Before:
When we first moved in this room was the subject of much speculation. In a house were every other room was painted the brightest, most vibrant colors, this room was beige to the extreme. Beige carpets, beige walls, beige trim. Perhaps they hadn’t decided on the right vivid color yet? I suspect that there was one person in the family who craved a calm neutral space. Steve’s theory is that it was the punishment room…”that’s it no more color for you young man!”
After:
The details:
He chose the paint color: Yolo Colorhouse Leaf .07.
The flooring is a local wide plank white pine.
I made the valences and the curtain for the closet door for his birthday. The valences are burlap leftover from the table coverings from our vow renewal. The horse fabric came from this Etsy shop.
The little bookshelf was built by Steve several years ago. The desk was another birthday present. Steve built it by modifying the Narrow Farmhouse Table plans by Ana White to fit the space. (yup, we’re still pretty crazy about Ana here) Elijah and I talked a lot about how best to finish it. He wanted both wood grain and color and he wanted it to be unique. Inspiration finally came in the form of these wooden bowls. I used General Finishes Water Base Dye Stain in both green and blue, layering one over the other and rubbing it away in parts to give it the uneven appearance, featuring many different shades.
Owl stencil here. We decided that the shape of the owl was most like a Great Horned Owl. That’s what I based the colors and shading off of. After the initial stenciling, I came back in and added some free hand details and connected all of the pieces.
The lamp over the bed. The desk lamp came from Goodwill.
The hammock chair was a gift from my sister.
The rug by the bed was Galen’s Christmas present to Elijah last year, made of wool roving, woven on a peg loom. We dyed the wool for the middle with oak leaves.
And all of the artwork, of course, is his own. He highly recommends the following books: Draw and Paint Realistic Horses and Drawing Horses: A Complete Drawing Kit for Beginners.
What a fab room – and the artwork – oh my goodness, it’s amazing. Very beautiful indeed, it would make a wonderful printed fabric!
WOW! His art work is amazing!
I am not sure what is more impressive…the art work or the neatness of the room! Great space!
He’s really quite wonderful about keeping it in good order. We filled the closet with shelves so that he has a place for everything and he is happiest with a clear and open space to work in. He’s even in the habit of periodically sorting through everything to make sure that it’s still valuable to him and worth the space it occupies.
His artwork is unbelievable! I am beyond impressed. Did he teach himself to draw, did you, or has he taken lessons? I love his room in general – so beautiful and clear of clutter! My children love to keep every little thing, so sometimes it is a struggle with clutter and we have to work on getting rid of things we no longer need. It’s a work in progress!
He’s completely self-taught. Those books that I mentioned at the end of the post have been a wonderful resource for him.
We have some “collectors” in the house as well, so I know that struggle! I think it really helps them to see spaces like his that are so easily maintained and always ready for whatever you want to do. There is always space and you can always find what you need. It can be inspiring! Sometimes I feel like it’s catching, even with those that want to hold on to every little scrap of paper and snippet of yarn.
Wow – so impressive that he is self taught. He is so talented! One of my girls loves horses, so I’ll have to look into those books. Thanks! I had to laugh at the scrap paper and yarn comment – that’s my girls! Both of them! We are working on it though and trying to teach them that less is often more…the less time we are cleaning up or organizing our things, the more time we have to do other things. Thanks for the inspiration through your son!
Hammock chair, super cool!
Even though that is a subset of Final. fm, a good website to get through tunes is by way of Turntable. fm