Gerrit’s New Room

When I wrote about setting up Berend’s nursery, I mentioned that we were reusing a LOT from Gerrit’s old room. That meant Gerrit needed a lot of new things: a new bed, a new mattress, new bedding, and a new dresser. He had had his beach nursery setup since we put his room together in North Carolina when he was about 6 months old. Here’s what his room had looked like for 3 years:

This was his room in North Carolina, but we set it up almost exactly the same when we moved to Texas.

When we found out we were pregnant with baby #2, I started thinking about ideas for Gerrit’s new “big boy” room. I found this awesome photo on Pinterest:

And then I asked Andrew how much he loved me and if he thought he could build furniture. 😀 Turn out… he can!

We put Gerrit in his new bed for about a week before we moved to Little Rock last spring, just to get used to being in a bed instead of a crib. Yeah… we kept Gerrit in a crib until he was almost 3.5 years old! Would you believe that he never once tried to climb out of his crib? He tried to climb into it a few times but never out. Anyways, we wanted him to get used to it before we moved since so much change would be happening, and we wanted him excited for his new bed when the crib got unpacked in New Mexico.

When my mom came to New Mexico to help out while Andrew was gone, she made the tent part of the bed. Thank goodness, because I’m veeery basic when it comes to sewing. It’s something I’d like to get more experience with, but I wasn’t about to just wing it with Gerrit’s tent. I’m so glad my mom took on the project for me! 

Gerrit loves his tent bed! I found the quilt set on Zulily, and I really liked the colors of it. I’m not a fan of “kid” bedding, because I prefer something that can be used for years to come. I also liked the quilt because of all the colors! Hopefully it will get used even if Gerrit wants a new room theme or if we pass it along to Berend down the road. Andrew eventually wants to build a small matching bedside table for Gerrit, but for now he’s using this cute tree trunk ottoman. Then we’ll move the ottoman into the reading corner. Gerrit stores some of his stuffed animals in there right now.

Here’s Gerrit’s reading corner! We hung his name print from my friend Emily on the wall, and I got him his own sling bookshelf to keep his books separate from the board books downstairs. My mom recovered a body pillow we had with a leaf print fabric for the corner, and I used the pillow sham from his quilt set for another pillow. I think I want to add more cushions or pillows, but that’s what we have there for now. I also have an idea for something to hang from the ceiling, but I haven’t had time to do it yet. Stay tuned! 

I have had this growth chart for Gerrit since he was a baby. I can’t even remember where I got it from! I’ve been keeping it updated, but I never hung it because it didn’t “go with” his beach theme room. It matches perfectly in his camping/forest room though, and he enjoys frequently checking to see if he’s grown lately. I got him a plug-in night light to replace his whale light too. I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for, but I liked the map and the nod to our Air Force life with the airplane.

On the opposite wall, we put the table and chairs set that Andrew had had as a kid. His parents sent it along with him when he passed through Reno last August, and I love that Gerrit has it now.

Above the table and chairs we hung this canvas map of the United States. It was an early birthday present for Gerrit. He loves seeing where we’ve lived, where his cousins and grandparents live, and where we’ve traveled. Plus who doesn’t need a map when out camping? 🙂

Here’s the dresser my mom and I built! It arrived just in time for her to help me put it together, and thank goodness, because it was definitely a 2 person job. Gerrit even helped a bit too:

Once we got Gerrit’s clothes put away, we could put stuff on the dresser! I kept the blue basket from his nursery to hold his nighttime diapers and lotion, and he still has the same sound machine. I’m 100% okay with raising white noise addicts. I picked up the ‘explore’ sign at Walmart as well as the wood-look frame for the photo of Andrew and I with newborn Gerrit. The little lantern was going to be his new night light, because I thought he could take it with if had to make a trip to the bathroom at night. But it was super bright, and I was prepared to return it, but Gerrit loved it. So it stayed.

It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to hang above the dresser. I contemplated painting something myself again, but I wasn’t sure it would go well, so I thought I’d enlarge a photo instead. That looked like it was going to be expensive, so I scrapped that idea and decided to pick three of my favorite photos from our trip to Puzzlewood in England from 2013.

I found the frames at Hobby Lobby and loved the rustic, natural look of them. And the compass hanging with the photos was another Walmart find. I feel like their decor items have been improving lately… I may have to look there more often.

I still have a couple of things I’d like to add to Gerrit’s new room, but I didn’t want to delay sharing it any longer. He seems to like it (especially his awesome bed), and I hope you all like it too!