Since I’ve already gone through most of the details, I’m just posting back-to-back before and after shots of the room, which I find highly satisfying.

View into the room from the hall:

View into the sleeping area:

View from the bed back toward the door:

The rug was a bargain from Target and the lamp is from Pier 1, paired with a shade we customized.

View toward the closets:

Another view from the bed toward the door:

I wanted to do a quick post on some of the dinosaur accents throughout the room because they are all so adorable.

I found these really great prints on Etsy from Wild Life Prints. If dinosaurs aren’t your thing, they have all kinds of animals to choose from.

This gem of a print–a T-Rex in a Cosby sweater — is available on Etsy from CollageORama.

I scattered dino planters along the window ledge in the bed area. I originally planted real succulents in them and roughly four seconds later, the kids had spread dirt all over the room. Andy said, “I feel like that’s on you.” Fair enough. Now they are dirt-free and planted with plastic succulents. I would also like to note that when I purchased these on Etsy from Crazy Couture, both my husband and my mom scoffed that we could have made them ourselves. Probably. But sometimes you just need to make purchases to forward the plot. Worth it.

This awesome mounted T-Rex fossil is the view from the bed. It was a gift from the grandparents. I believe it came from Pottery Barn Kids, but I don’t think it’s available anymore.

This Paleontology 101 Banner came from The Land of Nod.

I found this vintage school desk for my 5-year-old son’s room on local Etsy.com. It was in very good condition, but in need of some sprucing.

We wrapped the edge of the desktop with painter’s tape to protect it from the spray paint.

We created a makeshift spray booth out of cardboard boxes and went to town with navy Rustoleum spray paint.

I paired the vintage desk with a more modern Eames-style chair, which I found at Retro Furnish. (I purposely did not choose a school desk with an attached seat because my son is pretty tall, and I’ll get more years out of it if I can swap out different chairs as he grows.)

Here is the end result of the two paired together:

It’s just the right size for him, and he likes having a play and homework surface in his room. I like that the Play-Doh goes on the desk rather than in his bed. Sometimes. Like half the time. Thirty percent of the time, Play-Doh doesn’t end up in the bed. I take my victories where I can get them.

I am obsessed with The Land of Nod Outlet in Naperville. If you live in the Chicagoland area, it is absolutely worth a trip. Great bargains abound, especially on furniture, which they will wrap and load into your car. (It’s located next door to the Crate and Barrel outlet so you can shop grown-up sales, too. Everybody wins.)

I found these lamps for super cheap at the outlet.

I wanted to do something fun with them, so I bought some navy and green ribbon to create a rugby stripe around the top and bottom of the shade.  (This was ultimately for a boy’s room, and I figured a rugby stripe is about as butch as a ribbon project can get.)

It was super easy, and I just used tape to secure it. Here was the result:

Fine, right? But ultimately just fine. It seemed too boring for an otherwise really fun room, so I abandoned that idea and found a chevron fabric in the same color scheme.

My mom used fabric spray on the shade and wrapped the fabric around, tucking the top and bottom into the inside of the shade.

The final result:

Much better.

Our son, amateur paleontologist that he is, wanted a dinosaur-themed room. I was on board with that, but stayed classic with the fixed elements so that I can update the accessories as he grows without having to repaint or replace the curtains.

We chose white for the trim, a light green for the walls (Benjamin Moore Mellowed Ivory), and a navy herringbone for the Roman shades. Next step was the bed.

We were upgrading to a queen-sized bed for him, and it was hard to find one that was appropriately scaled. A traditional fabric or wood headboard would have looked too heavy and would have obscured the light from the windows. So I went with this iron bed I found on Wayfair.com.

Here’s a photo of my poor dad assembling it with “help” from the boys.

My son chose Dwell Studio dinosaur bedding, which I paired with a navy moving blanket from The Land of Nod, and a throw pillow from Etsy.

The final layered result is here: