Details of an red and blue airplane room

May 04, 2010

I am so thankful for all the comments about the Bub’s new room. I really don’t don’t what else to say but that I’m so glad I’ve inspired so many of you and I’m so thankful to all of you for your kind words!!

I promised some more details about the space so here we go – detail mania!

First things first – the wall color is called Admiralty from Lowe’s:

I got it color matched at Home Depot so I could use Behr paint. (They were actually able to look up the Lowe’s color and mix it!) I used the flat scrubbable sheen and I love it.

The roman shades on the window are from Lowe’s:

red sconces

I get most of our bamboo shades there but I’ve also bought them at Home Depot and Target. The privacy liners I’ve only found at Lowe’s though.

The sides of the built ins are basketweave wallpaper, from Lowe’s, painted the wall color. The sconces are from Home Depot (about $35 each I think?) and were spray painted with Rustoleum Crimson Red spray paint. (Gleeeee! I love that red!)

I had drooled over the star quilted bedding from Pottery Barn Kids for months, if not a year now:

pottery barn kids star bedding

The quilt was $130 I believe, and the shams were $30 each – told you they were a total splurge! Funny how I don’t hesitate to pay that much for my boy, but our bedding set cost $25. ;)

The precious airplane sheets were from KMart and I got three sets! As one very smart reader mentioned, I knew I’d want more months and years from now, so we’re set for a while. 

The sweet button pillows were made by a sweet, very talented friend. She’s made a few pillows for us and I am never disappointed. If any of you local Indy folks need drapes, cushions or pillows made, shoot me an email and I connect you with her! She rocks!

The DIY headboard needed a little somethin’, and when my friend Richella directed me to one of her headboard posts, I knew just what it needed:

DIY headboard

A few bucks of white cording and it made it pop off the wall!

I just hot glued it to the back…shhhhh…

The Bub’s desk was a fantastic find a couple years ago:

red desk

There’s a farm house not far from us that used to have a huge antique/random sale a couple times a year – I got the desk and a matching chair for $15. (I think?) It’s not antique, but definitely vintage. I spray painted it the Crimson Red color about a year ago.

The chair that came with the desk was a bit too short, so I replaced it with a navy blue school chair I found at Goodwill a few weeks ago. Love how it ties in the blue and metal tones in the room!

Some of the accessories were store bought…or should I say Target bought? I just realized most of them are from Tar-jay. ;)

The red piggy bank was a major act of patience:

red piggy bank

The only one our Target had was damaged so I waited and waited…and no new red piggy bank! I finally found one at a different Target weeks later. (No, I did not go from Target to Target searching…but I was considering it!)

The propeller ($30) I had walked by numerous times, not even noticing:

propeller artTill a few of you Squeezieeees mentioned them to me. I went back and wasn’t crazy about the original brown color -- I wanted it to pop off the blue walls. Nothing some brushed nickel spray paint wouldn’t fix! Now it really looks like a propeller!  :)

We found some teeny tiny fans one day while strolling through Target, and they had at least six colors available:

yellow fan

I asked the Bub what color he wanted and he insisted on yellow. I thought red or blue would work better so I kept on with “Are you SURE you don’t want blue? The red is sooooo cool!” But he was stuck on that yellow!

And my child is brilliant! It is perfect.

(That picture is my sweet Bub “conducting” Daddy’s band. Could you just die??)

The little storage ottoman was on clearance a few weeks ago for $20:

striped ottomanNo way I could pass that up!

The airplanes throughout the room were mostly clearance purchases:

I’ve had this one for years – since the Bub was just months old. I got it on clearance at Hobby Lobby thinking someday I might use it. It was a dark brown metal so I sprayed it brushed nickel and hung it with fishing wire. Lurve.

Two of the planes displayed in the built ins were more Hob Lob clearance finds for a few bucks each:

hanging airplane

119

I’ve been grabbing them up over the past year or so. They both had a little bit of damage, but nothing hot glue and spray paint couldn’t fix!

The yellow plane was $20 from HomeGoods a couple months ago:

airplane

The perfect pop of yellow!

I reused whatever I could from the nursery – including boxes and baskets I repainted to work in the new room:

(Cutie lantern was from Goodwill last year!)

(Cardboard “E” used to be apple green, and the box was spray painted to work in the room as well.)

The baskets used to be a very pale yellow:

Navy blue spray paint saved the day, along with wood tags I bought last Christmas to make ornaments (that never happened!).

Squishy’s digs are a Goodwill gumball machine made into a fish tank:

gumball fish tank

You can find the how-to here.  :)

Most of the picture frames (from Michael's, 40 percent off) I already had. I did pick up a few more to fill up the shelves a bit more. The “mats” are really just navy blue poster board from Michael's:

I just taped the black and white pics (printed on regular paper) on the front of the blue paper.

By the way, that picture is one of my all time faves of my Bub. :) I took that as I held him after a bath – just goes to show what good cropping can do!

A couple of my favorite pieces in the room are the lamps. This one is a touch light I found at Meijer:

airplane lamp shade

I loved the metal, the shape, the size! Just for fun, I used an airplane paper punch and extra navy poster board to cut out the shapes. I sprayed them with spray adhesive and then just stuck them inside the shade randomly! (The light is low voltage and the paper is not hot at all…I checked.) I LOVE the effect!!

A bit of skinny grosgrain ribbon finished it off!

I used the ribbon on this one as well:

airplane lamp shade

The little airplanes “flying” around the edge are really buttons. I snapped the backs off of them and just hot glued them around the bottom. (The shade was purple fabric before and I recovered it in white muslin I had leftover from the drapes.)

The lamp itself was sprayed in none other than the brushed nickel! I love that stuff! ORB better watch it! ;)

Some asked how we light things in the shelves. When my dad and I built them years ago, we used a large drill bit to make holes in the sides and backs of the cabinets as well as in the bottom shelf of each one:

  

Someday I’d love to run lighting up to the very top of the shelves as well.    

Overall, this whole room (not including the price of the new bed, which was a given), came in at just over $1000! That includes everything else – bedding, molding, paint, fabric, accessories.

Some items were taken from other rooms. Some we already had that I repurposed. Some I’d had for years, hoping they may work someday. :)

There are only two things left from the nursery…one is the turtle nightlight:

turtle nightlight

This is really our second one – the first one we used so much it stopped working! My Dad and Stepmom got the first one for us when I was pregnant. To say we all adore this thing is an understatement!

It has constellations in it’s back and when you turn off the lights, the whole ceiling is covered in stars. It is adorable. We found the new one at our children’s museum gift shop.

The only other item still here is his rocking chair, now dressed with an airplane pillow from KMart:

built ins

There are still days I rock my baby in this chair.

Cause as you know…he will always, always be my baby.

:)

Thanks again for your lovely comments!!

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Comments

  1. That is one of the most adorable and precious little boy rooms ever! We did ours in trains, but I need to oomph it up a bit more. You've inspired me! Love it!

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  2. Love, LOVE, Lurrvveee it all!!! You did a fantastic job and the detail...beautifully done! I am sure your sweet boy is loving his new room and it will grow with him for many years to come! Love it!!

    Hugs,
    Victoria

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  3. Ok, I'm a dork!! Had the paint all confused! I thought that it was a HD color you had mixed @ Lowes...
    LOVE it all...every little detail :)

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  4. O.M.G! If you had a girl my DH would kill me because I'm always sooooo inspired by you and this is totally cute. I always said I was glad to have girls cause boys are harder to decorate for. I stand corrected! What an awesome Big Boy room.

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  5. Just beautiful.

    Be very proud of yourself. I may jump and request your help in doing my baseboards in my home, I am soo chicken, why? I have a brand new home, did wood floors and never put the baseboards up, three years now, see I need you!

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  6. Looks so awesome and put together with all the fab details. Really love it and would do it for my boys room!

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  7. Pure brillance, love it!!!! What will you do next, she wonders!

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  8. You are SO talented! I think his room looks fantastic!!

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  9. Now I'm dying to get started on my 4 year-old's room! Seriously fabulous. You are quite the talented one.

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  10. You are AMAZING. I want to be you!!!

    All the tips and tricks you share (especially in this post) make me say "duh." You come up with such simple and super cheap ways to decorate and I'd never think of them myself but when you explain it all, it's so easy and perfect!

    I love that you WAITED to buy some things until you found just what you wanted, and that you splurged on something that was really important.

    You're seriously an inspiration! Thank you. :)

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  11. You did such an amazing job with this room. All the details are wonderful and are what make the room so great. I smile everytime you call your son "Bub" because that is what I call my son also!

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  12. I don't have a little boy but my big boy (husband) loves this room...he asked if his office can take on this look...You did an amazing job...

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  13. Such a lovely room. You took a great deal of time and put thought into the details. I love it. If I had a boy, I'd do something similar with a baseball theme.

    http://ouruglyhome.blogspot.com/

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  14. Thanks for all the details! My baby is 10 years old and I'm redoing his room. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  15. It IS "all in the details," right? Such a wonderful room!

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  16. All the details add up to fabulous! I am most certain your boy is thrilled! Janell

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  17. Lucky little boy with such a talented mom. Although i dont have any small children anymore, I will take with me all the painting and embellishing, and clever decorating you have shown. I am always so impressed with the talented women in blogland! Thanks so much for sharing! Sue

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  18. I love it! Beautiful job! You can tell you put so much time into creating this adorable space for your little guy.

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  19. You must be so proud of the wonderful job you did on this room. I was in ahh over everything you did, it came together so nicely. He is one lucky little guy.

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  20. OMIGOSH! I lurve this room! My guy wants an ABC/Cars/Super Mario Bros room.....I'm so jealous that your guy did airplanes. BTW....we have the same turtle and love him as well. When H is not quite ready for bed (but he's there any way, because it's time) we turn that guy on and he quiets down and drifts off. Wonderful job!

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  21. Sarah, it was so much fun to hear all the details of this fantastic room. It's absolutely wonderful in every way, and it's great to see every little thing that you did to make this a very special space.

    Thank you so much for linking to my headboard post! I'm so proud and happy that I was able to contribute in that small way to this awesome space. Makes me really, really happy! :)

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  22. I wanted to tell you one of my favorite things about the room you actually didn't mention. I LOVE the colored books you used. Was it difficult to find old hardbacks in the colors you wanted? Did you just thrift them?

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  23. Sarah, it's just SO cute!! Totally cute.

    You were asking about the beadboard wallpaper getting damage. I haven't had any problems, but then I don't go around touching it much either. When I put the blue tape on to hold the molding in place, it did pull up just a bit, but nothing major. So, I'd say you have to be a little careful with it, but not overly so.

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  24. i love the room. this may well be the best room makeover I've ever seen. great job!

    we have that turtle as well. they sell them on amazon if you ever need another one.

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  25. What a beautiful room. You did an amazing job! I love that you were able to repurpose so many things. Thanks for inspiring me.

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  26. Beautiful room!!! Love all the personal touches you did. Fantastic, you truly have great style!

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  27. Again, you did such a wonderful job. All the details really shine thanks to your patience and attention.

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  28. I love how this room turned out! You are so creative!!!

    Being the mom of a little boy myself, I totally understand that you will always consider your son as your BABY! I'm wondering if my son's future wife will be ok with me showing up to rock my son to sleep at night?????!

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  29. I love his room, it came out great! Love the lamp with little planes inside of it too, great idea:0)

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  30. the details are really lovely! and thanks for the link to the gum-machine tute. i was wondering about that! cuuute. :)

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  31. You did an amazing job - this room is fab!!

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  32. Thanks for this post! We actually have a few of the same things! Lantern from goodwill, I have 2 of the ottomans (14.98 each) and I was going to ask you about the frames. I can't wait to start on my boys room. You have given me so much to look forward to in designing their space

    Thanks girl!

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  33. Wow! What a GREAT room. Good job, very creative :)

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  34. You did such an amazing job! It really is so breath taking. I love every single thing about it. I feel so inspired. Thank you so much for sharing.

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  35. This room is right out of a hi-end home mag! I wonder if my young man son would like a redo! Maybe using guitars! I am just in awe of the final product. Congratulations!

    Guerrina
    Ledyard, CT
    waters7989@yahoo.com

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  36. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful room! We are redoing our big boy's room in about two months and this is great inspiration!

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  37. How can you go wrong with a Spongebob gumball machine fishtank!

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  38. We love the turtle lamp too! We have one for my son and then a lady bug one for my daughter.

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  39. All I can say is...wow. I want to be like you when I grow up. ;0) Great ideas..Thanks

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  40. So that's where all the airplanes around Indy went ;) We had originally planned on doing my son's room in a similar style, but opted for monkeys instead after his affection for Curious George started;anyway, we went to homegoods a few times & kept putting off buying the planes, and then they vanished....now I know where they are. The room is ah-may-zing, so much better than I could have done with them anyway =)

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  41. Love it! How did you do the curtains? I feel like you posted about this, but I'm not finding it...

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  42. Just found your blog tonight, and look forward to reading more.

    We are in the process of selling our house ... actually moved away for 6 months, but had to move back because the house hadn't sold. But ... hoping it sells, and dreaming of what the next house will be. Already dreaming of decorating a new place, so very excited to find your blog.

    Our Master Bedroom is the deep red & blue patriotic, with white beadboard. I LOVE how you did your board & batten. Wow! Would like details on the framing of the pictures on the wall. Frames around smaller frames???

    LOVE the basement craft room. I also would not describe myself as "girly-girl", but I love the cute girly stuff for "MY" space. I'm a scrapbooker, and dream of having a space in our new place that I can set things up that will stay up.

    You've already given me a lot of fun ideas to dream about. Now ... I just need a new house to decorate.

    Laurel :)

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  43. Oh my goodness I could not love this room more !! Those airplanes in that brushed nickel, and that propeller are to die for ! What a lucky lucky lad to grow up in a magical place like this. I can see how much work you put into this and it really shows. Just stunning !

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  44. This room belongs in a magazine for sure. Absoulutely stupendous!! Love every little detail.

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  45. Nothing new on this home-front... you are still a genius and creating amazing rooms! My goodness woman you totally out-did yourself this time. I love EVERYTHING! Thanks for sharing your sweet Bub's room with us! Love it!

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  46. OMG! I just love this room!!! Painting the sconces red was a brilliant idea. You are an inspiration to me. :)

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  47. I love everything in this room...the set up too is totally inspiring!

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  48. I still snuggle up on the couch with any of my 3 kids. The girls are 22 and 20 and my son is 13. It's so neat to have a kid that can grow and become independent but still enjoy the lovin'. Thanks for sharing. You did a really nice job.

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  49. What a lovely home! You deserve to be praised Sarah! Your husband and kid must be so blessed to have you.. You did a great job in creating a cozy, creative and comfortable abode. Advanced happy mother's day!

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  50. Great job, I think my teens would like a room like this. Thank you for sharing.

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  51. This room is so sweet. I love how it is young & fun, but has enough sophistication that it will grow with him for many years. The color scheme is great and bub was right about the pops of yellow. It's nice to sometimes be brought out of things being too matchy-matchy.

    Wonderful room!

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  52. I don't know why - but I have to comment again.

    I keep on staring at this room over and over again. I just LOVE it. That's all. :)

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  53. Love love love. And love again. Did I mention love? :0)

    I always enjoy looking at your blog. I live in Muncie so it's cool to read someone who is so close by!

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  54. Oh my gosh! The room is FABULOUS! I know that I am behind in commenting but we were in Florida last weekend and my 'baby' turned 16 on Wednesday. I just got behind in reading my blogs. Anyway, Bubs will always be your baby and it goes by so fast!

    Back to the room, I love everything in it. The cute yellow fan, the pictures, the airplanes....the whole thing. Great job!

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  55. It is absolutely fab! You are a true inspiration. I stumbled across your blog months ago and am hooked. Thanks for all the great ideas.

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  56. Ever since I read this post the first time, I keep finding little airplanes at every store I go to. Of course, it makes me think of this room & how adorable it is. It's so cute, it makes me want another little boy so I can copy it. My boys are 11 & 13 so planes aren't cool anymore. My youngest is a girl & is all about the Barbies..

    And the only store I can actually think of seeing the plane was Michael's. They had unfinished chipboard plane models for only $1 or $2..

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  57. LOVE your (or should I say your son's) taste! I have a 3 yr. old boy and I bought the same K'mart bedding for his bed. Gotta love the price! I haven't been as lucky to find any model airplanes, I'll have to look further.

    I hope you'll check out my blog tomorrow:
    http://www.prettyhandygirl.com/2010/06/when-is-closet-not-closet-when-it-is.html

    I just built a bench in his closet and used the same color scheme as the bedding (minus the yellow - which I think was brilliant!)

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  58. Just love it. I really like the molding trim and wains you do everywhere. Did you do it in that room too? I can see home depot and I are going to get close this fall. Thanks for all the wonderful ideas.

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  59. Hi, I'm a newbie to your site. I've had it bookmarked for awhile now and I finally found a moment to look around. Love it. Especially, this one and your boys room. I only wish I had your creativity and inspiration. Although, after reading through, it made me think that I too could do small changes to make big results. I have to ask you, when you pointed out the personal photos of "Bub", and said that you used regular paper. Did you mean regular printer paper? Please do tell more about how you did this with your photos. I would love to do the same but unsure of how to.
    Again, can't wait to get more familiar with your site. May have to stay up late after kids go to bed just to get the quiet moments. :)
    Thanks again, for sharing all that you do.

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  60. I love this website! You remind me of me :)

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  61. oh my goodness. love all the attention to detail. this looks so professional but I like how you give the scoop on how you (and we) can do it! totally inspired...

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  62. We just found out my daughter is having a boy in October. We found some vintage airplane material and your airplane room will be a great inspiration. I forget about spray painting everything to bring it into the theme of the room. Thank you for your blog, I read it all the time.

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  63. This room is fabulous! I'm getting ready to move my 2 year old to a big boy room and actually just splurged on the same bedding. His nursery was done with airplanes so we have a lot of the little details already. I just love the inspiration this room has given me so much. I think once we're finished with the big boy room in our house I will have something very similar to what you created. Thanks for posting!

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  64. I love this room, thank you for all the amazing ideas! I was curious where you found the propeller?

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  65. I love the idea of crown / molding around the pictures on the wall. My son is almost six and when he saw this last night he said he wanted that on his wall. Would you possibly consider doing a blog on how you did it?

    BTW The entire room looks amazing. Very inspiring!

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  66. I love the room. This is exactly what I am looking for in my son's room. Unfortunately, the bedding is no longer being sold. If anyone has it and would like to sell it, please e-mail me at amyjo86@gmail.com.

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  67. I loved this room so much I had to create our own version of it in our house! Thanks for the beautiful ideas!
    http://partiesandpottytraining.com/2012/04/the-house-kid-room-1/

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  68. I just came across your site on Pintrest in search for some inspiration for my son's airplane room. Your creation is so sweet! Thank you for your help...I truly needed this. Hugs!

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  69. Where did you find the propeller you painted?

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  70. Hi- I love the room!! Where did you get the propeller? I'm trying to duplicate. Thanks

    Sharon
    Sclarkwsu@gmail.com

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  71. Love also! And also curious where on earth did you find the propeller?? Thanks in advance! :)

    Nikki

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If you have a specific question I will do my best to answer you back here!

You can find our paint colors and links to items at the "Our Home" tab at the top of my site.

THANKS so much for reading!