Big Boy Car Bedroom (Plus a Book Sling Tutorial)

Hello all, Sara here!  We recently moved our little guy into a big boy bed, which meant he "needed" a room makeover.  I had a lot of fun coming up with ideas to do in his room and found a lot of inspiration on Pinterest.

Here are some pictures of the finished product!

The play side of the room.  I made the book sling thanks to a tutorial from Pinterest (I am including a tutorial at the bottom of this post to show how I modified the original tutorial, thanks to Crafty Mama Beth's help!)

The accent wall with new curtains (tutorial to come soon!) and some fabric and vinyl decorations.

The dresser and nightstand are from IKEA.  They work out perfectly for his room, perfect size and colors.

Now for a tutorial on how to make this book sling.

When I saw this idea on Pinterest, I knew I wanted it in the new bedroom.  I even had some fabric that matched the color theme, I just hadn't figured out what I was going to do with it.

I used one yard of fabric, home decor weight.  It measured about 35" by 43" once I squared off the sides.  The original tutorial called for 1 1/3 yards of fabric, which I didn't have.  After talking to some of the other Crafty Mamas, Beth came up with an idea to make use of just one yard of fabric!!  Here is how I did it.

 Fold the short side in about half an inch and press.

 Sew along this edge with a 1/8" seam allowance (I always use the edge of my presser foot as my guide).

 Once both sides are hemmed, fold the piece of fabric in half, with the long edges matching up and right sides together.  If you have a stripe, like I did, make sure the stripes match up when you pin the side together. Sew using a 1/2" seam allowance.

I pressed this seam open, but you don't necessarily need to.  I just like the look of a pressed seam.  I also didn't finish the raw edges since I wasn't worried about fraying since the sling won't be moving.

Turn the sling so the right side is out.  You are almost done at this point.  I didn't get a picture, but measure how much seam allowance you will need for your curtain rod (I used a dowel rod, like she did in the original tutorial).  Mine allowance was about 1 1/2" as shown below.

Once you have determined the seam allowance, sew along both long edges of the sling where the curtain rod will go.  Then you are done.  All you have to do it put the curtain rods in and hang it up!!

Like the original post, we found the studs in the wall and hung up the curtain rod so the weight of the books and any potential pulling from kids wouldn't tear the sling down from the walls.  Now the sling does not hold that many books.  There are different kinds of double curtain rod holders out there that have different widths to them.  I was fine with having just a little space, since I knew this wasn't going to be the only place we had books in his room.

I loved making this new big boy bedroom for our little guy!