There have been lots of changes in the Green house over the last few years and I have had a hard time keeping up. Our oldest son has been away at university for 2 years, our only daughter turned 10, and our youngest thinks he’s the oldest. Truth…. I have been in denial and didn’t want to keep up. Well life slowed down a little after the holidays and that was the perfect opportunity to make some moves on the home front.
Change happens; we (and our surroundings) must evolve with it. As an interior designer, I am constantly challenged to keep up. In the coming months I will bring you some of the changes we’ve made in order to accommodate the needs of our family. First up…. our one and only GIRL. And boy is she girly!
She and her closest brother are almost exactly 1 1/2 years apart and they previously shared a room – I loved that room. It was very symmetrical with 2 twin beds on either side of large window where a low dresser lived with matching lamps. I DO have a thing for symmetry. BTW, this room also serves as a guest room when they are not in town.
In November, our daughter turned 10. 10! At that point I decided that it was time for her to have her own room. Although it still needed to be multi-purpose, she needed a space that’s fits her and that she can call her own. Sooo we kicked her brother out but did not have a chance to finish out the room before their next visit. Up to that point the room was very plain & sparse… absolutely nothing special.
Girl’s Bedroom Before
Once we had the time, DH helped me transform the room into this GIRLY ROOM…
She chose the colors (her favorite 2 colors basically) and I chose how to use them. I couldn’t imagine having an all pink room but I knew I had to use it in a big way for her sake – DING…the ceiling! Since the stripes were already done, I made things “easy” and just changed the white stripes to pink and aqua. Also, the two “happy tree” canvases HAD to stay – they were bought specifically for this room when it had the twin beds AND I waited the better part of a year to get a great price on them.
To be clear, my goal in all the changes we made for the kids was to spend as little money as possible by re-purposing furnishings we already owned. Our girl, wanted a daybed but I didn’t see the point in buying one. We used the bed from our oldest’s room (stay tuned for the next post to see how HE’s living!) and made her one instead.
I know what you’re thinking…. “there’s a lot of furniture in this little room”. That’s partially correct – this IS the smallest bedroom in the house in terms of square footage, but there are only 3 major pieces of furniture in it. Since this still has to be a part-time guest room, the armoire has a rod and drawers to provide storage for overnight guests. Also, we don’t do TVs in bedrooms so we gave her a monitor setup for HDMI input so she can watch movies and hang out with friends (or when she just wants to be to herself). That also works out for overnighters.
And then there’s the details…. the textured ottoman tucked under the “bedside” table, the skirted table, the pillows, and more. Here’s hoping she likes loves it!
