Pink and Teal Tween Girl's Bedroom

A move to a new home made the perfect opportunity to give my daughter a brand new room!  At 11 years old, she had outgrown the bed and ballerina decor we had for her in Phoenix.  We sat down together at the computer, checked out Pinterest, and came up with a cute new theme for her room.

Pink and Teal Tween Girl Bedroom Makeover

My daughter's room used to be the guest room in this house, and so was painted a subtle blue.  The first thing I did was give the walls a fresh coat of paint.  Then, using some removable indoor vinyl, I cut diamonds in pink, teal, and gold, then applied them in a pattern on her focal wall.

I let her pick out some wall art from HomeGoods, which is my go-to store when looking for home decor accessories.

New bedding made the colors pop against the white walls.

A few small touches here and there make the room extra special.

Sources:

Paint: Sherwin-Williams Pure White | Bedding: Bed Bath & Beyond | Bed: Wayfair.com | Mattress: Costco.com | Dresser: IKEA
 
Beyond

Paper Lanterns and Tissue Balls: Hobby Lobby | Wall Art: HomeGoods | Vinyl Diamonds: ExpressionsVinyl.com

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"Special Date" Stenciled Wall Canvas

Do you remember that I am doing a master bedroom redo?  I've got the big stuff done, like painting, choosing bedding, etc.  What I have problems with is decorating and staging.  I can see what I want it to look like in my head, but I have a difficult time pulling things together to make it perfect.
So, until I get that finished, I am showing you projects I've done for the bedroom a little at a time.  I showed you my Striped Canvas Wall Art before, and today I'm sharing what I put on the other side of the window. This is my Special Date Stenciled Canvas.

Striped Canvas Wall Art

If you follow me on Instagram, you got to see a sneak peek of my master bedroom that I'm redoing.  I still need to pick up all the finishing touches, like a lamp and some decorative pieces.  I've finished the painting, the bedding switch, and even made some new art for our walls.
Rather than wait until the room is finished, I thought I'd share those projects with you first.  
For years, my bedroom walls have been mostly empty, except for some canvas prints from IKEA.  I have always meant to put something up, but never got around to it.  Now, with a color scheme change, I was determined to get something fun up on those walls!
First up, I made this Striped Canvas Wall Art, and I love it!

I was inspired by this blog post, but I didn't have a large frame to use.  So I improvised.
I bought 2 18x24 wall canvas boards.  They're normally $11.99 at Hobby Lobby, but I used my 40% off coupon, making this a very frugal project!
I don't have any step by step photos, but this is super easy to do.
I measured 2 inch stripes all down the board, then taped them off with painter's tape.
Then, I just painted every other stripe using our new wall color.
I let it dry slightly, then removed the tape.
I let the paint dry overnight, then applied the vinyl decal I designed in Silhouette Studio.
Then, I hung it on the wall using Command strips.  

This picture makes it look smaller than it is- but I really love how it looks on my wall!
This would look great in any room, in any color scheme.  
P.S. I'll be linking up this week to some of these parties!

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Pink Ballerina Room- A Bedroom Makeover

A LONG time ago, I mentioned I was in the process of re-doing my daughter's room.  Well, I finally have finished what I started, and even got around to taking and editing pictures!

When my daughter graduated from her crib and moved into a "big-girl bed", we painted her room over from the pale baby yellow it had been to a neutral off-white that we intended to spice up with some more decor.  Over the years, we never did much with the room, except for when I got tired of looking at the bare walls and cut out some vinyl polka dots to put on her room.  She loved pink, so I bought her pink and brown bedding and that was about it.

Now that she's older, I wanted her to have a room that she loved.  She still loves pink, and when I asked her what kind of room she wanted, she quickly told me she wanted a ballerina room.  So, without further ado, here is the transformation from blah to beautiful.

This second picture is a much better indicator of the color.  Isn't it amazing how paint color can change based on the time of day and even the direction of the light?  I wanted a very soft ballet pink, since she already had cotton-candy pink bedding.  Anything darker would have been overpowering in her room.  I love the color- it's perfect for a ballerina room!

Here are a few shots that show you the difference:

Can you see how dirty the walls were?  That's what happens when you push the bed up against the wall, let your three kids play like crazy, and only give them a token cleaning every once in a while.  It's amazing what just a simple new coat of paint can do for a room.

Now, here are some of the projects I completed in the room.  I'll go into more detail on these projects next week.  First of all, my husband helped me build this gorgeous Name Wall Art, inspired by one I saw here:

Next, I finished the plaque I made at The Glitter Academy, which I showed you here, and got it hung on the wall opposite her bed.

I'm a bit in love with the idea I came up with for her main wall.  I knew I wanted some way to display her old ballet shoes.  I saw an idea where someone had displayed shoes on clips hanging on the wall, so I took it a step further and displayed them on a faux ballet barre.  The framed picture we already had from Hobby Lobby.  I love the way it turned out.

Here's a close-up of the barre:

 My husband doesn't like the dirty shoes hanging in the pristine room, but I think it's a great reminder of all the work she's put into becoming the little ballerina that she is.

This next picture is actually two different projects.  I made the Ballet Subway Art print and framed it for her dresser.  It's next to a thrift store lamp that I gave a quick and easy makeover to.  The "Princess" is my daughter's addition- she wouldn't let me get rid of it from our old decor.

 I also made this Tulle Wreath and set one of her favorite dolls inside it.  I liked the wreath when I made it but it is too white for the room.  All our trim, doors, ceilings, etc. are "Country White", not real white, which I forgot.  So, the wreath sits on her desk, for now.

 At the foot of her bed, I bought a basket to corral all her library books.  She's only in second grade, but I cannot stop my daughter from reading.  She even gets into trouble at school for reading when she's supposed to be paying attention.  While I don't appreciate THAT, this book-loving mama is proud to see the love of books alive in her little girl!

 There are some other things I kept the same.  If you look in the pictures you can see her bubble valance, a chair rail-turned-art keeper, an old leotard paired with a framed embroidery, and a rack to hold her bags and jackets.  I didn't change any of that.

Someday soon, my sweet girl will probably outgrow pink and ballerinas, but until then, she has a room that is truly HER, and she loves that everything in was made just for her.

I'm linking up to some of these parties- come check them out with me!



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Ruffle Pillow

I may have mentioned once or twice that I'm not that great at sewing.  I took Sewing 101 in high school, but it's been a LONG TIME since I learned all those skills.

I've been wanting to make/recover some throw pillows for my bed.  And I really wanted to try an envelope back, rather than inserting a zipper or stitching up the opening.  Pillows in the bedroom tend to get dirty, due to my three little "helpers" climbing all over the bed and putting their grubby little hands sweet little fingers on everything.  With an envelope back, I can wash it or easily replace it down the road.

I found a tutorial on A Pretty Cool Life for a 10 minute envelope back pillow (found here).  I bookmarked it, though inside I thought- "10 minutes?  Hah!  That's at least 30 for me!"

Well, let me tell you- this was easy as can be!  If you can stitch four straight lines, you can make this pillow cover.  I actually did make it into a 30 minute pillow, only because I wanted to add a little decoration.

First off, I found my pillow form at Goodwill.  It was only $3, and I got it on sale with their "colored dot of the day" discount.  They have TONS of pillows at thrift stores.  If the thought of using someone else's pillows creeps you out a little, most of the forms are washable- and compared to what you'll pay in a store for a new one, I can handle it.

I made the pillow cover following the tutorial exactly.   (Here's what it looked like from the back....)

After making sure my  pillow fit, I embellished the front like so:

1.  I cut a long strip of the leftover fabric.  I made mine 4 inches wide.  I used a simple white cotton fabric.  The ruffle will fray, since I didn't do anything to the edges, but I kind of like the unfinished, shabby look.  If you don't want yours to fray, use knit, or sew your fabric into a tube first before you ruffle it.

2.  I ruffled the strip by running a basting stitch down the middle of the fabric.  (Stitch length set to longest possible, top thread set to tightest tension).  This started the ruffle for me, but I still had to pull my bobbin thread to get the ruffles how I wanted.

3.  I pinned  the ruffle to the front of my pillow cover, pinning one end at each side seam.

4.  I carefully sewed the ruffle on, taking care to only sew it to the top part of the cover.

5.  I thought it needed just a little bling, so I made a twisted fabric rosette to match our blue wall, and added a "pearl" shank button to the middle.

I think it's a nice start to my bedroom throw pillows.  I don't want a ton of pillows (since I tend to the lazy bed-making as well as the lazy crafting), but I do want a few more.  I'm on the lookout for some good ideas.

 I might just link this up....check out the parties here!

Bedroom Shelf Makeover

I am an interior designer.
In my head.
In real life, I have a really difficult time pulling things together in a way that is both beautiful and a match to my personal style. Thank goodness for the internet, for home magazines, and for inspiration from some of my favorite blogs!  I'm slowly starting to get better.

I'm starting small.  My master bedroom needs a makeover.  Anyone else?  I love my furniture, but my bedding and decor- eh.  I NEED HELP!  Unfortunately, the last thing I need to be spending money on is frivolous things like a new comforter, when we have a new A/C (and more) to pay off!  So, inspired by Nike from Choose to Thrive (seriously, go there and read- you'll be inspired too!) , I'm trying to "rock what I've got" and use things I already own to fill in the ugly space.

On that note, here's my bedroom shelf before:  Wait- before I post it, I must tell you that yes, I am embarrassed to be posting this picture.  I pretty much stuck this stuff up there when we moved in 7 years ago, and haven't touched it since.  In that time, styles, and my taste, have changed- meaning, I've developed some!  Anyway (cringe) here it is:

See what I mean?  Total waste of space.
Here it is above my bed.

So- I knew I wanted to go with whites and neutrals.  So, the first thing I did was get rid of the silver frame.  We got it for our wedding, so it has sentimental value, but for decor?  Well.....

Next, I found a new home for everything else on the shelf.  To replace what was there, I took an empty frame I already had and added some vinyl to the glass.

Then I jumped on the Pottery Barn bandwagon and ripped the covers off some old paperbacks.  I tied the bundle with some jute rope and voila!

I added some flowers, a white candle, and a burlap rosette I had hanging around my craft room, then spent forever messing around with the arrangement until I came up with this:

  It feels so much better.  It's romantic, it's cozy, and it just makes me feel happy looking at it. Total cost $5- for the frame from IKEA.  Everything else I had on hand.

Linking up to the sources of my inspiration: check out the parties!