One thing leads to another

I've been meaning to kick Beastie out of the crib for a couple months now. He was getting too long for the crib and, honestly, I felt like we were pushing our luck leaving him in there. This is the kid who climbs bookcases and stuffs things up his nose. It was only a matter of time before he scaled the bars and took a nosedive off the railing. So. My plan was to get bunkbeds and stick them in The Lad's room, leaving The Boy's room as a playroom.

But I hate buying mattresses. Like tires, they are expensive and boring and I always feel like the salesman is talking me into something I don't need. And I worried The Boy, not yet 4 when the plan first was hatched, was too little for a top bunk. And The Lad is my baby -- removing the crib would mean the end of babies in my house.

The lone flea that I found last Wednesday was the thing that forced me out of my hemming and hawing ... sort of.

The flea meant the dog and cat had to have a bath. The bath meant the cat was on edge. The flea, despite the baths and the medicine applied afterward, put me on edge. So, we decided to bomb the house this weekend. To bomb the house, we had to put the dog and the cat in the garage. To do that, we had to catch the cat. The cat escaped. Twice. To ensnare the fugitive feline, we had to pull out our bed. Pulling out the bed was the last straw for our antique bed, which already was in poor shape. It collapsed.

The husband was all for putting our mattress and box springs on the floor until I could find a new frame -- but I have no idea what I want. So, I stole the adjustable frame under The Boy's twin and left his mattress on the floor. The boys thought this was the coolest thing ever, to the point that The Lad insisted on his crib mattress being put in The Boy's room so they could sleep together. The next day, it seemed silly to have an empty crib up, so we took it down (SOB!) and being unable to live in chaos, I started organizing the boys into the new bedroom. There aren't bunkbeds yet, but there is a bed nook. They're in there sleeping peacefully now.

This is the room from the doorway. Giant wood dresser to the left on which I cleverly hung hooks for their jackets. That child-size rocker was my mom's and then mine before the boys inherited it. Mike's grandpa made the two bookcases. The little one under the window is serving as a diaper station/shoe cubby. There are drawers on the bottom that hold socks. The green shelf has only books, baseball cards and quiet toys (puzzles, crayons). Everything else is in the playroom. 

The bed nook. I know that wall is a giant blank, but I don't want to hang anything because eventually there will be a bunkbed there. I tried to tape up two dinosaur posters, however, our walls are textured and nothing sticks to them. 

The playroom. The Lad's big boy bedding is tossed on the back of the rocker for now. Generic cars and primary colors to match the color-blocked quilt The Boy has. 

It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it all for now. 

The boys think it's the best thing that has ever happened to them.