Don's Room- Demo and Plan

As I’ve shared pictures of our new house, there’s one before photo that always stands out to me as the worst. And it’s Don’s room. Since he is so young (3) and has had a lot of transition lately with all of our moves, its a priority to me to get his room decorated so he can move in and feel settled and at home.

before

Here are my issues with this room (there’s a lot, so bear with me!)-

the fort- its unsafe for Don (he still rolls out of bed). It blocks the light and really makes the room feel smaller than it is
paint- the cobalt blue soaks up the light. It is an eyesore
floors- they are badly painted brown. I’m thinking about painting them again or stripping them down.
wallpaper- the beige walls are map wallpaper. I want a fresh start so it is coming down!
lighting- the fan currently shakes a lot when its on. This will get replaced ASAP
window coverings- there are none. I am a huge proponent of sleep so I’ve ordered shutters so Don can sleep day or night
closet doors- again, there are none. Eventually I will get some doors on the closet (though this isn’t first priority).

So, pretty much, the whole room needs LOADS of work! But enough of that, let’s focus on the design plan. You know, the inspiration that’ll get me through all of the physical labor 😉

inspiration

image 1 / image 2 / image 3

First of all, Don is a big fan of Toy Story (especially the 3rd one with the garbage truck- those are his fave). Parts of this room will be inspired by Andy’s room in the movies. The white clouds on the blue walls and the beadboard will be the base of the room, straight out of the show.

But I also really want a vintage feel to the room. Think framed paint by numbers, old toys, furniture with a little age and patina. I want the room to be serene and simple. Don will have his own play room, so his room won’t have a ton of toys in it, but I still want it to be a happy spot for him.

demo day

My little sister Carli offered to come over to help with our move. I asked her to assist with wallpaper removal. Her husband started pulling apart the fort while we worked.

For the wallpaper removal, we simply used this scoring tool– it punches holes in the wallpaper so when you get it wet, the glue softens. Next, we filled a spray bottle up with 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 hot water. The wall was scored, the paper was soaked and then it quickly came down!

There were three layers of wallpaper- the map, some adorable pastel bunnies, and then green flowers (which I think was actually contact paper). Here’s how the room looked after a few hours when everything came down:

progress

Here’s what we found out from our demo-

the wallpaper was hiding some major damage on the plaster walls. The damage was so bad on parts that we’ll have to take down the drywall and replace it with drywall. I am now officially scared to take down other wallpaper in the house.
on the floor, it used to be painted pink. Its now painted brown, but where the fort was, it didn’t get painted. I wasn’t planning on doing anything to the floor, but it is now necessary.

where are we at now

For the floor, I’ve decided to strip off the paint (I’m using this indoor safe stripper) to a white wood floor. It’ll be a lot of work, but I like this option more than sanding or painting over the brown/pink floors. Here’s a sneak peek of how the floor will be (I’ll give a whole tutorial and review when I’m done):

Lastly, I grabbed some paint swatches while I was at Home Depot for the walls. Anything will be better than the dark blue, but I think these sky blue colors will be really nice:

Don voted for the top left option, which I really like too. I’ll be checking in next week with more progress on this room! It can only get better- right?!
This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.