My Girls' Bedroom Gets A Makeover

I really enjoyed creating this pink-a-licous bedroom for my daughter when she was really little.   We would snuggle on the bed and read, and on Saturdays we could take a nap together (Mommies need to nap more!)

BEFORE

But six years later she is all pinked out and the room needs to function better for her age.   I have held off on re doing her room because I know it can be hard to compromise with a kid.  I was sure she would be my toughest client yet!  

In the end we actually had a lot of fun with the makeover, and I am sure she will write me a glowing letter of recommendation. 

AFTER

So let me tell you about this space: My kid loves art; anything crafty that she can get her hands on like the sketch she did of the zebra you see on the wall with the purple gem eyes.  It was done on newspaper!  So of course, color was a major theme in this room makeover.  

Instead of repainting the bedroom, we added more thin stripes to the pink stripes already there.  I think we used seven new colors.  I am a decorator by trade so I had so many quarts to choose from.  It was fun.  We painted it together while singing along with our favorite bands on the ipod.  

The new day bed was my gift to the room.  I fell in love with it the moment I saw it in a furniture catalog.  I have never seen anything like it.  I do love white leather!!  Also day beds with trundles allow a guest to sleep over so they are handy! 

I can't believe how much stuff my little one has collected, and of course, nothing can be thrown away, so we went to the ever popular IKEA Expedit bookcases for storage.  One doubles as a window bench for more toys (ahhhh!)

Although I have a really cute owl lamp in the room, we realized we needed better reading light so we added a wall light with a movable neck.  It is really great.  I thought choosing the bedding was going to be almost impossible but we did not even need to compromise.  She loved this purple velvet cheetah patterned comforter, and I had to agree that is was funky and soft.

tip: if you have a piece of homemade artwork you want to hang but it is rather small, go get an extra large mat and frame for it (we had to get this one custom made but it was not expensive). 

We kept the dresser (CLICK HERE to see how this dresser was refinished) and added a little desk.  The wall flowers were a fun gift from a friend.  We placed them all over the wall and at night they glow like stars! If you noticed I did not add more colorful stripes to a good chunk of this wall, the reason is that we grew tired-plain and simple!  And when I went back the next day to paint more on, I liked it the way it was.

My Kitchen Renovation

When we moved into our home six years ago we simply decorated the existing kitchen.  We did not build this house so had no control over the finishes used.  Just this year we finally renovated.  Any time you are thinking about taking on a large job like a reno in a kitchen, take your time to plan because it is a costly process.  Here are the highlights of the changes we made:

This is the kitchen before: 

First thing we did was make a list of the things in the kitchen that bothered us.  At the top of our list was:
+ Island is too small
+ Need more storage
+ Cabinet color
+ Laminate

Next we priced out the changes we wanted to make.

Then we began the demo process.  

Say 'bye bye' to the laminate!

And good bye appliances!

We were able to do a bulk of the work ourselves, but brought in a professional painter to paint the kitchen cabinets a beautiful creamy light grey tone.

P found a great hardwood floor and installed it in our entire first floor ('go P go!').  They resemble old farmhouse planks, a bit distressed in a walnut tone.

We worked in a new island that answered our need for storage.  It is six feet long and has cabinets on both sides, including a double pull out trash drawer.  Now that, is good efficiency!

 I am a big fan of red shoes and bright lipstick so this race car red finish made my day!

P always wanted a butcher block counter top so I gave in and we used it on the island (not a huge fan of this look typically).  

We found these great big glass pendants and hung two in newly moved ceiling electrical boxes.  

Lastly we had our walls wallpapered in a textured grey paper.  

Here is the new look!

Did you notice that there is no more kitchen table in our kitchen?  That brings us to Phase 2 of our project going on right now:

This was the other side of our kitchen:

For us, it was more functional to have a larger island, but we could not comfortably fit a large kitchen table in the same space with out it looking cramped.  So we knocked out the long half wall that separated the kitchen from our family room.  This created a more open concept floor plan.  By bringing the wall and re-configuring our furniture arrangement, we not only let more light in because the window was no longer blocked by the sofa, but we also were able to house our kitchen table there!  So functional for us.

We dressed up the entrance to the family room with a pair of square columns.

And the hardwood floor went down!

And here is where we are with the room right now.  We are working on new furniture, built ins on either side of fireplace (not sure of the height or if messing with the fireplace mantel.

I am really happy with how the kitchen and family room flow now.  It is much more open but we have a long way to go.  P needs a much deserved break from this project for now so I just sit in the room with my cereal bowl and dream up changes.......... 

.............while P finishes up our renovated foyer (can you believe this guy!)