The only suggestion I have for you is to contact a local Army Navy surplus store. They have lots of military themed products and yes, they carry camouflage material and netting. I looked up one for you in Bakersfield called "The Supply Sergeant"-their tel.# is (661) 336-0658. You might also look at some model airplane kits for the WW2 era, might be something your son can do when he gets back.

If your ceilings are high enough, model airplanes look very cool hanging above the bed or desk. I've also seen camo bedding at Cabelas - that would be a very quick fix if you don't mind paying for faster shipping.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kid's camo comforter set

Thanks, both of you. :) I picked up some paint (Tent Green by Ralph Lauren, and Donegal by Ralph Lauren) today, and I think I'm going to order a couple of posters from allposters.com, including the one linked below, and probably the one of fighter planes, and maybe one or two others. We'll see.

I'll work on bedding, too, but mostly, I need to get the walls painted. I really hope the colors are right! I'm worried that Donegal is too dark, but it's bought already, so we'll see. I'd like to include a wall border along about where a chair rail would be (we have rounded corners, so I don't think a chair rail will work); I've seen some nifty military-oriented borders, so I think I'll get one of those.

I'm hoping to find a camo/black net to drape over part of one of his walls, and I'll ask dh (who works for Lockheed Martin) to see if the company store has any jets or planes to hang from the wall.

If you can think of anything else, or if you think I'm off-base on this so far (esp. the paint colors), I'd welcome your input and advice. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Fortitude/Tank poster

Love the tank poster.

I don't know if this will help you or not, but we did a space theme in my son's room and ordered patches from NASA (which I sewed on his valance). You might be able to order some cool military patches to use somewhere in his room.

Also, how about a huge map of the world on one wall? Every military man needs a place for his strategic planning. We found a huge, pre-laminated map at Sam's a few years ago. Even a globe (preferably the yellow/brown/muted colored one) would be cool in his room.

Could you drape some type of canvas or netting over the bed to make it appear to be part of a tent?

You could also use some military-style crates for storage. You might even find some that would slide under the bed.

Nin

Here is a link that might be useful: military crates

Love what you're doing, your son is going to be so excited! You have to tell us how he reacts when he comes home. What a lucky kid, gee when I came home from camp all my mother had for me was a cake! ;-) Hey, why not, you could call up a bakery and see if they can decorate a little military cake for him to eat when he comes home.
I wonder if the local recruiting station might have something they could give you? Can't hurt to call.
You'll gett the biggest bang for your buck by painting the room, hanging the posters, and buying camo bedding...the largest surface areas will have the biggest impact.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3913930

Walmart has camo bedding for kids. Our store carries it and it is also available online. We bought this for my nephew and he loves it. It is the green camo, but that would be better for the WWI or was it 2? The tan camo is a recent addition (relatively speaking)

The suggestion about your military recruiter is good. We picked up some posters there and then I found some camo bookcovers that we covered his bulletin board with.

Wonderful suggestions - I couldn't think of any to really add. I think that Flyingflower hit the nail on the head about getting the biggest bang for your buck w/ the paint, posters & bedding.

Checking the Army/Navy store - brilliant!

I'm wondering if you can get a heavy army green type tents at a military surplus store & use that to 'tent' the bed on one side.

Can you post any pics of the room currently?

Great suggestions already! I don't know if you do ebay, but there is lots of militaria there at reasonable prices. I saw some cool vintage WWII posters. Search for military poster. Good luck, and we must see pics when you are finished!

Hmmm, well, the room is currently in shambles, as we've started pulling things from the walls to paint. After I get the posters and everything, I'll definitely share. Could be a week or two, of course, but I'm looking forward to it. Thanks again for the suggestions!

A few comments -
- I like the idea of some WWII posters; I'll have to look more carefully on eBay.

- The closest Wal-Mart is an hour away (as is pretty much everything); it might just be easier to pay for expedited shipping from some online store.
- Love the idea of a tent, although I'm not sure where I could put it, especially if we do eventually construct that loft area above his bed. My idea was to (eventually, mind you) create a sort of facade so that it looked like something military - even if it just looks like a mock-up of a generic military 'building' out in the field. I'd use the same design (well, for the loft) for my daughters' room, except that in their case, it would be a barn.

- I definitely need to visit a surplus store or two, so perhaps I'll line up a couple near WalMart or some such place.

I'll have to return for help with the rest of my house! My home (with my decorating [in]ability), would likely benefit greatly from the good and helpful advice from all of you. It's quite a desperate situation. :)

Thanks again!

If you haven't started painting already, here's an idea... simply paint a khaki or olive drab color base and let him help you paint khaki/olive drab, brown and black/gray blotches when he returns. If you don't think you can live with all four walls this way, pick an accent wall to do it on. My neighbors did this with their 9 y/o recently and it was a big hit! You might even try to paint the chair rail deco yourself instead of using a border if you go that route.

A friend of mine did a similar room for her son. Her husband is on the SWAT team at his police department and their son loves EVERYTHING related to SWAT and military. She went to the local recruiters office and was given free posters, which she framed with cheap frames. Those actually came out really cute (if you can call military stuff cute :-)). Then she took a camo wallpaper border and hung it half way up the wall and painted a tan'sh color on top and army green on the bottom, both of which were colors she pulled from the border. He has a loft bed so she hung the netting stuff around the bottom of the raised bed. Then she used some of her husband's old SWAT stuff (patches, books to stack on the dresser, some of the Vanmark figures he had collected, etc) to accessorize (no real guns though!!). Needless to say, he was one happy boy when she surprised him with the room. Oh one other idea...he had drawn lots of miliary, police type pictures in the past so she took some of the ones she had kept and framed them as well. I really liked that idea. Good luck...sounds like a fun project.

How about printing out several WWII photos off the net. Then you can frame them in standard 8 1/2 x 11 frames.
check out the link and click "the home front". It just gives you a list of pictures. I'm sure you can find some of tanks and airplanes.
You can buy cheap black frames and paint them green.

Here is a link that might be useful: WWII photos.

If you decide to drive to the Walmart, you might call ahead and make sure that they carry this. Not all stores carry all items. It can be ordered online and shipped to you or to the store though. I have done this in the past when items weren't available at stores close to me.