Pirate Bedroom: Part 1

My son LOVES pirates!  Unlike monster trucks, there aren't a lot of ways to expose him to pirate adventures in our area. So, when it was time to convert his room from a baby dinosaur theme, I decided to create a pirate adventure room!  Of course, all on a budget.  

To start:  the bedroom walls were already blue so I decided to focus on them being the ocean.  My son also already had a great bed (made by Step2) that has storage underneath and holds him and all his stuffed animals safely on top.  Side note - I can't say enough about how much I love this bed!  It was a great transition from a crib, creates hidden storage (or play area) underneath, and I don't see him needing anything different for a while.   My daughter (who is just 20 months older) is on her 4th bed since her crib!

My first step was finding pirate material that would go great in his room.  I turned that into matching window treatments and a bedspread.  It was my first time making any type of "quilt" but the material I picked worked out perfect!!  

Next:  I was determined to turn that bed into a pirate ship!  I had an idea to add a ships wheel but I also wanted it to spin.  My first thoughts were to attach it to the wall or to drill a hole in the bed to attach the wheel. But, I knew my husband would never go for any of that.  So, I let my creativity flow and ended up with this.

The bed is in a corner so I used that to hide my wheel contraption.  I created something that would slip over the side of the bed (so it could be removed later and leave no damage).  There is a board in the back that goes all the way to the floor.  Another board in the front that goes down to the board I have the mattress on.  I attached those two boards together with L brackets (or whatever the official name is) for extra support.  then I used a small board to attach the two together (sits perfectly on the top edge of the bed).  Of course, I stained everything to match the wheel color.  The extra space left on top of the facing board is where I attached the wheel.  I just walked around a Home Depot (with my wheel) until I found some nuts & bolts that I thought would work - plus gold colored spray paint to match the gold trim on the wheel.  

Yes - it works ;-)

It was a lot easier to figure out the rest after the bed was in place, window treatments, blankets, and the wheel were added.  

The ship needed some kind of mast so I ordered this off ebay:

While shopping at Target (where I can never leave without spending way more than I planned), I discovered that they started carrying some pirate themed bedroom accessories.  The picture on the wall is one of my finds there.

I found an expresso desk and chair.  My son was determined that he needed a pirate chair so I created this slip for the back.  It has pockets too so he can store stuff in it.  The pirate lamp was another Target find.  

Tyler already had a few pirate items so I looked for spaces that they might fit in the decor.  

I ordered an expresso toy box that looked like a treasure chest.  I have seen these painted to look really cool but I'm all for leaving it this was for future uses.

It's hard to see the pockets on the back of the chair cover but they are there.
This be removed to wash or for future use of the chair.