the boys' room

Yikes - I've been been meaning to get this up for almost two months but I've got a very full plate of napping when the kids are napping, reading vapid beach reads when the kids are napping, and keeping my young fed. Busy! Busy! But, here we are - finally.

Unlike the girls' room - the boys' room didn't make me cringe every time I walked in mostly because their carpet was actually in decent shape and NOT littered with stains galore and I'd put a little more effort into it previously but Sebastian was getting a little tall for his toddler bed so we figured it was time to make the jump to bunks ...

All photos taken by Becca - one day I'll take photos 1/4 as lovely as hers - I hope. 

I was determined to find an IKEA Kura bed on Craigslist (or similar secondhand site) which proved to be a lot more difficult than anticipated because apparently the secondhand Kura market is a hot one. The beds were always claimed even five minutes after they were listed but f-i-n-a-l-l-y after over a month of persistent scouring - I found one. Simon went to go pick it up and when he got there it was partially assembled so he took the rest apart and brought it home. I was also (stupidly) determined to paint it light grey with paint leftover from painting our room despite the fact that there were 2934829038490283490238423948 pieces to paint. It took over a week of nap times and late nights but I got it done - with Simon's eventual and generous help.

Aren't you glad I'm telling you this story? Anyway, we went to put it together and realized that it was actually missing 18 screws.

Ooooops.

Luckily, our local IKEA had said screws (not usually the case, apparently) and only charged us 50 cents for all of them. But, while Simon was there buying the screws he went ahead and just bought the girls a new Kura bunk and Grace went ahead and did not paint that set.

Even after all my painting - I still totally missed one side of one visible piece. C'est la vie.

We did replace the boys' carpet because we bought super inexpensive factory grade carpet and to buy and install it was right around $100 and it felt worth it in the likely event that we'll be moving and have to list and sell our house in about a year.

It seems fitting that Humpty Dumpty would be a little crooked. I guess. The secret to keeping everything else in place is this museum putty although I'm pretty sure Sebastian has since switched the shark and the panda. I guess there's a bit of an unofficial and unintended animal theme only because I hung up what we already had on hand.

The boys are loving having their own little areas and I knew we'd like the bunkbeds but we REALLY love them and I almost wish we'd made the switch sooner. Well, I don't love changing and washing the sheets especially in the second half of the third trimester BUT - it's not that bad. I think I mentioned in the girls' room post that when it's time for Bosco to move in with the boys we'll move the boys to the girls' room because it's a little bigger and there will be room for a toddler bed (or crib - he still LOVES his crib and I'm not going to upset that relationship) in there.

Dresser complete with drawer not totally pushed in - we'll all survive. I'm probably a little overzealous about constantly going through the kids' clothes and weeding out what doesn't fit, or they never wear, or is torn/stained beyond repair so that we don't have clothespacolpyse all over the place ALL the time (it's still that way some of the time - especially in the girls' room because one of them changes her outfit 78 times a day). Sometimes I'm tempted to look for bigger dressers for the kids but that just means more clothes and more mess and more laundry so - we're good for now.

Am I counting down the days until the kids are out of school for the summer for the sole reason that I can empty their uniform drawer to store away in a closet and free up some drawer space for swimsuits? I am. Do I have a problem? I might.

Also, yes I do such a wonderful job of combing through the kids clothing as Phoebe showcases her favorite dress-missing-a-button.

I love the boys' sheets because they bleach well, haven't faded, are soft but not super thin and almost want to get a set for the master bedroom - I still might. They also have extra thick pieces of elastic on the corners which makes them SO much easier to put on than regular fitted sheets which normally frustrate me to no end. Bravo, sheets.

I don't know why but I normally end up changing Bosco's diaper on the top bunk (I don't climb up there - it's just the perfect height for me to stand) and he's endlessly entertained by that shark head so it works out well.

faux succulents (fau-cculents? no, Grace) forever.

And that's it! I admit that I thought the room would magically stay cleanish with the new setup but that's not even kind of the case and I'm constantly baffled at the speed of which they're able to trash it real good but - such is life with humans - big and small.

Happy Thursday!

Oh! Here's a look at the before bunk arrangement!