going green

As parents sometimes we tend to rule the home on how it's decorated, what colors we choose, to keep it clean, etc.

I tend to love neutrals with some black mixed in and I'm not huge on incorporating color into our home. The most colorful I've added is navy, which we know...it's not much of a departure in the color department.

In January of this year I purchased a raw pine bunk bed from Ikea for my boys to share a room and WANT to sleep in their bed. Its embarrassing really how often they end up in our room. We should have stuck with our queen size bed...no kids can fit in with us.

My oldest is 4.5 but he'd tell you he's 4.67 years old has opinions and good ones at that on color and how things should be. I decided that I was going to paint the bed, FINALLY. We went to our local cute boutique shop that sells Annie Sloan Chalk paint and picked up a can Antibes Green. Seriously, the sample looked gorgeous and I held out a yellow, navy, green, and ivory for my boys to choose. They both chose green. It's a bit of a departure for me, but I grabbed some clear wax and called it good.

I started painting and realized I didn't have a before picture, so here it is with some green on the bottom leg

My oldest working on his bed. He LOVED helping and he knows he worked hard on it too.

I only did one layer of green, a layer of clear wax, some dark wax rubbed on and I thought I was done. I HATED the bed. I was sick to my stomach because I swore I ruined the bed. Later I did some research that you're supposed to add another clear coat of wax and it helps blend and rub off the majority of the dark wax. Thank goodness! My fingers are sore, but it's so worth it. I actually really like the bed now!

Now all I need to do is buff out the wax to give it a nice shine. I'm excited for it to be all done and the boys could not be more thrilled to have a green bed. Happy kids, Happy Mom!

 It's pretty, right? The more I see it, the more I love it. What you don't see is that we painted the slats on the top bunk so my younger one could look up and see green.

What would you do for your kids in the decorating department? What would you NOT do?


Sources:
Bed: Ikea
Paint: Annie Sloan in Antibes Green, clear wax and dark wax
Bedding: Star sheets are from PB and the Pirate ones from Target.
Comforters: Ikea
Quilts: Handmade from my mother (each grandchild get's one)
Rug: Ikea
Wall Lamps: Ikea