Holden’s Adventure Bedroom
There is nothing quite like decorating a kid’s room. For me, it’s the chance to try all the things that are in my wildest dreams, but that I’m too afraid (or unwilling) to commit to subjecting the whole house to.
I know there really are (or should be) no rules when it comes to decorating your own home… do what you like, what makes it feel like yours. But really, really… there are no rules when it comes to kids’ rooms. So much more can fly.
At least that’s the approach I’ve taken in designing the bedrooms of our littlest loves.
If you’ve been around here for awhile, you know we have an interesting family construct in that we have kids living here with us and waiting with Jesus in heaven. We talk about that often and openly, so it will come as no surprise to hear me say that this is our second of three children’s bedrooms we’ve created.
You can see the full post about Kamri’s sweet room here. I wrote about it last summer, right before we said goodbye to her room looking that way, in preparation for our youngest and second son, Calihan.
They share a room now, Kam and Cali. It’s so special and represents both of them and I can’t wait to share it with you someday. Someday soon, at that, because I’m determined to do so before he turns ONE (um, excuse me, what??) and that’s in two weeks (um, excuse me, WHAT??).
Today, though, we’re talking all about Holden’s room… our middle child, our first baby boy. I could go on and on about Holden, but we’re going to get right to the design fun because there’s a twist at the end of this story. SO, Holden’s room…
For the longest time, the back bedroom of our three bedroom home was a storage space. And by that, I mean a spot for junk to accumulate. We did a clean-out here and there over the years, but it always seemed to make its way back to near-hoarder status.
When Kamri was born, we opted to keep our “guest room” (as we very graciously were calling that storage space) as is, and turn our third and final bedroom into her nursery. After she passed away, we held onto the hope of welcoming another baby girl into her space; a game plan that worked really well with our unwillingness to change a single thing about her room.
And then Holden was a boy. It stunned us. No way were we changing Kamri’s room (it had only been maybe six months or so since she had died- we weren’t ready for that yet), so the “guest room” became Holden’s room.
It took me awhile to be ready to design and decorate another space for a new baby. I had just done this. Like, JUST FREAKIN’ DONE IT. All that time, all that work, all that waiting, all that excitement… and there was no baby. How are we supposed to do it all over again now? The room sat for a good long while before we slowly began to bring in pieces, to make some headway.
Before long, we gave the walls and ceiling a fresh coat of paint, I made over a solid wood dresser that came from Mitch’s grandmother’s house, and we bought our second rocker and crib of the year.
We weren’t ready to create a new room that had a definitive “boy-theme”… partly because we’ve never really been into the “trucks and dinosaurs” for boys and “unicorns and butterflies” for girls; we prefer things a little less “themed”.
The other (and bigger) part of it had to do with the fact that we were coming to terms with having to do a complete 180 degree shift from being “girl parents” to all of a sudden being “boy parents”. It was hard. It was an extremely challenging season of learning how to engage with our daughter, who was not here, in ways we had never imagined or wanted to, but also prepare ourselves to be present for and ready to engage with our son, who would be here soon.
Slowly, ever so slowly though, the room came together. Then, February came and Holden came with it.
Over time, we softly (the Lord knew we were fragile and needed some things to just gently fall into place) and naturally landed on a room that became his, that became filled with life. Holden’s room is home to splashes of vibrant color, nods to adventure and exploring, all grounded with soothing blank spaces to allow everything to breathe.
For us, this looks like neutral walls, some deep grays in the rocker and baskets, and fun color in the accessories: rug, curtains, art, decorations, and even the books. A bit of rainbow for our rainbow baby. We eventually got him a navy blue changing pad cover, but he used his sister’s for the first bit of his life. 🙂
This room has served us so well for Holden’s three and a half years of life. It’s grown with him, too. Last summer, we converted his crib to a “big boy bed” (aka. we took a side off so it could function as a bed instead of a crib).
Not only has our boy spent his whole life growing in and with this room, but we’ve grown with it too. It held space for us so we could take our time processing how we would ever change Kamri’s room, it gave us a fresh slate to practice how we would grow to interact and engage with a new baby, it absorbed so many of the hard emotions that came with having to “do it all over again”, having “to start from scratch”. We needed this room. We love this room.
Each season we’ve had here brings new things, new changes and lo and behold, here we are again. Another version of this sweet room. I wanted to share the pictures up until this point because, as it happens, Holden’s room doesn’t look like this anymore. He’s growing up and so it’s onto the next adventure for his space… and I can’t wait to share it with you. 🙂
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There is nothing quite like decorating a kid’s room. For me, it’s the chance to try all the things that are in my wildest dreams, but that I’m too afraid (or unwilling) to commit to subjecting the whole house to.
I know there really are (or should be) no rules when it comes to decorating your own home… do what you like, what makes it feel like yours. But really, really… there are no rules when it comes to kids’ rooms. So much more can fly.
At least that’s the approach I’ve taken in designing the bedrooms of our littlest loves.
If you’ve been around here for awhile, you know we have an interesting family construct in that we have kids living here with us and waiting with Jesus in heaven. We talk about that often and openly, so it will come as no surprise to hear me say that this is our second of three children’s bedrooms we’ve created.
You can see the full post about Kamri’s sweet room here. I wrote about it last summer, right before we said goodbye to her room looking that way, in preparation for our youngest and second son, Calihan.
They share a room now, Kam and Cali. It’s so special and represents both of them and I can’t wait to share it with you someday. Someday soon, at that, because I’m determined to do so before he turns ONE (um, excuse me, what??) and that’s in two weeks (um, excuse me, WHAT??).
Today, though, we’re talking all about Holden’s room… our middle child, our first baby boy. I could go on and on about Holden, but we’re going to get right to the design fun because there’s a twist at the end of this story. SO, Holden’s room…
For the longest time, the back bedroom of our three bedroom home was a storage space. And by that, I mean a spot for junk to accumulate. We did a clean-out here and there over the years, but it always seemed to make its way back to near-hoarder status.
When Kamri was born, we opted to keep our “guest room” (as we very graciously were calling that storage space) as is, and turn our third and final bedroom into her nursery. After she passed away, we held onto the hope of welcoming another baby girl into her space; a game plan that worked really well with our unwillingness to change a single thing about her room.
And then Holden was a boy. It stunned us. No way were we changing Kamri’s room (it had only been maybe six months or so since she had died- we weren’t ready for that yet), so the “guest room” became Holden’s room.
It took me awhile to be ready to design and decorate another space for a new baby. I had just done this. Like, JUST FREAKIN’ DONE IT. All that time, all that work, all that waiting, all that excitement… and there was no baby. How are we supposed to do it all over again now? The room sat for a good long while before we slowly began to bring in pieces, to make some headway.
Before long, we gave the walls and ceiling a fresh coat of paint, I made over a solid wood dresser that came from Mitch’s grandmother’s house, and we bought our second rocker and crib of the year.
We weren’t ready to create a new room that had a definitive “boy-theme”… partly because we’ve never really been into the “trucks and dinosaurs” for boys and “unicorns and butterflies” for girls; we prefer things a little less “themed”.
The other (and bigger) part of it had to do with the fact that we were coming to terms with having to do a complete 180 degree shift from being “girl parents” to all of a sudden being “boy parents”. It was hard. It was an extremely challenging season of learning how to engage with our daughter, who was not here, in ways we had never imagined or wanted to, but also prepare ourselves to be present for and ready to engage with our son, who would be here soon.
Slowly, ever so slowly though, the room came together. Then, February came and Holden came with it.
Over time, we softly (the Lord knew we were fragile and needed some things to just gently fall into place) and naturally landed on a room that became his, that became filled with life. Holden’s room is home to splashes of vibrant color, nods to adventure and exploring, all grounded with soothing blank spaces to allow everything to breathe.
For us, this looks like neutral walls, some deep grays in the rocker and baskets, and fun color in the accessories: rug, curtains, art, decorations, and even the books. A bit of rainbow for our rainbow baby. We eventually got him a navy blue changing pad cover, but he used his sister’s for the first bit of his life. 🙂
This room has served us so well for Holden’s three and a half years of life. It’s grown with him, too. Last summer, we converted his crib to a “big boy bed” (aka. we took a side off so it could function as a bed instead of a crib).
Not only has our boy spent his whole life growing in and with this room, but we’ve grown with it too. It held space for us so we could take our time processing how we would ever change Kamri’s room, it gave us a fresh slate to practice how we would grow to interact and engage with a new baby, it absorbed so many of the hard emotions that came with having to “do it all over again”, having “to start from scratch”. We needed this room. We love this room.
Each season we’ve had here brings new things, new changes and lo and behold, here we are again. Another version of this sweet room. I wanted to share the pictures up until this point because, as it happens, Holden’s room doesn’t look like this anymore. He’s growing up and so it’s onto the next adventure for his space… and I can’t wait to share it with you. 🙂
Haven Kamri Thomas
There is nothing quite like decorating a kid’s room. For me, it’s the chance to try all the things that are in my wildest dreams, but that I’m too afraid (or unwilling) to commit to subjecting the whole house to.
I know there really are (or should be) no rules when it comes to decorating your own home… do what you like, what makes it feel like yours. But really, really… there are no rules when it comes to kids’ rooms. So much more can fly.
At least that’s the approach I’ve taken in designing the bedrooms of our littlest loves.
If you’ve been around here for awhile, you know we have an interesting family construct in that we have kids living here with us and waiting with Jesus in heaven. We talk about that often and openly, so it will come as no surprise to hear me say that this is our second of three children’s bedrooms we’ve created.
You can see the full post about Kamri’s sweet room here. I wrote about it last summer, right before we said goodbye to her room looking that way, in preparation for our youngest and second son, Calihan.
They share a room now, Kam and Cali. It’s so special and represents both of them and I can’t wait to share it with you someday. Someday soon, at that, because I’m determined to do so before he turns ONE (um, excuse me, what??) and that’s in two weeks (um, excuse me, WHAT??).
Today, though, we’re talking all about Holden’s room… our middle child, our first baby boy. I could go on and on about Holden, but we’re going to get right to the design fun because there’s a twist at the end of this story. SO, Holden’s room…
For the longest time, the back bedroom of our three bedroom home was a storage space. And by that, I mean a spot for junk to accumulate. We did a clean-out here and there over the years, but it always seemed to make its way back to near-hoarder status.
When Kamri was born, we opted to keep our “guest room” (as we very graciously were calling that storage space) as is, and turn our third and final bedroom into her nursery. After she passed away, we held onto the hope of welcoming another baby girl into her space; a game plan that worked really well with our unwillingness to change a single thing about her room.
And then Holden was a boy. It stunned us. No way were we changing Kamri’s room (it had only been maybe six months or so since she had died- we weren’t ready for that yet), so the “guest room” became Holden’s room.
It took me awhile to be ready to design and decorate another space for a new baby. I had just done this. Like, JUST FREAKIN’ DONE IT. All that time, all that work, all that waiting, all that excitement… and there was no baby. How are we supposed to do it all over again now? The room sat for a good long while before we slowly began to bring in pieces, to make some headway.
Before long, we gave the walls and ceiling a fresh coat of paint, I made over a solid wood dresser that came from Mitch’s grandmother’s house, and we bought our second rocker and crib of the year.
We weren’t ready to create a new room that had a definitive “boy-theme”… partly because we’ve never really been into the “trucks and dinosaurs” for boys and “unicorns and butterflies” for girls; we prefer things a little less “themed”.
The other (and bigger) part of it had to do with the fact that we were coming to terms with having to do a complete 180 degree shift from being “girl parents” to all of a sudden being “boy parents”. It was hard. It was an extremely challenging season of learning how to engage with our daughter, who was not here, in ways we had never imagined or wanted to, but also prepare ourselves to be present for and ready to engage with our son, who would be here soon.
Slowly, ever so slowly though, the room came together. Then, February came and Holden came with it.
Over time, we softly (the Lord knew we were fragile and needed some things to just gently fall into place) and naturally landed on a room that became his, that became filled with life. Holden’s room is home to splashes of vibrant color, nods to adventure and exploring, all grounded with soothing blank spaces to allow everything to breathe.
For us, this looks like neutral walls, some deep grays in the rocker and baskets, and fun color in the accessories: rug, curtains, art, decorations, and even the books. A bit of rainbow for our rainbow baby. We eventually got him a navy blue changing pad cover, but he used his sister’s for the first bit of his life. 🙂
This room has served us so well for Holden’s three and a half years of life. It’s grown with him, too. Last summer, we converted his crib to a “big boy bed” (aka. we took a side off so it could function as a bed instead of a crib).
Not only has our boy spent his whole life growing in and with this room, but we’ve grown with it too. It held space for us so we could take our time processing how we would ever change Kamri’s room, it gave us a fresh slate to practice how we would grow to interact and engage with a new baby, it absorbed so many of the hard emotions that came with having to “do it all over again”, having “to start from scratch”. We needed this room. We love this room.
Each season we’ve had here brings new things, new changes and lo and behold, here we are again. Another version of this sweet room. I wanted to share the pictures up until this point because, as it happens, Holden’s room doesn’t look like this anymore. He’s growing up and so it’s onto the next adventure for his space… and I can’t wait to share it with you. 🙂