Good Questions: Wallet Friendly Transportation Bedding?

A good question from Stephanie: We're in the market for twin bedding, as our son moves from his crib to big boy bed. Like many other boys, he's obsessed with cars and things that go, but we don't want to have his overall room become too theme-y.

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As such, we're looking to address his obsession in the form of bedding without the seemingly ubiquitous licensed characters and transportation companies (I mean you "John Deere" and "Hummer").

We fell in love with the Dwell Transportation bedding ($183 for a duvet and one sham) and the bold color scheme, but are wondering if there are any similar modern tranportation alternatives that are more wallet-friendly in case the cars thing is a passing fancy (oh please say he won't wake up talking about cars everyday for the rest of his life).

All suggestions and ideas for Stephanie are welcome in the comments below...

Comments (17)

Consider buying just the pillow cases and a couple of flat sheets to make curtains and throw pillows then use coordinating solids to tie everything together. You could also use the patterns to make stencils for decorating the walls - paint is cheap and easy to change when tastes (I hope for your sake) change!

Also, I love the Marimekko Boo Boo - http://www.thefind.com/search?query=marimekko boo boo&sess%5Blocal.active%5D=off - it is a little less $$$ than the Dwell but not a whole lot. I remember my mom made awesome appliqued pillows out of sheets for my little brother back in the '70s out of the Boo Boo - she cut out the actual shapes of the cars and trucks and did embroidery on the wheels and windows. He had a plain red comforter but his room definitely was cars and trucks.

If you are in NYC, Dwell is having a warehouse sale in SoHo. Going on until Dec. 24. When I was there they had lots of items in the transportation pattern, though I didn't notice if they specifically had the twin bedding set. They claim to be getting new merch in regularly. Good luck!

We have the Transportation bedding and my son and I love it. The twin set is $166 at www.allmodern.com, or you could just buy the pillow sham for $36 and buy a much cheaper plain duvet cover in a coordinating color? My son who is three is obsessed with trucks, cars, trains etc and now that I have two boys I'm embracing all things that go. I never thought I needed to know so much about construction vehicles and I had no idea there were several different types of fire truck.

My son is at the planes, trains, and automobiles stage, too, so I noticed some bedding with that motif in a PB Kids catalog. It's on sale online (www.potterybarnkids.com) right now. Maybe some sheets would be a better (cheaper) option until this phase (hopefully) passes.

Or could you just buy some cheap canvases and make something inspired by Dwell or the Jeeto (www.jeeto.com/homecollection.html) lines? I can't bring myself to spend much money on anything transportation related so I opted for DIY artwork that I won't mind tossing for his next craze.

I forgot to add that we purchased the Dwell transportation shower curtain for $60 and used it as a curtain in his room. They also make curtains in the same pattern but they are about three times the price and the cotton shower curtain with gromets works a treat!

Thanks for all your ideas, everyone! Keep 'em coming!

If I were more handy, I would definitely buy a few sheets and distribute the decor via sewing. Thinking about it...

And, don't get me wrong, I don't dislike this interest of his (it's actually very sweet to see his use of a matchbox car as a security object), but I want to implement theh design in a thoughtful (yet fiscally responsible way) :)

To reef1: Yes, never knew about the subsets of fire "vehicles" either.

I too had the same problem. I decided to make a quilt for my son with just a small bit of the theme fabric in it. I imagine not everyone wants to go this route however. Before taking on this giant task I had planned to buy the fun camp sheet set at Pottery Barn (they have a few themes, cars and space to name a couple). I was then going to pair it with the moving blanket found at Land of Nod. This was the most inexpensive and easily changeable option for us. Good luck!

I just got an email from Dwell for 25% off and free shipping over $250. The code is CODE FF2008

eskkimmo: Thanks for the marimekko suggestion. I like that the pattern it's a little less common, but also something that's been around for a while. Plus, we love Scandinavian design.

Michele: Thanks for the code. (I assume you mean the website: www.dwellstudio.com?) Maybe we can get some coordinated holiday gift giving or something.

Garnet Hill has a really cute construction theme bedding pattern too. We only did the duvet and then used a plain red fitted sheet that we bought on sale somewhere.

i'm in the same boat. my moms clearing out my old room, so shes giving me my old twin bed- my sons still in the crib (14mths) but we have the space for it in his room. i went a little themey with his crib set and decor and am regretting it now (the fisherprice rainforest animals).

with this twin bed i think im going to get the rugby blanket from pottery barn kids
( http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/dp210/index.cfm?pkey=cdecorative%2Dpillows%2Dblankets%7Ck )
(striped fleece one side, sherpa on the other side- good for chicago winters) and some type of printed sheets and pillowcases with cars, since thats what my little guy loves to play, that and his drum set.

You could always go solid with the bedding and do wall decals that you could eventually remove. Etsy.com has a lot of options, if you search wall decal transportation, or truck/car/scooter. . .

http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=tag_title&search_query=wall decal transportation

Enjoy!

im pretty sure http://www.undrgrnd.com/
had some on the site for more than 50% off (you have to register and then you get access to a shop)