Henry's Big Boy Room: the inspiration

dresser, now with drawer pulls, originally uploaded by aoneko.

When Henry's nursery school teacher told me he was ready for underpants (what? he pees on the toilet?) I could no longer pretend that my baby is still a baby. I'll fess up and tell you that that at the ripe age of 2 years and five months he still has a warm bottle of milk before bed - a ritual we all enjoy despite the ridiculousness of cradling a 30 pound boy like a newborn - and the idea of toilet training was on the distant horizon, and, yes, he still sleeps in a crib. Well. It's time we pulled our act together over here. What with all the time I spend reading parenting books to equip me to deal with a "spirited" five year old, I've been neglecting poor old Henry. Which really does prove what I knew all along growing up: the easy-going child gets stiffed.

Anyway, Mr. Henry is getting a Big Boy Room. Soon. Parked in the garage for the past three years are a gorgeous but dinged up Art Deco twin-sized bed and a matching tall-boy dresser. We hauled them out on Sunday for inspection. The wood isn't in such good shape in parts, which I don't actually mind, but all that wood just looks so serious. Painting it outright doesn't seem like the thing to do - I love burled wood - but then I remembered this terrific idea, spotted last year on Angelique's lovely blog, and Eureka! This is exactly what I'd like to do with Henry's new bed. I love how the wood peeks through the paint.

Stay tuned. I'll post some before pictures later this week. I may need some help choosing a paint colour.