A few months back Cameron and I had a brilliant idea. Before the baby arrived we would remodel and redecorate two of the bedrooms in our house. One of them Maddy was currently in, and the other River was in. We decided to move River into Britta's room with her. His room would then become Maddy's room, and Maddy's room would then become the baby's nursery. Brilliant. This was in January. Our goal was to have the whole project completed by mid March. That would give us plenty of time to settle before the baby arrived mid April. Theoretically this was a fabulous plan. Read: theoretically.
These before pictures don't show just how terrible the room looked. There were a bunch of holes from where there had been things hung up by the previous owners. They used anchor screws for everything. We hadn't done anything since moving in. We repainted everything including the trim, shutters, doors, and walls.
The simplest version of this project may have been easy to complete in the allotted time. However, the projects developed into something quite complex. Instead of just painting walls and buying furniture, we had to add a bunch of other fun touches. We wanted wainscoting on two of Maddy's walls. We needed to rewire most of the light switches and lower them (long story). We replaced both ceiling fans. We scraped the popcorn ceilings and retextured them. And the biggest project: we completely rebuilt both closets. Now, when I say "we" I mostly mean "Cameron" did these things.
As is probably apparent from the sudden drop off in blog posts over the past 6 months or so, my pregnancy was no picnic. As a result my wonderful husband had to pick up the tasks that I would normally have done myself. So, now he was working full time (and he was BUSY), doing household chores (which included cooking most meals!), AND we had this brilliant all consuming project of redoing two bedrooms.
Cameron worked really hard, but as you probably guessed, we did not complete the rooms before the baby arrived. The baby's room was done about a week after he was born. Unfortunately, while it was painted and built and furnished, it wasn't (and still isn't) decorated. Sigh. I'm working on it. I think I have a theme to go with his bedding now, so hopefully I'll post pictures of the completed nursery soon. Maddy's room was finished last Saturday. Yes. It did take roughly 5 months. Before you balk though, let me just say that it turned out beautifully.
I hate how pictures never do a room justice. We started out with colors. She wanted pink. We did not want pink. However, we caved and did a really light pink coupled with white.
The furniture was a great find. We knew we wanted white. We knew we wanted high quality. I had no idea how difficult that was going to be to find. We literally went to half a dozen furniture stores in the area. We finally settled on the first set we looked at. Of course, it was from Costco. Love that place. It was the highest quality we found, AND perfect for the room. We bought a twin bed with a trundle, a desk (chair included), and a dresser (a BIG one).
I wanted the bookshelf that came with the set, but that sold out before we made our purchase and I wasn't willing to drop another $300 on the same bookshelf from their website. So, we decided to grab a different shelf, dress it up a bit, and turn it into a window seat. It goes perfectly. We are still planing on adding a cushion. I've bought the foam, but still need to buy the fabric and make the cover. Soon.
The closet started out really plain. It was large, but it had a single hanging rod and a shelf above it. Terrible utilization of the space. So, Cameron and I designed a new one together. There are built in toy boxes on each side. There is a built in laundry hamper (it pulls out). There are some shoe shelves, and a bunch of other shelves. It really turned out awesome. Cameron outdid himself for sure. He even installed new lighting.
Decorating was really fun. We wanted a nice bedding set. We were lucky enough to find a great deal on a set from Pottery Barn kids. We were even able to get her a feather bed along with a down comforter and a few feather pillows. I want to sleep in her room now. Once we grab another mattress to go on the trundle, I might just sleep up there.
The bedding has flowers and butterflies on it. We decided to extend that theme into the rest of the room. We were going for classy. I think we did a pretty good job. It really is the decor that makes a room special. We bought appliques for the wall. I bought a few different things to hang pictures with. I even bought her a cute piggy bank for her dresser.
My favorite decoration is probably the butterfly mobile that hangs over her desk. Cameron's favorite is the butterfly mirror. Really, I like it all.
I'm so happy to be able to give Maddy her little girl dream room. We kept the decorations a surprise. It was fabulous. She was absolutely thrilled when she walked in for the first time. It is perfect.
She spends a bunch of time in it and could not be happier. She uses her desk all the time. She constantly talks about how much she loves her whole room. It was definitely worth all the time and effort put into it.
Now that the project is over (short of decorating the baby's room), Cameron is already looking for another project. Next is River and Britta's room... then our room... then the front and family rooms... then the backyard... then the bathrooms.... then the shed... then ....
The simplest version of this project may have been easy to complete in the allotted time. However, the projects developed into something quite complex. Instead of just painting walls and buying furniture, we had to add a bunch of other fun touches. We wanted wainscoting on two of Maddy's walls. We needed to rewire most of the light switches and lower them (long story). We replaced both ceiling fans. We scraped the popcorn ceilings and retextured them. And the biggest project: we completely rebuilt both closets. Now, when I say "we" I mostly mean "Cameron" did these things.
I hate how pictures never do a room justice. We started out with colors. She wanted pink. We did not want pink. However, we caved and did a really light pink coupled with white.
