One room challenge Vintage Airplane boys room week 3

I am making progress on my 8 year old son's vintage airplane room and feel like it's finally coming together!  I'm so glad I have had this 6 week One Room challenge to keep me motivated. In week one I shared my plan for the room.
Week two I learned how to use power tools and created this pallet backed book case using free materials and things we already owned. And now here we are. Week three. This week, I pulled things together with curtains, a new rug and new bed linens. Here is a reminder of what the room looked like before and a side by side of what I like to call "during" because I still have three more weeks.

Let's take one more look at what the room looks like now. The bed and toy box have been moved and the bookcases that were flanking the bed have been made awesome with a new pallet back and they have been stacked.

I found this large wooden airplane model for $20 at a junk fair

I used silver spray paint and gave it a few coats and then my husband hung it up in the corner.

Not only did the bookcase get a makeover,

the $10 bed {got it at a garage sale!} and Ikea toy chest {we've had that since my oldest son was two}

got a coat of paint and some red highlights courtesy of Annie Sloane chalk paint.

I found new sheets for Owen's bed for only $7 on clearance.  I picked up an extra set of sheets and made the curtains out of those.

I made the felt woven pillow

{tutorial here}

and the felt airplane pillow here

I found the quilt on clearance at Bed Bath and Beyond for $20!

Yep, it was super marked down.

And the fuzzy blanket at the bottom has quite the story.

During our great Midwest trip this summer where we visited four states and drove over 1500 miles,

Owen left his beloved pooh bear blanket that he has had since before he was born on the final leg of our trip.

The very last flight!  All of our efforts to find it were futile and we assume that it got left on the airplane when we landed in Salt Lake City.

So all that said, he wanted a fuzzy cozy blanket he could wrap himself up in.

And the little rabbit skin was a little something he picked up {with his own money} when we stopped at Conner Prairie in Indiana {super cool place by the way!}.

I was shopping at Home Goods this past week and could not pass up this rug.

It was $75 and while that seems cheap for a massive rug, I just don't spend that kind of money on decorating, so it was a hard pill for me to swallow.

In fact, the tags are still on it in case I change my mind!

I decided that instead of replacing the light fixture in Owen's room, I would settle on the rug instead.

What do you think?

Should I keep it?

I also scored this super cool airline trunk at a garage sale for $15.

I thought that it would make a great nightstand and it fits perfectly under Owen's low window.

The task lamp was bought at Target for $25 and the wire fan was a garage sale find for $5.

The top of the trunk is the perfect spot for Owen's handmade hobby airplanes.

The trunk has some cool history.

The old owner played trumpet in the US Army and this trunk carried his instrument all over the country.

So that's the final shot of the vintage airplane boys room makeover in week 3.

What do you think?

Should I work on the artwork next?

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My picks for the 12 best books for boys

I'm a big reader.

In fact, I've shared with you a ton of my book recommendations over the past few years, but I don't think I have ever shared with you my recommendations for books for kids.

We do a lot of reading in our house

and it's translated into kids who love to read.

My youngest son {8} has been on a huge reading kick, so I thought I would share with you a few of the books that we have read together and some that he has read on his own.

All kid tested!

All would make perfect gifts this holiday season.

So pin this, and get your list started!

1. Treasure Hunters by James Patterson was a page turner.  My son would ask multiple times a day to sit down and snuggle just so we could read a few chapters.  Treasure Hunters is a story of four siblings raised on a boat whose parents are under sea treasure hunters.  The Kidd kids work together to solve the mystery that their father left them before being swept off of the boat in a storm.

2. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate is probably one of my all time favorites!  I read it out loud with my son, we passed it on to my husband and then to my daughter.  Ivan is a story that has been inspired from a true local story of a silverback gorilla that was locked in captivity for 27 years.  It's told from Ivan's perspective and it's an interesting look at the relationship of humans and animals.

3. Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems is a story about a monster who isn't so good at being scary.  It's a picture book, but one we don't get tired of!

4. The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke is a story of two orphaned brothers who run away to Venice and find a friend in the leader of the lost children that calls himself the Thief Lord.  The boys enter into a life of petty crime and end up with a detective hot on their trail.  But not for what you would think!

5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney is a series that all three of my kids have devoured more than once!  It's a hard book to read out loud but it's a great book for the kids to get their feet wet with chapter books.

6. Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins...yes, the Suzanne Collins of The Hunger Games fame.  Gregor is a young boy in New York on a mission to find his father.  He falls into a grate in the laundry room of his apartment and falls into an underworld full of large bats, cockroaches and evil rats.  Through the series Gregor grows and matures as he faces new challenges and becomes a warrior in this Underland.

7. The Notebook of Doom by Troy Cummings is a new book series that we picked up last week at the Scholastic book fair.  Owen just ate the book up in one sitting, got the next book in the series from the library and finished that in record time too!  I just love a series that engages kids and gets them reading.  
8. The Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon is a series that my husband and son keep coming back to.  My husband grew up on this series and my son is loving the many adventures that these brothers go on together.
9. Double Fudge by Judy Blume is one of my favorite books to read out loud to the kids.  In fact, I love the whole series!  Fudge is the hilarious kid brother of Peter Hatcher and the real life drama is something that all kids can relate to.
10. Holes by Louis Sachar follows a boy named Stanley who has unjustly been sent to a youth detention center where the boys have to dig holes all day in the hot sun as punishment.  It doesn't take long to figure out that there is more that is being looked for in digging these holes than just character improvement.  It's a great story with a fun twist on the curse that Stanley has been given by his Great Great Grandfather.
11.  Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park is hands down my favorite book series of all time!  The writing and improper use of grammar takes a bit to get used to as a reader, but once you can figure out how to read the books, Junie B. Jones is hilarious!  We can all relate to this outrageously sassy 7 year old.
12. The Dangerous Book for Boys by Hal Iggulden is the complete book of skills every boy should know.  From building a tree fort, to tying knots and learning to fish, this book has anything and everything your little man needs to know or might be interested in knowing about!
Those are my recommendations. Hopefully I found a book or two you can add to your gift list for that favorite little guy in your life. Do you have any you would add?

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