Jack's Big Christmas Surprise!

I have been more than a little absent from blogging since Christmas. It seems like the times I take the most photos and have the most to share are the times I feel most overwhelmed when I try to share it! I sit down in my sweet little "office" (which I also need to post pictures of, mental note) and try to write, I realize how much I want to write about and it just shuts the creativity down. It's just one of my many quirks.

So many wonderful times were had over the Christmas holiday, but I have decided to start my re-cap by sharing Jack's Big Christmas Surprise. First, let me give you a little background. Phillip and I decided back in October that Christmas would be a really good time to give Jack a Big Boy Room. At that time, we thought we would just re-decorate his nursery, but as things progressed, and we realized what we had undertaken, we decided to move Jack next door to what used to be the Guest Bedroom. I am happy to say that we were able to pull it off without the Little Guy seeing a thing until Christmas morning. And I wouldn't take anything for the "gasp" he made when he walked in, saw his new room, and figured out where all his stuff had disappeared to!

Anyway, our first step in the process was to shop for bunk beds. I had something very specific in mind. I definitely wanted a Loft bed (the kind that forms a T rather than sits one bed on top of the other) and I was hoping to find a dark stain or perhaps a painted black finish. Well. The furniture stores had a different idea. No one had a Loft bed in my choice of finish for a price we could afford. With my love of design and excitement over this new room, I was not a happy camper. Fortunately, in our shopping, we did find a Loft bed - just ONE. It was in a medium pine finish and sort of reminded me of a rustic log cabin. It had drawers and shelves on one side and a desk on the other. It was certainly not what I had planned on, but Phillip liked it a lot and strangely, so did I. So we bought it.

Before it was delivered, I spent quite a lot of time thinking of how in the world I was going to decorate around this rustic bed. I had originally planned on using Trains as the main theme of the room, but that just didn't seem to work anymore. Phillip suggested a Nashville theme, which I really liked (shocker) and sort of ran with until I found the perfect bedding at Target. Once I found that, the whole room just began to fall into place.

Jack's Big Boy Room would be not only his bedroom, but his own private Lodge. Or as Phillip calls it - his Man-Lodge. No matter, I was ecstatic. I had my vision. The ideas were flowing and if you know me, you know that I can be a little crazy when that starts to happen! I spent about three hours at Home Depot one afternoon picking out four - yes, four - perfect shades of brown to paint the walls, doors and furniture. Then, at night, I moved Jack's furniture out piece by piece, painted it after he went to bed and then moved the freshly painted pieces to his new room before he got up in the morning. (Poor thing, by Christmas Eve, all he had left in his nursery was a bed!) Then I found these cool, huge paper mache letters that I painted and distressed to look like old barn wood. Probably the most fun project I have ever done. I ordered an antler chandelier and a campfire night light off of ebay and Phillip found a bear rug and a moose head online that were perfect. We moved the blinds over from his nursery as well as his barn star and lounge chair, and I recycled an old pair of shutters, a beat up old chair and a metal cooler we had picked up at a yard sale a while back. Add in the most darling little trio of pine trees that I got for a $16.00 (what a steal!) at Joann's just before Christmas and there you have it.

It was a lot of work. I lost a lot of sleep. Because of the "surprise" element, we did almost all of the work at night. But, I wouldn't trade a minute of it! It was a blast making this a special place for our little Man. And I am happy to report that he loves it. Even more than Phillip and I do, I think. Which is exactly what we were hoping for.

So, without further ado, here it is. Jack Duncan's Man-Lodge (minus the moose curtain rods and the chocolate brown curtains that aren't here yet and a few picture frames):