My son is now a grown young man.
He has a full-time career and a cool condo down in urban Houston that’s close to all the great nightspots and restaurants.
I believe it’s safe to say that he’s never going to come back home to live in his old bedroom again. Even if he did, though, he probably wouldn’t want it still adorned with shelves containing stacks of his high school textbooks, mementos, and his outdated collection of video gaming devices and games.
Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t think he’s been up to his old room in over a year.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been boxing up a lot of his belongings, trying to become the real empty-nester that I am.
I’ve been paring down, simplifying, and, ultimately, transforming his room into a nice guestroom so that if he does ever need to sleep over some night in the future, he won’t be forced to feel like he’s 16 again.
Now, of course, while I do want to take a teenager out of the room, I’m not completely enamored with the idea of throwing out all the masculinity that his room reminds me of. Because, after all, should he come back to stay a night, I want him — or, really, anyone — to feel comfortable staying in there.
Hence why I’m giving it a makeover.
Recently, when my daughter stayed here at the house for a while, she decided that, when she left to follow her L.A. dreams, she wanted to bring with her the queen size bed that was in her brother’s room — and that she did. So, to replace the void that was left in his room, we put two twin beds in there. (Doesn’t every empty-nester have a set of twin beds? :-)
And I'm going to make those beds look fabulous!
They’ll have custom headboards in a graphite and white houndstooth fabric, along with a vinyl welting to give it some definition.
Btw: I'm obsessed with houndstooth, right now!
Take a look at this chair I just did for a client. I love how it turned out, with the leather welting, so I do something similar here.
For the bed, I’m going to do a simple matelasse coverlet and a custom tailored bedskirt. Yes, I could buy a ready-made bedskirt, but I never can seem to find one that fits properly.
To top off the look, I’ll have one accent pillow in the houndstooth with welting sitting on top of each bed.
For nightstands, I ordered a small one that will fit in between the two beds.
Nightstand available at Lexington.com
Pin up lights found on Rejuvenation.com
And above each bed I'll put up Rejuvenation pin up lights.
As for the color I'll paint the room, I’m currently considering a cool green/gray or a warm neutral. I haven’t made my final selection just yet, because, after all, it’s best to select your paint colors last.
Finally, to top everything off, I have to add some art! Right now I'm leaning towards framing out some collections of my son's belongings. Yeah, that'll look great. And they'll keep me coming back in there during those times I'm feeling nostalgic — you know — wishing my son was back home. ;-(
Ultimately, I just want the room to feel cozy.
I want it to feel masculine and tailored.
Oh, and it would be a great bonus if I could get it all done before the holidays! ;-)
