the boys’ room progress {walls, ceiling, light & shelves}

We’ve made some good progress on the boys’ room this past week or so. Just as a reminder, here’s the look we’re going for:

The first step was to paint the walls and ceiling.

{via my instagram feed}

I actually like painting and I’ve done it a ton in our house. But I am surprised to say that I’ve never painted walls white. And it felt super risky! Usually we give boring white walls personality with a nice paint color, but this was the opposite. Plus, white walls in a boys room? That’s kinda crazy. But their room felt dark with the big navy bunks and I’ve been craving white throughout most of our home, so it felt like the right choice for this room too. The color is Silky White by behr. It’s a nice slightly creamy white. It kinda makes me want to paint my room white too.

The ceiling is Rhino also by behr which is the same gray/blue we used in Audrey’s room. It’s very subtle, but light, bright and adds dimension.

Next came installing the light {depot ceiling lamp from potterybarn kids}.

{via my instagram feed}

I joke that I’ve become a professional light-installer, but seriously, I’ve done it four times now and haven’t shocked myself yet. Once you figure out which wires go with which, it’s just a matter of balancing the light fixture in one hand while tightening screws with the other. Totally doable and such an easy way to boost a room’s style.

One more project we did – and this time the kids were involved – was staining and installing shelves and brackets.

I bought three shelves and six brackets from ikea, and stained with minwax in special walnut.

You just brush it on, then wipe off with a clean rag.

The color is great – a nice natural medium-ish tone.

The middle boys helped stain the brackets. They loved it; I talked myself through it {it’s all going to be okay, it’s just stain}. I want them to help, I want them to take ownership, but sometimes help is not actually all that helpful when you’re as finicky as this mama.

Having help installing the shelves was actually both fun and helpful. We measured, found studs, marked, and screwed in the brackets.

So here we are now:

Walls and ceiling painted, light and shelves installed, rug and chair moved in.  Next up is a whole bunch of styling {my favorite part}, some diy projects for the walls, pillow making, art hanging and curtain-figuring-out. Still hoping to have it all finished before they head back to school just after labor day. I’ll keep you posted …

wall paint // ceiling paint // light // rug // shelves // brackets // striped duvets