BIG BEAR LAKE HOUSE KID’S ROOM REMODEL

Greetings! Thanks for stopping in today! So, I recently told you in this post, and this post, that I’ve taken on a project to remodel a home in Big Bear Lake, California. This project is a bit different than some of my previous projects because I would term it a “remodel” rather than a “restoration”. The house is newer than the typical 1930ish mountain homes I’ve restored in the past, and was in good physical shape. But, it was sorely in need of lightening, brightening and updating. We have been making good progress on the remodel so today I thought I’d share with you the Big Bear Lake House Kid’s Room remodel. We aren’t completely finished with the room, but we’re nearly there, so I thought I’d share the progress.

The BEFORE

Here’s what the room looked like when my clients purchased the home…

The BEFORE

It was jam-packed with furniture in a mish-mash of styles that took over the room, leaving no space to get around.

What I’d call “dirty-beige” colored paint was on the walls, ghastly brown carpet was on the floors, and dark wood abounded. It was downright dark, dingy and depressing. I give my clients a ton of credit for being able to see beyond all this to the potential that was there.

I think what bothered me the most was the wild variation of wood used. There was yellowish knotty pine on the ceiling, and a loft constructed of pine was stained in a gray tone. Then the doors and trim were yet another shade of ash, and the closets were lined in cedar. The wooden headboard, nightstands and massive chair added 3 more variations of wood to the room. I’ve never seen anything quite like it! Plus, the previous owner had decorated the entire house for Christmas, and that was the year-round design theme: Christmas 365 days a year! Yes, that’s a Christmas garland on the loft railing! And to top it all off there was also a Tommy Bahama style fan in the room that looked like it belonged in the tropics and not on a mountaintop.

Ultra Pure White Paint Here We Come

So, we got rid of absolutely everything! The wall-to-wall carpet was sent to the dump, the furniture and decor was sold on Facebook Marketplace, and we began to paint everything but the knotty pine ceiling in my favorite color, Ultra Pure White by BEHR.

Don’t you just feel better already?

New Closet Doors

When we complete the remodel of this Big Bear Lake home it will become a vacation rental property. So, besides the fact that mirrored sliding glass closet doors are passé, the owners wanted to turn the closet into two separate closets: one a locking owner’s closet, the other for guests. So, we did just that while retaining the aromatic natural cedar closet lining planks.

Here are the new closets, just shy of the final coat of paint.

The Design Theme

As I mentioned, we are turning this into the kids room. We wanted to make it playful and fun for young children while giving it a mountain flavor. But we wanted to avoid at all costs the overdone, kitchy bears and pine cone theme, seen WAY too often in these parts. We agreed that Black, White and Forest Green would be our color-scheme, and we’d introduce this buffalo-check fabric to give it a mountain flavor.

I then came up with the concept of making this a “National Parks” themed room, and I had just the person to help me achieve the look! The owner just happens to be a very talented artist (he works as an animator for Disney), so I asked him to design and paint a mountain mural on the wall. I was so thrilled when he agreed to do it! His wife found paint colors to match our color scheme…

and he went to work.

In one VERY long day…

he produced this amazing mountain mural!

The Flooring

Once the painting was done we could install the new flooring. Because of the mountain location and the heavy traffic the floors would have to sustain, we selected a durable, TrafficMaster brand laminate flooring called Cameron Oak.

We loved the wide-plank, distressed look, and felt it would coordinate with our knotty pine ceilings.

What an improvement it was over the dirty brown carpeting!

Making The Beds

To accommodate the owner’s 2 young boys we selected these stackable pine beds from IKEA called UTAKER. Two sets of these in the room will sleep 4 kids, while most of the time only taking up the space of 2 twin beds.

To begin the introduction of our National Park theme, I purchased a bunch of official United States Forest Service embroidered patches here on Etsy. Want some patches for yourself? Just click on the photos to take you to the source.

And, like I do for all the homes I work on, I set to work sewing a couple of blanket throws for each bed, adding a Smokey Bear patch for good measure. I also sewed the black tufted foot blankets.

It was so much fun the day I got to make up the beds. The 16″ x 26″ green lumbar pillow is called SANELA from IKEA.

I found very nice, affordable, Design Crew Basics Organic Cotton Duvet Covers and Euro Shams from West Elm. The Duvet Covers are only $39 and are on sale right now for an additional 20% off with free shipping using the code FRIENDS. And, I paid only $10 each for the Euro Shams. Click here to pick this bedding up for yourself in sizes ranging from Twin to Cal-King.

I purchased the darling Snow Capped Mountain Pillows in Wool Felt here on Etsy for $24. Aren’t they just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?

Inexpensive DIY Wall Art

Another thing I frequently do in my remodels is add inexpensive DIY wall art to the rooms. In fact, I wrote a whole blog post on the subject here. For this room I wanted to meet Smokey the Bear and hopefully pick up some memorabilia. So, as I told you in this post, I attended his 75th Birthday Party at the Lake Arrowhead Historical Museum.

There, Smokey gave me a carved wooden arrowhead commemorating his birthday. So, I decided to frame it for posterity in an IKEA RIBBA frame.

I also picked up some fun stickers here on Etsy, and framed them as well.

Just click on the stickers to take you to the source.

I found this cute wooden Fishing TIC TAC TOE Game at one of my favorite stores on the mountain, Hearth & Sage General Store located in Crestline. If you’re ever up here you must pay them a visit, and tell them I sent you!

Here’s my inexpensive DIY wall art decorating one wall of the Kid’s Room. I really loved the 3-D quality of the wooden arrowhead and TIC TACK TOE set.

For another wall I decided to frame some of the Smokey Bear patches I showed you earlier.

I purchased the inexpensive wooden frames at H & M Home, one of my favorite sources for well designed, affordable home decor. You can find these frames in beige oak or black by clicking here.

The Activity Center & IKEA Hack

I decorated another wall of the Kid’s Room with some IKEA Bookshelves. Then I had my carpenter modify an IKEA MADA”Tabletop” Paper Holder and hung it on the wall, creating a little activity center for the children. We will be adding a kid’s table and chairs below.

My latest IKEA Hack

The New/Old Ceiling Fan

And remember the tropical style ceiling fan? Rather than spend money on a new fan I considered changing the fan blades. But when I couldn’t find blades to fit the existing fan I decided to paint them black. It was an improvement that made the fan tolerable, so we are keeping it.

The Play Loft

Now, let me show you what we did to the loft area. Previously used as a sleeping loft, we decided it would make a fun play loft for the kiddos instead. We will soon be adding a rope ladder for access. In the meantime I added this darling Toy S’Mores Campfire Set from Crate & Barrel.

I also added an IKEA Sheepskin and some Stump Shaped Simulated Wood Pillows for the kids to sit on.

Well, as I mentioned, the Kid’s Room is not quite ready for its final reveal. So stay tuned and I’ll be sharing the finished product in the near future.

So there you have it: BIG BEAR LAKE HOUSE KID’S ROOM REMODEL

Thanks so much for dropping in!

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All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are the original property of Celia Becker @ www.AfterOrangeCounty.com and may not be reproduced without specific permission. This blog post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.  It’s what helps to make this blog possible. Thanks very much for your support.