Roman & Raphael's great room makeover of 2011

When I was pregnant with Raphael I knew that once he turned 1, Roman would be turning 4 and it would be a perfect time to make the room a shared room (yes Raphael has slept in our room since birth). I can't believe its already that time. Its seems like just yesterday I was puking up water and eating enough pineapple to sustain a small smoothie operation. Well, Its April and Roman will be 4 this month and Raph will be 1 the first week of May. Roman has been obsessed with Spiderman for a year so the theme was a given. I knew I wanted a vintage feel to it, an old comic bookish feel, and I wanted it to be as chic as possible, not just spiderman thrown up all over and low and behold leave it to Pottery Barn....

But since I don't have an extra $3,000 lying around I had to search for acceptable alternatives. I DID get the sheets, That adorable red shelf and the huge Spiderman decal from PBK.com but that was it. So here are the cheaper alternatives. What do you think?

 Bunk bed from Walmart.com you can also separate them into two twin beds.

The bedding is also from Walmart.com I read half of the billion reviews and everyone said, "looks like its from Pottery Barn!" 

Sooo heres the stuff I did get from Pottery Barn.

oh yea, got the throw pillow

I found this lamp but it was $80. Thank goodness they offered just the shade for $20

This rug is SUPER nice its 3x6 and the white stars glow in the dark.. THEY GLOW IN THE DARK!

I found it on Overstock.com for.... wait for it.... $70 WHAT?!?! and the stars glow in the dark you say?... that is awesome!!!

I'm a huge fan of allposters.com.  You can order artwork for real cheap and frame it yourself. I got this and had them make it a wrapped canvas. I can't even tell you how awesome it looks, definitely other than the rug my favorite piece.

gotta have a bean bag

And then theres the Ikea stuff, the TV stand ..

and I got two of these for inside the closet

and lastly the door sign I made from a comic book and scrap booking paper

I started buying pieces one be one in November so it wasn't too bad and I've spent around $1000. We did have to get mattresses too. So the makeover is scheduled for next weekend, and I'm so excited I'm gonna burst. Be on the look out for those pictures!

Super Duper Easy Desk Pad

Ok going back to my new beautiful desk...I wanted to get a desk pad to put on top, but of course all thats out there are boring brown leathery Thurston Howell ones. So I found a tutorial on Prudent Baby to make one out of board, glue and fabric. But I took it a step lazier. So here is my Super Duper, made while I was cooking dinner desk pad.

You'll need 1 yard of 2 fabrics you want to use and 2 pieces of sticky board backing used for needlepoint projects.

Iron your fabric then lay it out and cut it so you have 1 1/2 inches all around

Cut off the corners... Not while boiling lasagna noodles or you'll get crooked results

Peel off cover so back is sticky. Fold up edges

Cut 3in strips of other fabric and Iron the S$^&# out of it 

Place under board 

Fold up

Peel the cover off second board and place sticky side down on the back

Place on your desk and grin at it for hours

B-a-utiful

We recently rearranged the living room furniture. We have this very tall media case that houses all our dvds in the living room. Well.. not anymore, he got moved into the spare room so I was left with this tall blank wall. I decided to make a collage of pictures. Mostly of the boys, because I really have no pictures of them around the house. I'm good at taking them, but then they are prisoners to my laptop for all time. Anyway, a few random frames that I had and a wooden letter "B" (for my last name) from Michaels that cost about $2. I painted it green and hung the frames around it. What do you think? A very cheap little collage that looks great!

Working Girl Space

I have this huge bedroom, like its bigger than my living room. So I have gone over and over magazines and pictures trying to decide how to make use of this space. For a year now I thought a reading corner was the best way to go, some cozy seating, the walls covered by book shelves. beautiful lighting.

Isn't it peaceful.

But while dusting my books one day I realized one important thing. I really never read. I just don't. What I REALLY need is more storage and a workspace. The clouds parted and angels sang..  I need a desk!!! So the search began for my perfect desk. As always when I start a search for furniture I start at IKEA. Low cost , stylish furniture and they have a cafe...  Really, if it were closer I might have to have an intervention. Well I decided to go with the expedit desk. Just look how functional it is. And so many ways to use it.

The best part.. the price tag $179 for the book case and the desk. No wonder its one of their best sellers. I put mine together, but I am still playing with the setup. Pictures will be up asap. On a side note I wanted a nice comfy chair for my desk and I found this shop on ebay that makes custom fabric chairs for $59.. wh wh wh what!?!? We'll see how it looks when I get it!

Feeling Blue

I just picked up this dress from Target and I thought it was cute on the hanger, but then I got it home and tried it on and WOAH! Its adorable! I added a black belt, tights and my super bargain boots from Kohls. They were originally something like $100 and i got them when they were marked down to $19.99.

throw on a black cardigan like the one I got from Target ( I'm there a LOT) 

cute cute cute!!!