toddler bedroom – simplify the chaos

We’ve been celebrating a few milestones around here! About two weeks ago, LJ transitioned out of his crib into a bed, and shortly after that, we celebrated his third birthday. These events happening so close together made it feel like the right time to give his bedroom a little refresh to make it feel like a “big boy” space.

Since moving into this house, we’ve only done a small amount of work to LJ’s room. We kept the roller shades on the window (even though they have some holes and don’t match each other) because they’re functional and help keep his room dark during daytime naps. We kept the original curtain rods and just hung his old curtains (his old room had one window, and we’ve split those curtains to each cover one window). Again, not super pretty, but it’s been functional for now. We did paint the previously brown walls into a colorblock pattern and I printed out a few pieces of artwork from Etsy, but other than that, I haven’t spent much time decorating. It was time for a little upgrade!

I unfortunately don’t have any pictures from before we painted, but here’s what the room looked like when it was set up as a nursery:

And here’s what it looks like with a new bed!

The bed frame is a hand-me-down from a friend and it works perfectly for our needs. We purchased a new twin mattress from a local business on Black Friday, bought sheets and a comforter, and I shopped my home for a few extra pillows and a throw.

I loved mixing some patterns and textures here – it feels cozy and sweet, but still very toddler friendly!

In addition to the bed, I decided to also do a quick update to LJ’s dresser area. Specifically, I was ready to change up the mirror. We bought this mid century dresser off Craigslist several years ago and I painted it for his previous nursery. When we moved to this house, we decided to add the original mirror back on but . . . I hated it. I don’t like the style, and the glass itself was cloudy and had a few black spots. I dealt with it for a while but was more than ready for a change.

I originally purchased this oval mirror for our guest bathroom renovation but ended up going in a different direction in that space – this mirror had been in storage ever since, just waiting for its time to shine!

Adding in a plant and using some of LJ’s things as decor (I can’t even with the adorable piggy bank!) helped finish off this area and make it both cute and functional.

The rest of the room stayed pretty much as is, I just added a few little touches here and there to level it up a bit.

Someday, we’ll do more work in this room, but these changes are what made sense now. This is the bigger of two rooms for our kids, so if we ever do have a third child, this is the room we’ll have the two siblings of the same sex share (it could switch to a girl’s room someday!) Plus, we didn’t want to spend a lot of money or put in a ton of effort since LJ is three and doesn’t care anyways haha. Full-blown room renovations are fun and certainly more dramatic, but they’re not always realistic or the most practical choice. In this case, a new bed with fresh bedding, an updated mirror, and a few tiny touches with mostly functional decor was enough. It was simple, inexpensive, and will be easy to change as LJ grows and his needs change, and now the room feels just right for his current stage.