Toddler room on a budget: Animal-themed

Like I have mentioned in my previous post, I never did have a nursery room. Little E has been in his cot in the guest room. With the thought of him having to move to a big boy bed in the future, I have decided to finally do up his own room. I didn’t have a big budget, so I had to mostly “make do” with what I have. A dear friend said that she thinks I did it the right way around because at least now, I know what Little E likes, which is “animals” 🙂 So that is the theme of the room!

I worked together with Nuff Nang and eBay to create an inspiration board, using the new Collection feature on eBay. It worked really well actually, because the Collection also works like a “wish list” 🙂 Here is what my board looked like:

1. Bed | 2. Rug | 3. Duck Bookends| 4. Large Wooden Alphabets | 5. Glider Chair | 6. Woollen Throw | 7. Toy Trolley | 8. Bedside Table | 9. Bed Sheets | 10. Horse Lamp (I really want this one!!!) | 11. Tallboy | 12. Framed Prints

Below are the “after” photos 🙂 I am happy with the result, all up I only spent a maximum of $200 plus hours of painting 😉 Mr E is so happy that he has given me the go-ahead to do up the rest of the house! Hooorah! 🙂

Originally, we had a double bed, which took up almost the entire room. To remedy that, I sold the bed and for the same amount of money, I bought a single bed that comes with a trundle from Gumtree. For a little bit of money, I got a foam mattress for the trundle and a proper spring one for the actual bed. I decided to keep the doona that we had (it was a double) and bought a new cover for it that goes with the theme of the room. I was afraid that it would look too big, but I think it actually hangs nicely over the single bed, I am happy with how it looks. I bought the zebra picture from Kmart for $12 🙂

I had a left-over material that I bought from IKEA years ago, and since it goes with the theme of the room, I made a cushion cover with it.

I scoured a few op-shops and bought cheap frames, which I painted over with whatever paint we have at home. I framed one of his paintings that I love, it looks like a jumping elephant. One of the pictures is a decoration that my mum inlaw printed for my baby shower. I also had an old map that I bought from a recent book fair and made a few projects out of it. One of them is the framed “E” – on it, we have Australia, Indonesia and China. The exact combo that my little man is 🙂 The leopard-bird is the first ever print we bought from a proper gallery!

I repainted an old bedside table and wanted the drawer pulls, but have yet to find ones I like in my budget. I bought this small lamp from Kmart as well for $12! I was going to decorate it, but have decided to keep it as is, so that I can reuse it when Little E isn’t as obsessed with animals anymore 🙂 In fact, this is the reason why I kept most of the big things (bed, chair, bedside table, etc) pretty neutral, so when he’s bigger, I can just change the decoration to suit his interest at the time. This cat ball is a present from my little friend, T, given to me at my baby shower (she was the co-organiser) 🙂

I really want these shelves bracket and drawer pulls, but I cannot justify spending that much money 😦 I have been on Pinterest trying to find ways to DIY, but I have yet to find them. If you happen to come across something similar, please please please let me know 🙂

What do you guys think of my little man’s big boy room? 🙂