The Number Room: Ethan’s Bedroom
When Ethan told us that he no longer wanted his Nautical Room, I almost cried! That was the first room we completed in our house and I seriously adored it. However, this is a kid that has never asked for anything and he meant business and of course, he wanted a “Number Room”. He has Autism and numbers are his thing…In fact, he calls himself “The Number King”, so when he suddenly expressed an opinion about his room and told us exactly what he wanted, I decided to listen. He is an awesome little dude and I honestly believe that he has made me a better person.
He wants a Number Room?
You got it, dude.
Here is what this view looked like before:
Much more grown up now, right?
Here is the best part… this was all a surprise for Ethan. He had NO idea that we were actually going to change his room. We did all of this while he was out of town with Grandma. Here is his room before (which I loved!) I sat down with him and just asked him a few questions… favorite number, what colors, what he was thinking, and what he imagined.
When he told me that he wanted bright green walls, blue accessories, and white, black, and gray everywhere else… I fell out of my chair. What???! How would I do this?
Okay, calm down Hayley, you can do this… So, I chose a green that I could deal with (thank goodness most of his walls were already white beadboard) and I started brainstorming the rest.
My absolute favorite part is the wall art I created above his bed.
It is a bunch of furring strips cut to various lengths, nailed to a board, and stained. I then added odd shaped numbers to it. Do you love it as much as I do? (there will be a tutorial, I promise!)
Across from his bed, above his dresser, I framed numbers (I will have the printables on my blog soon). I also bought a vintage teaching clock and a few accessories for the shelves. The chair features a cute bicycle pillow I found at Home Goods.
It is hard to see the details, but the background of these printables is a faded gray and white chevron pattern to go with the rest of the room. Again, I will have these available as a free printable soon.
You may be gasping, but Ethan requested white bedding. Yes, white. He is a man after my own heart. I bought him a white duvet cover that can be easily removed and washed.
Ethan told me that his favorite number is “7” so I appliqued a “7” onto a pillow. I purchased the rest of the bedding, including the sheets, from Target. The chevron blanket at the end of the bed is from Home Goods.
Next to his bed is a really cool license plate rack I found at Home Goods. It was more than I would normally spend on one item ($79, yikes) but it was so fun and has lots of storage for books
(the “E” right in front was the same one from his old room, just spray painted blue)
One of the main things he requested were clocks and a magnet board. I added some clocks to his shelves and then a magnet board to one wall. I found some vintage magnets for the board, which he immediately started playing with.
He has a little seating area where he loves to read books.
We added the bicycle pillow and a large woven basket for storage.
This basket was also from Home Goods.
This was an awesome find… it has numbers, letters, AND symbols. It is like Ethan’s dream!
We were able to grab a brief video of his reaction (but I forgot to charge my camera…boo). Regardless… he was in love. And that means the world to me.
