Harry's Zen Space

It has been a busy year since I last blogged! Since my last post we have bought our first home in a new neighborhood in Chicago and I’m now back working at a nearby Montessori School where Harry also attends! I have been super busy decorating our home, toilet training Harry and reconnecting with my inner Montessorian in the classroom. I must say I am in a really happy place right now and wanted to share some new blogs starting with Harry’s space in the home where you might find some fun and inspiring ideas! I am also looking for some suggestions too from other mums out there and Montessori teachers alike to share some words of wisdom on how I can improve or where I can shop to find nice purposeful pieces. It is a work in progress and by no means finished but I have to say I am enjoying the journey!

I decided to place two twin beds or single beds as we call them in Ireland in Harry’s room so he could have a friend sleep over sometime and there was also another method to my madness…toilet training! If he wet one bed in the night, he could easily be changed quickly and climb into the other. It totally worked! I know some people toilet train day time and night time at different stages but I decided to do it all at the same time! It was a wet month or two but totally worth it in the end! We started at 2 years and 8 months with Harry as this was when he decided he was ready and when I decided to not buy any more nappies/diapers anymore. I’ll do a whole blog on that soon!

Overall, I wanted a neutral, relaxing space with very little distractions as bed time can be a little dragged out if there is too much clutter around. Harry gets distracted easily so I wanted just to have only books and teddy bears in his sleeping place and keep the toys and activities in another area.

As for the beds, I found a really great carpenter on Facebook marketplace who lived in the suburbs and he custom made these beds for 350 dollars total for two beds. This was a way better deal than anything I could find online or in mainstream stores. It really is worth having a look on that site as sometimes you can find little gems.

His bedding is the ‘Cars’ bedding from Pottery Barn Kids which is a favorite store of mine! Their sheets are all on sale right now so it’s a great time to purchase! I also bought the storage units from here too which are massively discounted. The car lamp is also from PB which is on sale at the moment as well as the framed photo of cars which can be found here. I believe the airplane mobile which is hanging from the ceiling is out of stock now sadly.

These were my most expensive purchases! The soft floor rug I picked up at Home Goods and art pieces for his wall as well as reading stool are from Marshalls and Home goods which as you know are great bargain spots!

I would love to hear some feedback or suggestions on how I could improve his room. I’m already making a collage of photographs of family from home to frame and put on the wall directly beside his bed so he can see all the faces who love and care about him as he falls asleep at night. I also have added some musical instruments and puzzles for him to play in the morning for when he wakes up in the hope of getting a little lie in! It hasn’t worked yet!! haha!

I’ve also included a sneaky snap from my next blog post coming soon about Harry’s play/work space and all of his recent activities that he is loving at the moment at home!