30 Days of Before and Afters - AU/war Eagle room

Wow! I'm looooong overdue for a post! So I'm going to make it up to you by posting 30 Days of Before and Afters starting today! I've had lots of projects going on over the last few months. Hopefully you'll see that my lack of posting hasn't been because I haven't been working on projects! It's had more to do with the fact that I've had so many projects going on that I haven't had time to blog about them!

I've been helping a friend decorate her children's bedrooms. It's a win/win situation for both of us. She's a photographer and has taken my kid's pictures in exchange for decorating her kid's bedrooms. Perfect!

I'll be honest. When she first mentioned that her 4 year old wanted an Auburn/War Eagle room, I felt a little sick. :) Not only am I not an Auburn football fan, but there colors are navy blue and bright orange and, well, I felt challenged. However, shortly after that conversation, I was eating in Zaxby's (yes, the fried chicken finger place), and I couldn't keep my eyes off their decor, which is basically vintage sports memorabilia. Lightbulb moment for me. Right then and there I decided that we'd decorate her son's room with a vintage Auburn football theme.

The first thing I did was to paint the walls in a faux finish to give them a slightly worn/vintagey feel. Then I found some blue and white quilted coverlets for the bed. But the stark white in the coverlets was too crisp against the worn walls. SO I dyed the coverlets and matching shams with RIT dye. I had never used Rit dye before, but my mother had some success in dying a coverlet before, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Not only was it super easy, it was super cheap and provided just the look that I needed!

Then the real fun began as I started scouring flea markets, thrifts stores, and yard sales looking for vintage sports stuff. The "WAR EAGLE" letters were the gold ones at Hobby Lobby that I simply spray-painted black. The lamps and shades were from Target. I spray painted the base of the lamps blue and added an ornage grosgrain ribbon to the bottom of the shade. I'll tell you about the chalkboard wall in the dormer window space in just a minute.

The lockers below were found on ebay and spray painted black. LOVE them! Bewtweent he "WAR EAGLE" on the wall and the lockers, the room is adorable! I had a ton of fun scouring flea markets, thrigt stores, and yard sales looking for vintage sports memorabilia! The old megaphone and awesome old football were found at a local flea market. $10 for the megaphone and just a few dollars for the football! I fould several old folding stadium cuchions and hung one on the wall as a shelf.Those cute little football boys were a few dollars at the thrift store. They're from the early seventies, I think, and remind me so much of the Holly Hobby figurines that I had hanging on my wall as a child. LOVE!

A place for all of his AU caps!
This is the small dormer window space. I decided to paint the entire space with black chalkboard paint. I hired a friend (who has awesome handwriting!) to write the 2011-2012 football schedule on the wall. The four year old has strict instructions to NOT draw on this side of the wall, but he has complete freedom to "chalk it up" on the opposing chalkboard wall!

I know I just said that the "War Eagle" letters anf the lockers " make" the room, but the chalkboard wall "makes" it, too!

Here are some BEFORE shots. It was already a cute "Fireman" room, but he was ready to move on.

Stay tuned for more!