Montessori

Preschool Montessori Bedroom

This preschool Montessori bedroom was partially compensated by PhotoWall, a Swedish company excelling in wall coverings. All opinions are my own.

We were so worried about moving to a new home because of the toll transitions take on kids. Our daughter was two and could hardly care less that we were in a new home. We still made it our priority to have her room fully painted and decorated before working on any room in our home. Fast forward two years and by turning four she’s now acting like a fourteen year old. I was planning on updating her room when we became pregnant with our second child making it a process we could go through together to welcome her new sibling into her room. When PhotoWall contacted me I thought it would be a simple addition of one accent wall. A week later she had a completely new room by re-painting, flipping her bed over into a bunk bed and switching out the art.

The total spent on her renovation was $0 because we used everything we had on hand aside from the wall mural and supplies sent by Photo Wall. We used white paint that we’d used in another room in our home and spray paint to paint a dark wood frame and black mirror to match the design better. We’d previously had all furniture, bedding and art that was used in the renovation of her preschool bedroom.

Our little girl has lots of opinions. I know to not buy clothes without her approval because she won’t wear them. I knew she needed to be a part of her bedroom design so she would feel comfortable and happy in her space. Photo Wall has hundreds of wall coverings to choose from. I selected five of my favorites and had her choose from those five. She was also in charge of choosing which new art came in and which old art stayed. Pinterest makes art so easy! She specifically wanted a unicorn added to her gallery wall so I got on Pinterest and had it framed within three minutes of her request. She also helped with the wall mural. We cut each panel out and lined them up according to their number. This made it so easy to find which panel came next.

There are two things I especially love about PhotoWall. The premium wall paper is super thick and has the most luxurious feel. The second reason I agreed to work with PhotoWall is for their green initiative. They work with an organization called Vi Agroforestry and every year they plant 5,000 trees in the area around Lake Victoria, eastern Africa. The trees help to fight poverty, improve the environment and combat climate change. All production is to order, which means they only produce the quantity of products required, none are held in stock or discarded unnecessarily. The printing ink they use for their wallpapers contains no solvents or hazardous chemicals, and is biodegradable.

Here is a quick before of our daughter’s room. It started out simple with clean lines and uncluttered but as time went by she continued to add her special touches to the room. I wanted to keep this in mind as we upgraded her bedroom. I wanted her to feel like it was her room but scale back to a more peaceful uncluttered space.

Her room feels much more intentional and curated to fit her specific tastes and needs. She now has a spot for everything as well as a playful kid feel. She adores her wall mural and exclaimed ‘Someone drew and colored these flowers!’ I love that she is excited about her new space and has been spending more time playing in there after school. My hope is that this room will continue to grow and evolve with every stage of her childhood.

Our Montessori Life

We are in the beginning stages of learning the expansive world of Montessori. I wanted to share with you our experience with this way of living and why we’ve chosen to incorporate this lifestyle into Sophie’s childhood.

Montessori Life
A lot of people ask ‘why’ when I tell them about the practices we’re using with Sophie. ‘Why would you put her in a big kid bed at age 15mo?’ ‘Why would you put all of her stuffed animals out of reach in her room?’ ‘Why would you take away toy boxes?’ Our answers: Continue Reading about Our Montessori Life

March Goals

(This post contains affiliate links. Although, I did not receive any of the below products for free, I will be compensated a small percentage if you purchase through my links.)

March_featureHello and happy almost-spring! March is always exciting because it means that the snow will start melting soon (although we just got 10 inches dumped on us yesterday, so it may take a while.) We’re not letting the snow slow us down though! We took Soph swimming at the pool yesterday and went sledding today. Keeping busy helps make the winter go by faster!

Before digging into my March goals, let’s see how I did on my February goals. We’ve been really enjoying ourselves at Montessori this past month.

Sophie is a joy to watch interacting with the other kids and improving on her work every week. We went on a family Valentine’s date to Applebee’s because it was an hour wait everywhere (at 2pm!) We made it up by going to Red Lobster the next day. I was sure to give Jeffrey more time to spend on studying and writing throughout the month. I am still reading the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and have added the #40bagsin40days challenge. I have done terrible at finishing the jewelry nook in the closet! I haven’t made the effort to figure out our paint color in there and therefore haven’t been able to finish the project, but I HAVE been having a lot of fun. I made sure to stay very focused on Sophie and making sure I was present for her and Jeffrey and it has made my month very fun! I read The 100 Year Old Man (of which I gave a 3/5). I also learned a lot from Lisa on our chat about Light Room and have been doing all of the posts’ photography editing there. I’ve done fairly well on the 5 post/day commenting. Some days I’ll skip but do more the next day. I’ve also been using co-schedule and tailwind to schedule posts and pins ahead of time. I haven’t seen a great difference in numbers yet but it’s only been a month.

monessori coloring
I honestly can hardly remember February. It flew by. We were able to see Second City when they came to town, which was hilarious! We also went on a party bus downtown Indy and I had a girl’s night out to see 50 Shades. Our neighborhood girl’s night was awesome because we played Cards of Humanity while watching Downton Abbey. I’ve also been having a ton of fun planning our Disney vacation and getting our home decluttered and organized.

nail polish

March Goals:

Family

  • Continue with our 40 Day Spending Freeze
  • Start with Monthly Date Night in a Box
  • Take Sophie to a show or museum

Life

  • Catch up and complete #40bagsin40days
  • Complete Whole30
  • Swim twice per week

Blog

I have a lot of behind-the-scenes secrets that I’ve been working on that I WILL be able to share with you in due time. For now, I want to know about your goals. What do you do to stay on track? Do you have accountability partners? A goal planner? A really organized brain? Let’s talk about this!

PS: Shameless plug guys. I’m on Facebook. I need more followers. I’ve gotten a lot of good tips from high rollers but could use any tips you’ve found helpful! Oh and don’t forget to follow me. I follow back!

Montessori Bedroom Inspiration for Your Child

Montessori bedroom, We did it friends! We made the big jump to switch Sophie (age 14 months) to a Montessori inspired room. Call us crazy, but we’re super excited!

Montessori Bedroom Inspiration for your child- DIY Mama

Montessori Bedroom

This past weekend we took out Sophie’s crib so there would be no turning back! It’s not very conventional to move a child of this age to a big kid bed but we think it’s best for Sophie. It will help aid her in being able to lay down when she’s tired or read a book if she wakes up at 6a (before Mommy).

Montessori Bedroom Inspiration for your child- DIY Mama

Her dresser has stayed pretty much the same from the start. Her drawers are still organized as they were in her nursery post. Bags and sweatshirts are at easy access with all the necessary diaper changing supplies on top of the dresser. The white cord hanging down in the corner is her camera. We attached the dresser to the wall and covered the outlet so she won’t be tempted to mess with the plugs.

Montessori Bedroom Inspiration for your child- DIY Mama

Sophie has a reading nook by her window. Over time I’m sure there will be pillows and blankets and art in this area but for now she likes sitting in this area and looking at her books with Bear. Also, that animal sorting bus in the lower corner is her favorite toy of all time. It’s a hand me down from her niece and I haven’t found it anywhere online, but if you’re looking for a toy for your little one, there are similar toys online.

Montessori Bedroom Inspiration for your child- DIY Mama

Sophie’s new bed is the Kura reversible bed from IKEA. There are so many fun ways to customize this bed. We’re thinking of making it more cozy with some kind of top and curtains. We put a temporary body pillow along the wall to make her more comfortable. She’s not a fan of blankets which is why her bedding is just a fitted sheet. With her bed being on the floor, when I see her rubbing her eyes or yawning, I can say ‘do you want to take a nap with Elmer (her elephant)?’ and she’ll walk into her room and lay down with him.

Montessori Bedroom Inspiration for your child- DIY Mama

Montessori Bookshelf

Sophie’s bookcase is minimal with some of her favorite toys and books. I didn’t put many books on the shelves, knowing that for now, I’ll be putting everything back on the shelves when she empties them. We wanted to have learning toys on her shelf that can grow with her as she learns how to play with them better. The Minnie on the top shelf is her sound machine for naps and the Winnie the Pooh is my old lamp/music box from when I was little. Her closet has the rest of her library, more toys and her hamper. Everything is attached to the wall or latched shut so she can’t hurt herself while playing in her room.

Montessori Bedroom Inspiration for your child- DIY Mama
We’ve all loved the new setup of Sophie’s room. We’ve been a bit sleep deprived while she’s getting the hang of actually laying in her bed throughout the night time, but we’re only on the second day.

When did you move your toddler to their big kid bed? How was the transition? Any tips on keeping them in the bed but not blocking their access to get up when they want? Wish us luck over these next couple weeks! We’ll be going back and forth between bed, crib and pack and plays with traveling for the holidays!

Shop This Room:

Kura Reversible Bed

Kallax Bookshelf

Name Bunting

Popular Montessori Parenting Posts:

Preschool Montessori Bedroom

Our Montessori Life

Kids Chore List for Young Kids

Google+