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Happy New Year, Everyone!
I've got SO MANY projects going on right now, I'm SO excited to share them all with you this year! The first blog post of the year is one that is 3 months in the making... shew. I did not intend for this project to take THIS long, however, when you pair this large project with other projects, the holidays, AND being large and pregnant, things tend to take longer to complete...
If you're new to my blog, my husband and I are expecting our 3rd darling daughter in late February/early March. We tore down our 2nd daughter's nursery in March 2020 so there were not many things left to get ready to make it a nursery again. Having said that, I wanted to revamp the girl's shared bedroom and spend a lot of our focus in there gifting them with a new space that included the following:
- a clean peaceful room to relax and play
- streamlined beds and bedding
- a desk area for our Kindergartener
Let's start with the before. The way before.... This was what this room looked like when we bought the house. Literally, the cleanest its ever been to date (haha!):
This is the 2nd largest bedroom of the 4 bedrooms in our house and has had a few different journeys since we moved in just over 7 years ago. It started as a "catch all" guest bedroom and then it became Lucy's playroom, and when we decided Lucy would sleep better if Pearl was in there with her, it became their joint bedroom:
A wider view:
...And they did sleep better! But, this room stressed me out. It just wasn't working. I really love mixing patterns and typically love the look BUT a few things though kept throwing me off:
- The rug felt really really busy & I never loved it right next to the butterfly comforters.
- I always dreamed of the girls having matching beds and seriously considered buying pearl the same pink bed frame.. UNTIL they were all back-ordered. (We did keep this bed for when Lucy decides she wants her own room again.)
-Now that we are expecting another baby, we needed the crib mattress off of Pearl's toddler bed.
- The corner where Lucy's little desk was always felt too tight.
For all my clients, I create a Design Board and doing this for my own home is no different. It helps me narrow in on my colors and theme and see all the pieces together before I pull the trigger on any of them.
Here's the Design Board:
We had painted the room a few years ago in what we thought was a muted gray. (Always get a paint sample people). Turns out this color reads light blue, which I do not like for this room, however, I am not in the mood to repaint so it will stay this color.
The first thing we did after clearing out the room was wallpaper the back wall with this light pink buffalo check wallpaper from Magnolia Home.
Here are a few wallpaper samples I was considering:
While I loved them all for different reasons, I ultimately wanted the least visually busy.
Took us a few hours and it was hung! This wallpaper was not peel and stick but rather the self-adhesive kind where you spray water on it and "book it". Not as easy as peel and stick, but we had put this wallpaper up before in the hallway in the dark gray version, so I knew we could do it.
I LOVE this wallpaper. It's a dream. It's just the right amount of pattern without being too overwhelming and busy. It also is pink without being too "kiddy" pink. I see it lasting for many years.
Next up, enter double white Ikea beds.
At $99 apiece these beds were PERFECT. They can transition down to a toddler size bed which is nice, though I don't think we will ever use it for that purpose. Ikea also sells "transition" mattresses that extend from a toddler size (though wider than a crib mattress) to a twin size. Since we already had an 8" twin mattress on Lucy's twin bed, I wanted to get the same height mattress for Pearl's bed.
Another thing I like about these beds is that they are lower to the ground than the average twin bed. They are not "too low" though. There is still a really great amount of space under the bed for the girls to slide some toys under it or if you're Lucy, a giant cardboard box to play with.
At this point, we start to notice something...
These two beds are exactly the width of the back wall. This was not my intention at all as I wanted them to be straight out on the buffalo check wall but this way REALLY opened up the room and the idea of all the open space in front to play is really what convinced me. I will say these beds are about an inch short from fitting "perfectly", so Steven did cut out a small piece of baseboard near the back leg of one of the beds to squeeze it in.
I did have to buy another mattress and if you're in the market for another mattress, we are really happy with this one from Amazon.
The Rug Truth: I didn't measure.
I was convinced the vintage hot pink rug before was a massive 11x14 size... so I ordered the white one below at an 9x12. Much to my surprise, the pink rug was only an 8x10 and this white one went nearly wall to wall. We rolled it out and determined, yes it's big but it works fine. This way there is plenty of rug to step on when getting out of either bed.
The Shades:
In this situation, I would not do any curtains. I don't like the idea of "stuffing" curtains behind furniture and I'm truthfully not a fan of short curtains. We opted for these white rolling "cut to size" shades from Lowes. We have them in the nursery and they work great. I do have plans to possibly add a simple cornice board valance at some point.
The Name Wreaths:
You may notice the Pearl wreath is from her nursery and I wanted to re-use it in here because I love it so much. I decided to get Lucy one made to match! This is a 14" metal wreath form and the name is script wood I ordered from an Etsy shop (they even painted it white for me). I attached a simple garland from Hobby Lobby with floral wire then attached the name with fishing line.
The Bedding:
All white bedding. Am I crazy? Yes, possibly. But really they have not spilled anything on it ... yet. It is insanely affordable and if they did, it's fine. I love the crisp clean hotel look and I'm sticking to it. The white waffle type texture blankets are from Ikea and I'm seriously impressed by these things. They are comfortable and lightweight and were only $14.99 each. I love them so much, I'm going to get them for our camper beds too. These white sheet sets were insanely cheap and they are PERFECT. They are so soft and I have zero complaints. (Side Note: I don't use the top sheets.)
The butterfly comforters are great also. They are from Target and are so soft, the girls love them.
These Wall Lights:
I didn't know how much I would love these wall sconces. They are a game-changer. Not only are they $19.99, but they also have a giant button on them that even Pearl can operate. They don't have an exposed light bulb so I don't have to worry about one of them twisting it out. They have a dimmer and you can angle the head of the fixture. Telling the girls to crawl into bed, grab a book, and read with their lights on has really helped with our bedtime routine. It's funny to say, "It's all because of this sconce!", but it has really given them their "own spot" and they love reading there at night. 10/10 would recommend these.
There is ONE MORE project I'm finishing up as we speak just off to the right of this photo! I will share that and the other side of the room very soon!
SLIDE: One more before and after...
The PERFECT example of how your home can rise up to meet your needs even as your needs change.
These sisters love their new room, their beds, and the big open space to play. I can picture all the sweet late night conversations now...
LINKS TO ALL SOURCES:
Name Wood Script (in hand calligraphy font - you have to ask specifically for this font)