Hellobee

I’d been putting off sharing the end result of Roman’s first children’s room in hopes that I’d eventually finish decorating with all the little touches I originally dreamt up. Alas, with us moving to a new apartment a month from now, this is as good as it’s going to get!

When we first moved from our one bedroom apartment to our first two bedroom home, I was pretty excited to decorate Roman’s first official bedroom. When our daughter was born unexpectedly at 30 weeks exactly one week after we moved in, those interior decorating dreams no longer felt so important or interesting. Trips to Ikea, however, did have a magical way of making me feel in control of something. And we made a lot of them.

As I wrote about a while back, we planned to set up Roman’s room Montessori style with his own floor bed since he had been co-sleeping with us on a floor bed up to that point. We focused on making the room safe for him to play in independently since he would be free to get up and explore at his will. He’s a climber and a jumper so we thought through every little thing that could be potentially dangerous. More recently we even decided to get rid of his dresser. My husband read something about the risks involving kids and dressers and we have caught Roman on more than one occasion trying to climb up it, so that was that! He moves around so much in his sleep we even padded the walls!

Since Roman has a long history of being sleep averse I also tried to create the room as a sleep space as opposed to a play space. It is a haven for all of his stuffed animals and many of his books, but no toys, which would inevitably distract him at bedtime while we lie on his floor bed trying to read stories and sing songs until he cuddles up and falls asleep. I think the teepee and stuffed animals have offered enough to amuse himself with when he wakes up and scoots out of bed! I did of course want to make it a whimsical, fun feeling space that he’d be drawn to, that would feel like his own.

In his room:

– Ikea Picture Ledge/Book Shelves: I love that these make his books easily visible and accessible! Admittedly, we have a problem with over stuffing them, in which case they fall off and end up piled up all over the floor!

– DIY Wall Padding: For a quick renter-friendly DIY headboard we made a trip to Home Depot and bought some affordable sheets of plywood. They cut them to size for us there. I ordered upholstery foam on amazon and used an old sheet for the fabric (for our next apartment I fully intend to pick out some fun fabric!). I am not an experienced DIY guru, but I simply cut the foam to fit the boards, glued it down with some gorilla glue, let it dry, laid out the fabric, placed the foam boards on top, cut the fabric, wrapped it around the boards and stapled it on tight with a staple gun! Thicker fabric would have done a better job, but this worked and has held up without a problem all year. I stuck the “headboard/ wall padding” to his walls with heavy duty mounting tape.

– DIY Paper Source Letters: I made these spelling his name for his first nursery nook!

– Tuft and Needle Mattress: We went with a full size since we lay with him until he falls asleep (and often end up sleeping with him). We also went with the 5″ thick version, which is better for a floor mattress, since thicker mattresses need room to breathe. It seems they may no longer offer this, and their prices seem higher, but we love these mattresses!

– House Inhabit Teepee: A very sturdy indoor/ outdoor teepee! The perfect home for all of his stuffed animals!

– DIY Teepee Art: I bought this sticker on Etsy and stuck it to some beautiful paper from Paper Source and framed it in a little bamboo frame!

– Ikea Wall Stickers: I loved the wild look of the leaves and the birds. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the birds still available online, but I think they have a really fun selection.

– The giant bear was a handmade gift from my aunt. Ee thought it was crazy at first, with us living in such a small apartment, but he LOVES it. He hugs it and cuddles it and wrestles it and now I find myself having to resist buying MORE giant stuffed animals!

– That little ikea owl watches over him (along with our baby monitor!)

– Ikea Closet Organizer: We just use those simple tiered baskets in his closet for his clothes now that he doesn’t have a dresser.

– Ikea black out shades: A nap time necessity!

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Have you tried a floor bed or montessori room for your toddler? What else do you like to incorporate into their space?