The Little Lady Room Reveal

It seems as though I am on a girl's room roll because … another one bites the dust. That's right, the little lady's room is also done. 

We've come along way from the sad room with the broken crib. Remember the ikea bed, the bright ebay quilt, and the clearance aisle teal throw? You'd never know that it didn't all come together, that it wasn't purchased as a set. 

Then, of course, there's my favorite DIY craft to date, the pom-pom sham. Fortunately, my pom-pom obsession hasn't carried on to other rooms, yet.

 The original gallery wall that spurred on enough sibling rivalry to create a gallery wall in the hot pink room, too. And my childhood dresser updated with cute floral inspired knobs.

 The Play nook conveniently hidden from the door view. Sometimes when I think our little lady has slept in, I round the corner and see this area demolished and then I know she graciously let us sleep in. That's a good girl right there. 

Two girl's room completed in the same year! I never saw it coming, but I couldn't be happier knowing that they're settled into their own spaces and I've achieved the one goal I set this year. 

linking in with: 

Savvy Southern Style

until next time,

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Secret Time

Wanna know a secret? It's a doozey. Here it is: wait for it….wait for it...I have a fear of hanging artwork. There, I said it. Mirrors, not so much. But, artwork, man, it gets me every time. Not that you'd know it looking at our living room gallery wall (check it out here). The truth is, a couple of weeks after we moved in, I stopped hanging art and started leaning it against walls all over the house -- afraid to yield a hammer and nail. I have no idea why, it's completely irrational, I know. Especially for someone in my line of work! Maybe I wasn't ready to commit, I'm not sure, but whatever the reason I've decided I will no longer live in fear … it's time. Time to hang some art. 

So, in honor of our little lady's 3rd birthday, I swallowed my fear and tackled her long awaited gallery wall. Seriously, I've had stuff leaning all over the place in her room for well over a year. Like that's safe!

What is it about gallery walls in little kid's rooms anyway? Could it be because a gallery wall is the perfect way to highlight their ever changing interests? 

Of course, it helped that we finally got her forever dresser ( do I even need to tell you where it came from? my parents, obviously.)  it's kinda hard to anchor a gallery wall without proper furniture placement. Excuses, excuses. I hear you.

Most of the items we had from her room in Chicago (check out the reveal of her old Chicago nursery here - wow, that really takes me back!), except the print I picked up from Land of Nod back in the spring (read more about that here). That's how long all of this stuff has been lying around. Kinda pathetic. 

The butterflies used to live in her big sisters room (since we're throwing it back, check out her Chicago room here), but like I said, interests change. 

There are so many trains of thought on gallery walls:

symmetrical vs not symmetrical,

similar frames vs not similar vs no frames,

consistent color pallet vs not,

consistent theme vs not,

the list goes on.

If there's one place to have a little fun and perhaps not follow every design rule out there, it's in a kid's room for heaven sake. So I just went for it…within reason. Keeping a good balance of size, shape and color in mind. I'm also happy to report that all items were hung on the first try with no extra nail holes - it is a minor miracle and one I feel quite proud of. 

The dresser needs a little love, but we are getting there. One little lady step at a time. 

PS. I think I have overcome my fear, and have the receipt for a boat-load of picture hangers in my wallet to prove it! Watch out house, here I come. 

until next time,

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How the play nook came to be

Let's talk about bedside tables, shall we? Some are fans of the matching set, some like to mix it up. 

When we first started to redesign our little lady's room, we had an existing vintage dresser to the right of the bed and French inspired piece to the left of the bed. 

Not usually fans of the matching set, we did our best to make it work. The problem was the weight and feel of the two pieces just didn't compliment each other. One was wider and taller and more clunky, while the other was shorter and narrower and more delicate. 

In an effort to use what we had, after much trial and error, we finally tried her existing bookshelf to the left of the bed. Low and behold, it was perfect. The height and width are very similar as are the tones of wood in both pieces. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how her little play nook was born. 

I love to incorporate a play space/homework zone/reading corner in kid's rooms. So much about design is for adults, really. So creating a small space just for them is an easy way to make them feel special. Our little lady isn't quite 3 yet, cardboard books, stuffed animals and dollhouses are still all the rage. 

And bonus for me, this little nook is tucked on the opposite side of her bed, so messes can't even be spied from the doorway. It's the little things, I tell you, for both of us.

Check out the reading corner and homework zone we created in our big girl's room. 

until next time, 

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It All Started with a Pillow

Doesn't it just feel like you blink and it's Monday? I mean, where does the weekend go? Especially if you are out and about enjoying some of this lovely fall weather. Not that I was, instead I spent the weekend helping my parents move (insert mixed emotion face here)…but more about that later. After I get home. 

In the meantime, we've made a bit more progress in our little lady's room and I thought I'd share that with you today. 

So far we've found the bed and the sheets, added the bright quilted coverlet and the DIY pompom shams, but there's still more…can you see the changes? Just when you thought the bed couldn't get any cuter, I found another quilt to add to the mix.

Strolling the aisles of Marshall's I found the perfectly coordinating Tahari turquoise blue ruffled quilt in the clearance aisle. Adding the quilt to the end of the bed helps carry the color all the way from foot to head. It was a no-brainer.

Notice anything else? 

Yup, I splurged and purchased one quilted euro sham (remember the big sale at Horchow I posted on FB) to add into the mix. Now, even though just about everything on the bed was purchase individually and at different times, it actually looks like an intentional design. 

It's hard to believe that the whole bedding scenario started from the round turquoise pillow we purchased over a year ago. I remember thinking her room looked so sad, so unfinished (you can check it out here), I thought may be by adding just one fun pillow it would help. And I loved that color! Who knew a year later we would have created an entire design around that one colorful pillow.  

Loving this cute little lady bedding; don't plan to change a thing for many years to come. Now that's a good feeling. 

Next, I can't wait to move onto new areas of her room. We've carved out a tiny little play area that I'll share with you later in the week. 

Hope you had a great weekend!

until next time, 

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Pompom Shams

Tell me the truth, who spent their weekend making pompoms? You know I did. Not surprising, huh. 

Even more not surprising, I added them to our little lady's bedding. You knew that one was coming, didn't you? I hate to be so predictable, but when an idea is good, it's just good. Predictable or not.

My only struggle was deciding where to put them. At first I thought - shams and duvet. You know, make a little set (I had a plain white Ikea set that we had previously used in the guest room). Then I worried about the washability of the duvet once the pompoms were added. A duvet is always on the bed, subject to a lot more use/abuse. Once your kid has had the stomach flu, you never look at bedding the same way again! Shams, on the other hand, are really only on the bed when it's made, less likely to suffer middle of the night issues. Shams it is! 

First I added one pompom to each corner of the shams, but it felt a little lack luster, if you know what I mean. So, I added an extra pompom to each side (making 3 per side)…still a little wah-wah. Then, upon my mom's suggestion, I added 3 more across the top and bottom. Bingo. Now we're talking.  

So cute. If I do say so myself. 

In case you are curious these are all hand stitched to the white shams, plain old needle and thread. Doesn't get much simpler than that. 

If you missed the DIY pompom tutorial, you can check it out here. 

Hope you had a great weekend!

Sharing with:
Savvy Southern Style

until next time, 

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An eBay find for the Little Lady Room

How many of you picked the yellow, pink and blue Dena Home Sunbeam quilt as your favorite? Or more importantly, how many of you guessed that the Sunbeam quilt is the one we chose? Was it the pink sheets that tipped you off?

Back in the day, some 3 years ago, while decorating our first big girl room I searched for yellow bedding endlessly, but came up empty handed. This time around, I saw the Dena Home Sunbeam quilt and my chin practically hit the floor, the search was finally over. There really wasn't much of a choice to make… until I clicked over from Pinterest to check pricing. Um, I didn't realize my jaw could unhinge itself, it might have dropped lower than the floor.

Yes, I am a bargain shopper. No denying that. Maybe $175 for kids bedding is totally normal. Come to think of it, I probably spent a similar amount for the two twin beds in our 6 year olds room, but for a not-quite-3 year old, I just don't know.

So, I did what I do best -- shopped around.

I remembered seeing the Dena Home brand at HomeGoods, naturally my first stop for home oriented bargains. Guess what? They had two TWIN size quilts in the Sunbeam pattern. Would it be wrong to say that I actually contemplated switching to twins over our existing full size bed frame? Eventually, I came to my senses, left the twins at HomeGoods and moved on to Marshalls, TJ Maxx and a second HomeGoods -- to no avail. At this point, I seriously contemplated purchasing the two twins, sewing them together, and calling it a day. Sadly, they were tagged at $59.99 each, factor in whatever the seamstress would charge, and my bargain really wasn't that much of a bargain. Now was it?

Back home, feeling frustrated and like it was time to start over, I checked online as a final ditch effort. As luck would have it, a lovely seller listed a new-in-the-bag, full size Dena Home Sunbeam quilt on ebay. And that same lovely seller, worked with me to achieve a price we both felt comfortable with, $100 all in. No tax, no shipping. Maybe not the biggest bargain out there, but I feel good about it. And I'm loving the fun, bright and vibrant look in our little lady's room. 

I still have some ideas circulating to take the bed to the next level, but you'll just have to wait to find out about those. 

until next time, 

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A Little Lady Bed

Guess what happened over the weekend in our little lady's room? 

Hello big girl bed! 

(Check out the before here.)

Ok, truth time. This is was the guest bed. An inexpensive ($99) ikea, full size bed frame with box springs and mattress. We bought it when we moved into the house, fully intending to relocate it to our little lady's room when the time came. Well, the time has finally come. 

Our little lady is more than ready, sleeping longer and seemingly more soundly when in a full size bed. Friday night we set up the new bed and moved her crib to the side of the room, Saturday afternoon we dissembled the crib and "stored" it in the now-disasterous guest room.

Note to self: progress isn't always pretty.

After three nights in her big girl bed without issue, we've officially turned the corner, it's time to say goodbye to the crib. I'll admit that first night going to check on our baby in her new big girl bed was a tough one. She looked so small! I had to hold back the tears a little, but she's growing up and that's exciting too. Sniff. Change can be is good.  

I think $99 for this frame is a steal and a half. I mean, we're talking about a little girl's room here, it doesn't need to break the bank. Plus, I love the details in the headboard with all the curly cue accents. So feminine. Perfect for our, quickly growing up, little lady.

Sheets were too cute to pass up and for $17 a set from HomeGoods, I went ahead and picked up 3 sets. You'll notice (in the first image) I used one of the fitted sheets to cover the box springs instead of using a standard bed skirt. Love the pop of pink at the base of the bed. 

Using a fitted sheet to cover box springs is a great alternative to using a bed skirt, especially if your bed is a nontraditional height which would require a custom skirt.

In other news, we did make a decision on the bedding. Can you guess which direction we went, based on the sheets? Click here to see all the options again. I'll be back later in the week to share the story behind the new bedding. Of course, there's a story…when do any of my purchases not come with a story?

until next time, 

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Getting Started

Lately, I can't stop talking/thinking/texting/emailing and now blogging about the forthcoming update to our little lady's room. She'll be 3 in a couple of months, is potty trained, and just started preschool - sounds like she's deserving of a big girl bed and a room refresh, don't you think?

Here's her room now. Lovely, right? 

Painted in Crystal Blue by Benjamin Moore, it's a bright, fresh, energizing shade of aqua blue. Right away, I know I want to have a touch of aqua in her bedding. Other existing and potentially staying items are the yellow distressed dresser, maple side table and bookshelf, yellow gingham rocker, and hot pink stool. 

That's a tall order: aqua, yellow, pink.

Not that I'm one to shy away from a challenge.

No better place to start than one of the main features of her new bedroom: the bedding. 

Let's see what's out there…

Pottery Barn

Right away I was drawn to this Crinkle Puff Quilt from Pottery Barn Teen paired with the paisley blue and yellow sheets. Cute. Meets my color scheme. And I am dying over the pompoms on the quilt and the duvet. But, I'm not sure about the green in the quilt considering my foyer/hallway paper is also green. Green overload, maybe? And, no pink. There has to be pink. She's adamant. Especially considering her big sisters room is all pink.

Garnet Hill

Researching backpacks for my 1st grader and I stumbled across this Lilly Pulitzer bedding from Garnet Hill. Hello, pink. No doubt about that. Plus that hint of aqua I was after. And a bit of green to tie in with the wallpaper in the hallway. But, big huge cabbage roses - not sure about that one. 

Company Store

Uh-oh, turquoise, green, pink, yellow and orange. Could it be too good to be true? I've had my eye on the Ellie quilt from the Company Store for ages, but somehow I managed to miss the sale. Last time I checked, sold out. What a disappointment. 

Horchow

Do you know how incredibly hard it is to find yellow bedding? Really hard. That's why I was so shocked when I discovered this Dena Sunbeam quilt on the Horchow website, thanks to a quick search on Pinterest. I love everything about this image from the colorful quilt (yellow, pink, green and blue!) to the pompom duvet and shams to the embroidered pillows. But, it's pretty grown up - I mean, I'd love it in my bedroom. 

Land of Nod

Here's another thought - what if I just threw caution to the wind and went in a totally different direction with this purple bedding from the Land of Nod? Purple and aqua, that works, right?

So many options, my mind is spinning. 

Do you have any favorites?

until next time, 

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