Welcome to Shire's 'new' room!

Last week I enjoyed sharing the mission and the plan for our girl, Shire's, room, and while some of the plan changed along the way, (like a free bed falling into our lap), I am so happy to say the mission was nearly accomplished! If you missed the details last week, my mission for this room was to give it a small makeover without spending a dime. Let's walk through and see how it went!

But first:

It's always fun to jog the memory with a good before & after, (they're fueling the internet, after all). The first thing we did was take out a big wardrobe that was occupying way too much floor space, (it's inches in front of her bed in the 'before' pic), and then replaced the wooden pallet bed with a regular metal bed frame with ample storage underneath, (a friend gave the bed to Cate and Cate passed it on to us - what an amazing free gift)! In my original plan for the room I had my eye on a black metal bed frame from 9 by Novogratz. While this bed was a creamy yellowish color when I brought it home, it wears black very well, (just a quick spray of black paint); and as Cate says, this bed and the one I was going to buy, 'they speak the same language'. Yes, yes they do!

So, the bed was free, but the nightstand was a very unexpected, last minute purchase. I expected to come across some perfect roadside find, or a gem hiding in the corner of a thrift store, but here's the thing: I really didn't know what to look for! I knew I wanted the bed to be black and the walls to be white and to keep her stripped wood dresser, (one of my refinished pieces from a couple years back), but I didn't have a good idea in my head of what type of bedside table to look for. Wood? Wrought iron? Metal? Painted? I'm not ashamed to admit I had no clear idea of what would look right here, which just makes it really difficult to 'see' pieces in thrift stores and on Craigslist. All I knew was the dimensions we needed to stay within, that a drawer would be ideal, and that something leggy and airy would allow this tiny space to feel a bit more open. So when I meandered past this little thing at Target, I doubled back for a closer look! My first thought was that it looked too 'masculine' for a little girl's room, but I brought it home just to see. It's a little grown up looking, which I think is great. I don't want to do this room again for YEARS, so now our girl's got herself a bedside table for as long as she wants it.

Another wonderful way of growing up a room for a growing child is - ART! Change out those woodland animal nursery prints for the lunar cycle of the sun and you've instantly matured a room. These prints came from my friend Amanda, Max and Mila, and they're stunning! She offers just the prints, or you can order them with the wooden dowel hanger - go for the dowel! It's not that much more moola and way more fun than framing. :)

After sharing the plan to hang my Grandmother's original painted cow above the bed and using the pink udder as inspiration for the soft pink duvet cover, I got the following note from my Grandma Livi, (Olivia), about the piece, (because Grandma notes are too good not to share, am I right? Sheesh, I should record a conversation with my Mamoo to share with you all):

So happy with 'Olivia' hanging above the bed. Uncle Paul always named cows after the girls in the family. I guess the hogs were named after the boys. I see the uDDer (utter) is pink! Love all of the room. Gma L

Leave it to the grans to correct your spelling mistakes! (So udder really IS spelled how it sounds) Shire sure loves having 'Olivia' hanging above her bed, but even more to have a piece painted by her great-grandmother. :) The 'be grateful' pillow was a gift from my sweet friend, Terri, owner of Simply French Market.

The room also got a much needed coat of white paint. It was a scuffed up light blue before, and the fresh white jacket instantly gives this little room exciting contrast. The Urban Outfitters rug was on clearance and is working hard in this space to pack a lot of punch! The soft pink H&M duvet just glows in the natural light this room gets.

I was thiiiiis close to staining the body of Shire's dresser and painting the drawers white for a mod two tone look. But after everything else was in place I just loved it as is even more than before!

And Gill has a new friend now - who happens to look EXACTLY like him. ;)

I mpainted Matt's old bookshelf in the same paint as the walls - I just love how her books and trinkets add a snap of color!

That's it, folks! At this point Shire's old pallet bed has sold and I've got a couple other things pending pick-up - and after those transactions this room will have been completed for free! How about that!

Thank you all so much for stopping by!