Secondhand Toddler Room Makeover with Lots of Vintage Charm
When we bought this house six months ago I was not expecting our son’s room to be the first room I painted head to toe, but here we are. I suppose when you are living in constant renovation it makes sense to makeover the room you spend the most time in. And we spend a lot of time in my son Miles’s room. It often feels like the hub of our entire upstairs living space, so I know it needs to function well, but also be pleasing to the eye.
Previously the walls were a deep, almost jungle green. When I shared on Instagram that I was planning to paint the walls white I got a surprising amount of backlash. Most everyone loved the green walls. It almost made me second guess my decision. But at the end of the day, I know best when it comes to these things because this is our home.
Below is a photo of what the walls looked like before we painted them. And I know I may be in the minority here, but I wasn’t digging it. To me, the contrasting white trim is a bit of a dated look and it felt like the green walls were fighting with the multicolored vintage rug for attention. And in this case, the rug won.
I believe a child’s room should be bright, airy and welcoming. An uncluttered place where he or she can explore their creative minds. I decided to paint the walls Dove White by Benjamin Moore. It is a color I’ve used in previous homes and I just love its ability to be bright, but still creamy and soft at the same time. It’s truly a beautiful white and I plan to use it all throughout my entire home. The only place I wouldn’t recommend using it would be in a room that gets little to no natural light where it can appear to be a bit warm. It’s definitely a paint color that works best in areas of the home that get plenty of natural light.
We love a bit of vintage charm, a little old mixed with the new; and you’ll see that a lot throughout my home. In Miles’s room it lays a bit heavier on the old. Since he is young and his tastes and interests are ever evolving, I try to thrift a lot of his items. Most of his furniture including his bed frame and rug were purchased at the thrift store, estate sales, or through facebook marketplace.
One of my most prized pieces in the room is the shelf with hooks pictured above. I was patient in my search for an antique, yet substaintial shelf with hooks attached and finally happened upon it at a local antique store. I love having the hooks for easy access to regularly used items like his bathrobe, weather station, and anything else we decide to hang there.
My favorite item in the room is the sailboat. I often get asked to share where one similar can be purchased, but unfortunately I can’t help with that. It is a 4’ tall vintage model sailboat I happened upon at an estate sale and honestly, it was a very lucky find at the price I paid for it. I originally intended to put it on top of one of the mantels in our house, but it was much too large. The next obvious place was Miles’s room and he loves it. Although he can’t play with it, we often talk about it and point out the different parts on it.
The sailboat sits on top of Miles’s Montessori style toy shelf, which also was, you guessed it, another lucky secondhand find. I perused facebook marketplace for quite some time and had notifications set for a shelf like this. If you don’t know how to set notifications for search terms on facebook marketplace, then you must watch my video about it here. I also drove an hour away to get it, which was totally worth it since the unique, open style is exactly what we need for our ever changing toy rotation. Most of Miles’s toys are also secondhand purchased at the thrift store or through online buy/sell/trade groups, but for buying new we really love Lovevery toys. We own a ton of items from them and they should be easy to spot in my photos with their light, birch colored wood and pastel details. I highly recommend their playkits for babies and toddlers alike.
These curtains were a new purchase and they really hit the nail on the head for me. When I was first contemplating window treatments for this room I knew I wanted stripes or some sort of geometric pattern to compliment the vintage multicolored rug. When I saw these I thought they were perfect. They’re also really good quality for the price point. I don’t love the cellular blinds on the windows mostly because they’re old and a bit raggedy. They came with the house when we bought it, so I have no clue how old they are, but we have so much to do to this house that replacing the is sort of small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. Eventually I will update them with something else, but they work just fine for now.
This little makeover was certainly an upgrade, but this room still has a lot of work that needs to be done. First, there is no quarter round between the baseboards and the flooring so that needs to be laid. When we bought the house we removed all of the carpet, but we did not yet have time to sand and refinish all of the beautiful hardwood floors we found beneath. That is something I will tackle this summer, so in the mean time there’s a big gap there. Secondly, I’d like to find a very large pine or oak cabinet for extra toy storage. This will be a key piece of furniture for this room and I am currently on the hunt for it. Not only would it be aesthetically pleasing, but it would be a useful. I’ll put it right where we have the little table and books, so until I find something I’m just planning to leave it as is, walls bare.
All of the wall decor I purchased on Etsy and they were all handmade by a real person. I love knowing that when I look at them. The felt pennant flag can be found here, the cotton-linen bunting garland here, and my favorite of the three - the custom name canvas banner is here.
Everything else pictured that can be purchased will be linked below.
Yoto - This is the little box on Miles’s nightstand and it is an amazing children’s listening device. Highly recommend for children of all ages.
Wobble Board - We have one from Sarah’s Silks, but it is sold out and this one is similar and highly rated