closet curtain and wall art that go with it, and my future plans to convert it from nursery into toddler style.