For months I’ve been teasing you with sneak peeks, like this one, of the Space-themed room I have been designing for my son. I had been planning and dreaming about it since before we moved in nearly 2 years ago. And I am happy to announce that it is FINALLY FINISHED…….sort of.

The big stuff is done. There are a lot of details I still plan to add, but with the new baby coming and lots of other projects going on around the house, they can’t be my first priority. If I wait to blog about the room, until I have every detail in place, that may never happen, so I think the time has come to enter “The Final Frontier” as it stands now and because I am who I am, I will let you in on some of the plans for the future. Are you ready???

The view from the door way…looks kind of exciting with my over-exposed photo.
Here is a view of the sleeping quarters. You can read all about the Solar System bedding my mom and I created (a while back) here. The bunk bed is from IKEA via Craigslist (I think we paid $50, but had a hefty journey across town to pick it up. Mattresses are another issue. We bought the low profile ones new at IKEA). I’d like to add name plates by the beds (“Commander Trenton”, etc.) but that will wait at least until baby brother is born and officially named. I also will probably do some wall mounted reading lights. The humidifier looks kind of space-aged, right? But I do need to get my son his own alarm clock and accessorize that space a bit more. The shelved may get a make-over, too. DS says that anything wood doesn’t look right in here. I may have to paint or cover the wood parts.

But did you see the ceiling he gets to look at from bed? (Complete with little sister sabotaging Mom’s photo shoot by climbing on the top bunk. Grr!)

This took a bit of doing which makes me glad I gave up my ideas of constructing a false ceiling with Christmas lights poking through. My dad did most of the construction work for the “space windows” both on the ceiling and on the wall. I used my Rich Navy FREE sample paint from Glidden, for these “windows”, and just had to buy one more quart (and a bottle of touch-up paint). We took inexpensive wood and spray painted it silver to make the frame. I also took down the vent covers and spray painted them silver, as well. May as well play-up those things in this scenario, rather than try to hide them.

You may recall, I posted ages ago about this cool space-age looking ceiling fan I got a deal on. It just required some spray paint to make it work here.

I decided to go for a “semi-realistic” design through out the room. I want things to be fun and imaginative (my son is currently 5), but also a design that can grow with him, hopefully, for years to come. I had lots of options when it came to what I put in “space” but I settled on using some removable wall decals (skipping the aliens, etc.) that Grandma found for us, and some tiny glow in the dark star stickers. They were a better scale than the other glow in the dark stars that are readily available. I made a few constellations for him. The big dipper up high, and Orion on the wall window.

Before adding all of the decals, I used the old toothbrush and finger splatter method, to add tiny stars to the background. I made an area more densely populated with stars to be the milky way (or other galaxy). I tried glow in the dark paint for this, but couldn’t really get it to work. It says it works best on light surfaces. So if I decide I want something that is already white to glow, it might do the trick, but for the stars, I just went with some off-white house paint I had on hand.

I know you will want to know about the moon. It is one of my son’s favorite features, and he asks to turn it on each night. It is the “Moon in My Room” night light and was a birthday present for him a year or two ago (and now he finally gets to use it). It is pretty cool because you can set it to light up the different phases of the moon, or to cycle through them. It adds that perfect touch of realism.

Speaking of nightlights, here is a view of the other nightlight that Grandma gave him. It projects this image, currently on the bottom of the bunk above, and he thinks it is pretty cool!

Here is a view of “Command Central.” This isn’t quite finished yet.

This desk started out as a drafting table we got on Craigslist. For Christmas, BSB rebuilt the top part at a better size adding the cool metal trim around the edges. I spray painted the base silver and the bench red. On a whim, I added a strip of aluminum duct tape around the bench. It isn’t very smooth, but ds thought it was cool. I have more plans for the top. I think I will mod podge the screen down, and put on lots more buttons and gadgets around the perimeter. I plan to attach some kind of pencil holder, so it will be a functional place to do homework, and not just for imaginative play.

I bought these shelves from The Lakeside Collection for pretty cheap. I thought they had just the right look for the room, and would be a good place to display some favorite toys.

This other shelf, was a hand-me-down (read: FREE) from my sisters-in-law. It could easily be painted or spiffed up, if I decide to, down the road.

I have a few more plans for this closet area. The big silver circle on the wall, is actually a piece that came with the ceiling fan (if we weren’t going to use the light). I’m planning to add vinyl lettering by it that reads “go” or “emergency” or something fun like that. Votes? Suggestions?

The robot decals are from the dollar store and are easily removable, if we grow tired of them. For now, I thought it would be fun to put some words on the closet door like “supplies” and “equipment,” since that is kind of what is in there. Ok, it’s mostly clothes, but it works.

This corner needs a little more work. Namely a curtain. I’m just planning to do a roller blind in the same color as our space windows. Maybe I will paint some stars on that, too. We also have to work on the hanging of the space shuttle kite (a little tricky), and probably paint the little bench, since my son doesn’t want it in there anymore, since it doesn’t look too space-like. Too bad that laundry “chute” from space doesn’t take his smelly laundry straight to the machine and wash it for me.

Here’s one more shot to give you a better idea of what we did with the walls. If you have fallen in love with the paint, I’m afraid I won’t be much help here. I had a gallon of a gray paint I got from an interior designer to sweeten the deal when I bought the fabric to recover these chairs off Craigslist. To spread it out further, I added a quart of a pale blue/turquoise I had gotten from her as well. It turned out more blue than I thought it would. But I really like the color. I did end up having to get it matched to have enough paint to do another coat, and since they did it in semi-gloss, instead of the eggshell finish we had painted the first coat, we had to do a thorough 2nd coat, and used all of that paint, too. I guess I could check the code on the top of the paint can if anyone is really interested.

All around the room, we installed very thin moulding painted silver. It is supposed to give the effect of panels of the inside of the ship being held together. I intended to add some chunky screws or hardware along this and the frames to give it more of an industrial look, but like the way it looks now well enough, that this may or may not happen. The ceilings are 9 ft. high, so we installed these at 3ft. and 6 ft. heights (if I am remembering correctly). I say we, but I really mean my dad. I did all that spray painting, though.

And you may recognize the drink dispenser on my son’s shelf from his rocket birthday. I have been trying to think of a way to convert it into something useful like a lamp or fishbowl? But for now, it is just there because it is a rocket and looks cool.

So that is the tour of the room as it stands now. I will be sure and post any major updates as they happen, but most importantly I know my son loves it! We were discussing our family fire plan tonight (meeting place, exits, etc. incase of fire), and he got very sad and said he hoped we never had a fire because he wouldn’t want anything to happen to his “Space Room!” Well, I agree! 🙂