Home Reno: Noah's Room - The Driftwood Home

I know it’s been a while since I’ve updated or shown any progress on our home. The truth is, I’ve been working on a ton of furniture projects and some business growth opportunities that I’m very excited to blog about. To be honest, blogging has sort of taken a back seat to actual painting because the creative part of me keeps getting distracted with home projects, new ideas and investments and lots of procrastination. But now is a good time to show you the updates we made in my son Noah’s room.

*This post contains affiliate links.

Before I show you all the pictures of the “After” lets take a look at the before.

This is photo from the MLS listing online. It’s a great room that gets wonderful light and is a good size for my son to grow in. But lets be honest…that hot air balloon wall paper and acid wash hunter green curtains are nothing to get excited about. It had to go. I’m going to start off by saying, I have absolutely NO EXPERIENCE with removing wall paper, and the task looked easy enough. But man was it a pain to get that small border off. I found what worked easiest was a 1:1 ratio of hot water and vinegar in a spray bottle, saturating the paper for about 10 minutes before scraping. Did I mention it was messy as hell?!

Noah’s room is right across the hall from ours. What I hated about our home in TX was that Noah’s room was across the house by the front entry. Here, he is just a few short steps across the hall in case he needs me to scare the monsters away, or for cuddles. I’ll take the cuddles any day 🙂

Now here is what his room looks like:

There is a lot that can change with just a coat of paint, some crown molding and some new decor. The layout of the furniture just seems to flow better this way too.

You’ll notice that a lot of the decor in his room is vintage/travel/California themed. If you are a long time follower of mine you’d know that Northern California is a deep dream for me. We want to retire and make our forever home and open our brick and mortar there. I keep finding vintage treasures leadings me to that path like this bear and pine tree welcome sign for his door. The California Grizzly Bear is the official state mascot.

I found this recycled barn wood California wood art from Vintage Rejuvenations on Instagram. She makes loves artwork from furniture and found objects.

The floors were in great shape. Fortunately there was no carpet covering these golden oak floors and all they needed was a polishing. I used this Floor Rejuvenate to clean and add some shine. This product was so easy to apply and it filled in all the micro scratches so they weren’t so prominent. These floors are old so they do have some age to ’em.

Both of the chests in my son’s room were painted in Homestead House “Midnight Blue” milk paint. In case you missed both of their makeovers, I’ve put the link RIGHT HERE so you can access and look at the transformations and get a list of all the products I used.

One thing you may not have noticed right off the bat was the doors. They are no longer the flat panel solid core doors. We found these doors used at our local Habitat for Humanity for $25 each. Comparing them to brand new doors at Home Depot or Lowes, we were looking at about $200 total. All they needed was a fresh coat of paint and some new hardware.

Just like furniture, hardware can make all the difference in things tie in together for your project. These Tuscan Bronze Door Knobs from D.Lawless Hardware were THE PERFECT addition for these doors. They were extremely easy to install, look perfect against the bright white, and come at an amazing price compared to what you get at your home improvement stores. If you are not shopping D.Lawless Hardware yet, you absolutely need to!

I’m really loving how the theme in Noah’s room is about keeping it classic, and following a dream whatever it may be. He went through phases were he was obsessed with airplanes (vintage wood wall shelf), and wanted to be a fireman. He loves stories and art and even loves my dream of moving to CA one day. You can’t see it but inside that toy chest is probably a thousand matchbox cars that he has been collecting since he was 2. He even loves his little growing plant, whom he calls “Stevie Jakey.”

I found this vintage flag at a thrift store for $2. The antlers were a gift from his “PAPA” who mounted them for Noah when he was a baby. That New York license plate is a gift from my Dad who collects things from his travels all over the US as a truck driver. He’s always bringing us back things from places we’ve never heard of or always wanted to go.

These up cycled pallet book shelves are a great way to save space in a kid’s room, especially one with a lot of books. Noah doesn’t have much room in here for a full-size piece of furniture, so these bookshelves keep all his favorites at a reachable height for him. The rest we keep in the dresser or closet. I love the warmth and patina of the wood on these shelves. I stained them using Old Barn Milk Paint Saddle Brown Stain.

I can’t forget a photo of “Buckey.” Noah made sure I took his photo so y’all could see him. I love that my son is still at the age where he loves his stuffed animals. Now I’m getting ready to register him for school and I don’t know how time passed me in the blink of an eye. He’s so grown up now!

I hope you enjoyed the photos from Noah’s room makeover. While it wasn’t a substantial amount of work and most of it was decorating, a little can go a long way into bringing an old 60’s home like this one into a … well more appreciated version of vintage. And now I’m off to get started on another room!

Here are links and details to all the items in Noah’s Room: