The unsuspecting birthday boy eating his breakfast.
My son Michael turned 15 this week. And for his gift he got a surprise total room makeover!!
And not just any boy themed makeover.
The LA Lakers! Purple and gold!! My husband Frank has been buying LA Lakers (particularly Kobe Bryant) posters, buying basketball themed decorative items, spray painting things purple and gold and printing up all the basketball stickers to fill in the walls. I made the purple valance and table skirt. It was a total guy thing so Frank did it all!
Michael "inherited" the apartment upstairs in our Victorian home from his two older sisters, who each used it in their teen years. The wallpaper was newly hung when we bought the house and so it stayed. It is pretty....but not for a boy!
Not wanting to tear the wallpaper down because of what we might find behind it (the walls are plaster and other rooms revealed lots of cracks!) we decided it had to be covered as much as possible to give it a different look. And it had to be done with a minimum of holes and damage to the wallpaper.
My husband just happens to work in the Media Technology Center (where they test cartridges, paper, etc.) of his company and it just so happens that they were going to be testing some post-it material to see how it took designs. He asked the boss if they would use his designs (which happened to be black and white basketball images). They did and we got a whole room full of stickers to fill in with the posters. The stickers are removable and don't damage the wallpaper. We used glue dots to hang the posters....also not supposed to damage wallpaper. I am the only one who cares about that!
Here are the before and after pictures of each wall of the makeover. We only did his bedroom area.....there is also a sitting room, a kitchen and a bath! Nice for a 15 year old, huh?
There are some unique details only my creative husband could come up with.
He spray painted an old lamp, put basketball stickers all over it and added a
a figurine of Shaq. That ring is a replica of Kobe Bryant's 2009 Championship ring.
There's a basketball court on the top of the dresser and
a purple painted lava lamp with a basketball on top
A Lakers covered switch plate with a fiery basketball....
Those are basketball stickers all over the ball,
wedged in on either side of the headboard
My husbands old E-Reader is hanging on the wall with a basketball
slide show continuously playing. Notice the CD player that has been spray painted gold and purple.
Michael's childhood clothes rack has been painted purple and holds his first
pair of basketball shoes, and his Laker's jersey and jacket that no longer fit.
Another spray paint job.....Michael had been
wondering what happened to his garbage basket!
Michael was downstairs the whole time my husband, I and daughter Jena were hanging everything. He kind of knew he was getting a Lakers room but had no idea how it would look. He was pretty surprised. He said it was way more than he expected. It is a WOW in person and the girly wallpaper
fades away!
The bedding was his birthday gift from his sister Jena.
The other rooms in his room are not plain by any means! In the sitting area he has an Irace wall (our last name), a Michael wall, a reptile wall and a superhero's wall. They all have the same kind of decorating style done by the same decorator! My husbands study has a similar look but that is a post for another time!
It was a joy to do this for Michael since he has been such a blessing to us. A true labor of love.
What will turning 16 bring? And how will we out do ourselves after this?!
AnnMarie :)
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