Luke's room was the first room we started and the last room we finished. Go figure! Luke is not a huge car fan but we thought it would be a fun theme for him as he grows up. His Grandpa Olson was big into cars as a teenager and knows everything about them. We got the basic ideas for his room from a book. We, however, tweaked them and made them all WAY better.
Let's start with the walls. The idea in the book suggested using roofing tin for the walls. We absolutely LOVED that idea...but couldn't think of a way to made it actually work. And if Matt can't think of a way to make it work, it ain't gonna happen! We had reached a stand still for the whole room because we thought the whole concept was lacking without the metal on the walls. Then, we went and helped out with an Eagle Scout project. The project was painting fire hydrates with aluminum paint. Bingo! It hit me near the end...use aluminum paint and paint wainscot. And we were back!!!
All in all, the wainscot was more difficult than in Ali's bedroom. We were using an oil based paint and hanging it horizontally. Who does that? I painted it with two coats of paint and then Matt hung it. Then Matt pulled it down. Hung it again. Then I gave it one more coat. In Ali's room, we could hide the uneven baseboards with the chair rail. In Luke's room, the adjustment had to be made to the bottom of the wainscot pieces. Yeah, learned that the hard way. But, doesn't it just rock? It looks like chrome. It is an amazing look.
We painted his trim, bed and dresser with red paint. Then we placed license plates on the footboard and dresser. The license plates started out on the headboard but were covered by his bedding. Why did we have to figure out so many things the hard way?!?!
The side table is probably the coolest item in the whole room. We found the wheels at a swap meet. $15. I asked Matt to weld them on top of each other. He created this great design and I painted them with the aluminum paint to match the wall treatment. We wanted to top it with tempered glass. But, that was going to cost us $150. Ugg. So, we got a piece of plexiglass for $10. It came in a square and Matt cut it into a circle.
Nana and Papa gave Luke this stop light bank a few years ago for Christmas. Perfect, right?
The picture that is hanging above his bed is an original drawn by Grandpa Paine. It totally completes the room and is a true treasure.
The reflectiveness of the plates can always guide him to bed :)
Love you, Luke!
Sleep tight.
