My nephew, Jett, is 6 years old and obsessed with all things army. He reads about wars and loves to play with his plastic army men and was even an "army guy" for Halloween. So for Christmas, his surprise gift from his mom and dad was a new army room. I won't lie, when my brother told me they were giving him an army room I immediately pictured camoflauge from floor to ceiling. Oy. In reality, there's not a lick of camo in there, but it's very much an army bedroom.
Nick and Beth waited until the kids fell asleep on Christmas Eve before switching out everything in his room. I'm glad they did it all at one time instead of bit by bit...I love a big reveal! This was not a complete room overhaul, but instead just new bedding and a few new accessories. Furniture, paint colors, and major things like that stayed the same.
These pictures are all courtesy of sister-in-law, Beth.
As you can (hopefully) see in the pics above and below, before the army room, Jett's room was all about cars, trucks, and trains. He used to be OBSESSED with Thomas the Train and any kind of car, truck, object with wheels. It was amazing to me how early he could distinguish between dump trucks and diggers and bulldozers and cranes. I probably would've called them all tractors or something. And he knew every Thomas character way before that.
So when he graduated from his crib and his "outdoorsy" nursery, all kinds of automobiles moved in. His bedspread was just a madras plaid, but hidden underneath it were sheets covered in cars. His throw pillows had cars and so did his rug. What you can't really see in the picture above is that my mom had even embroidered trains, trucks, and cars on his bedskirt. The wall art above his bed (painted by my sister-in-law Erin) was of a dump truck and tractor.
Here's a picture looking head-on to his bed.
See that shelf above his bed? It holds a couple - you guessed it - automobiles, as well as Jett's trophies. It looks like he also stuck an army man up there. Maybe he secretly knew what was coming...
Now let's fast-forward to what Jett got to see Christmas morning - his new army room!
Here it is mostly done. The rug is still there but I'm not sure that that's staying.
No camo. It's a Patriotic army room. The shelf above his bed now holds 3 clipboards with real army manuals. He was excited to show that off. Every good soldier needs a working set of walkie-talkies, so he's got some of those up there too.
His new bedding came from Pottery Barn, I think, and is an olive-y khaki. If I'm remembering correctly, it has an army patch on it somewhere, maybe where it's folded back in the picture above. My mom made him a new blue gingham bed skirt and Beth made the throw pillow. She also made his plaid throw blanket that my mom monogrammed.
The wooden flag on the wall was made by my brother. He's so proud of it. It's painted on four 1x4s and trimmed with 1x2s. I won't tell you exactly how many times it took him to get the measurements right for 13 stripes instead of 14, but let's just say 3rd times a charm. According to Nick, it's an old timey flag so he didn't have to do as many stars. I think it turned out really well!
My favorite accessory in the new army room is this picture that sits on the dresser by his bed. It's my maternal grandfather and also Jett's namesake. He was a funny guy and a sweet, sweet man, my Pepaw Jett.
Thanks for sharing the pics, Beth, so that we could all see. I think the room turned out great! I asked Jett if we could have a sleepover soon and he said yes, but that I couldn't sleep in his new bed. Guess I'll just have to admire it all from an air mattress on the floor.
