Fickle pickle

Remember when I said "My home is always a work in progress"?

I'm really hoping you do.
STILL working on Tristan's big boy room.

Even after I took these pictures on Saturday, I've still changed a few things.

"New" (OLD) curtains-- they were actually my mom's and I've used them in some way in almost every place I've lived since college (which is A LOT)

Oh yeah, also flipped the reversibly bedding because all that jazz going on was making me dizzy and a little claustrophobic.

(Other side of bedding. COOL, but too much with all the different colors I have in T's room). Unfortunately, I don't own this home and I learned my lesson to never paint a rental house ever again, so the tri-colored walls and odd ceiling shelves are staying and we're dealing.

^ Tristan's new bookshelf. Still don't know if I love it. 

Nothing will ever please me, I guess! 

I was really starting to not like the bed. Every time I went in there, something about it would irritate me. Not to mention, I knew we wouldn't be using it very long because it wasn't very sturdy. Decent for a 2 year old, but not a rowdy 3 year old. PLUS, we got super lucky and scored a FREE pillow-top mattress and boxspring today, so I disassembled the bed and now the mattress is sitting on the floor...hmmm..

My favorite part! Tristan's reading nook. Maybe because I did it all by myself. Yep Yep. I painted the infamous IKEA spice racks and mounted them all by myself and I spent less than $20. Woot Woot.

Plus, Tristan loves it. He is such a little reader, I am so proud I can't help but brag. Seriously though, I eat it up. Oh what's that Tristan? You want to stay up till 10 reading books with Mommy? Well alright...

There ya go. 

T's Big Boy Room!

Okay guys, I need some FEEDBACK.

I've been planning this bedroom in my head for almost a year now and I'm kinda stuck. I FINALLY learned how to create a moodboard so bear with me, because these two are my first creations.

Ok, so here's the situation:

My mother and grandparents gifted the boys matching bed sets that I really wanted (and it's a good thing too because it's completely sold out now)... so we already have the bedding. We also already have the gray bean bag, and we're creating a "reading nook" in the corner. Hoping it will look something like this (but in the corner with a beanbag):

Right now, we're just upgrading Tristan's room and Ryan's going to get all of Tristan's old stuff until he's ready for a twin sized bed. (I know, hand-me-downs already but I promise you, he won't even know!). Later on, the boys are going to probably share a room and we'll make Ryan's room into either a playroom...or a nursery ;)

We know which pieces of furniture we want but we can't decide on color.

This is what I originally had in mind. I need to take a visit to IKEA soon because the Expedit pictured is actually a high gloss gray, although I don't think the picture does it any justice. I think seeing the gray colored expedit in person might help me to make up my mind.

Ok so below is what became kind of an afterthought. I like the clean feel of white, although I'm afraid to use white  in the bedroom because I like white for playrooms and I intend to use this furniture until they're ready for "Teen" rooms, so I need it to last and I don't want them to outgrow the color...

Anyway, tell me which colors you like best!! :)