How has it been a week already? You can find week one here. We finally got to work on the space this weekend, and while I wish we were further ahead, Micah assures me he’ll be done with his part in plenty of time. When I’m feeling the timeline anxiety creeping up, I have to remind myself that he can build a McDonald’s from the ground up in six weeks…a 12×15′ room is no big deal for him.
As I mentioned last week, this is my 5-year-old daughter, Milly’s, room but sooner than later her almost one-year-old sister will be joining her. For form’s sake Milly has requested pink and purple, but I hope to give her a pink and purple room that will still feel cool when she’s 16 not that when she turns that age I will know anything about what is cool. For function’s sake we need two beds and some good storage options for clothing. The kids have a playroom and Milly has been given the walk in cedar closet in the upstairs hallway as a place to play with her American Girl dolls and Barbies basically all of the things she doesn’t want either of her siblings messing with. I do want to give her an area in here that she can create and hang art, as well as a place we can read to the girls before bed.
THE FORM:
Color Palette: I started with the wallpaper and built from there, but I knew I wanted to keep things pretty monochromatic. The walls and all of the woodwork will be going Farrow & Ball’s Peignoir. I’ve been really inspired by the idea of everything being all shades of muted and pastel pinks and purples. There’s something about it that feels both girly and fun, yet sophisticated. Most rooms I am sure to incorporate a bit of wood and green plant life. This room I’ll be fighting to avoid those things. But I am bringing in a bit of black and some plum, plus adding in a few pops of fluorescent pink. What little girl doesn’t love it, and it’s going to bring some great energy. Lately, much of my inspiration comes from Instagram stories and my girl, The Dandy Liar, was on a trip earlier this year and captured the below image that made me pause. The contrast of the electric orange against the powder blue walls felt really striking and fresh.
VIA THE DANDY LIAR
Wall Treatment: Because the room is leaning a bit French Modern, wall trim and treatment is important, so what better sponsor to have then Metrie. I wanted to do something that was detailed but clean and not too girly. This is where I landed as far as inspiration…
VIA DESIGN SPONGE
We’ll be using the same crown, casings, and base as we did in the sunroom, but adding a piece on the ceiling to beef up the crown a bit and the a picture rail right below the crown to hang art from like we have in the master.
Ceilings: I’ve wanted to paper a ceiling for a long time, and this room feels like the right space for it. The Bumble Bee paper by Farrow & Ball means a lot to me, as I have fond memories of studying Napoleon in my professor’s antique-fillled home in college. The ceilings are only 8′, so I wanted to pick a paper that had a smaller pattern and wasn’t too busy. Taking the crown moulding up onto the ceiling will also help the walls feels taller and the ceiling a bit higher.
THE FUNCTION:
Storage: The closet is small and currently has one hanging bar and shelf. We plan to add another bar and address the door on the closet. I have been documenting much of this on Instagram stories, but in order to center the dresser and sconces on the perpendicular wall, the door has to change. It’s 24″ and the swing is too big. So, we ran the gamut of ideas thank you Design Squad and Instagram followers! and it looks like we’ll be using two 12″ doors and hopefully I can find some pretty knobs to add to that glam, girly feel.
Beds: I love the look of twin beds together and this room really calls for that. At first I had planned to flank the window with them, but I realized if I put them on the side wall I could get a lot more useful space out of the room. These metal beds from The Mine will go the same lavender as the walls and while they are girly, they are substantial enough to still be great when the girls are older. Milly really liked the idea of an upholstered headboard, but the metal will clean up easily and I have another idea to add that feminine feeling an upholstered bed gives without being something I have to worry about.
Lighting: A variety of lighting is important in any room, and a bedroom is no exception. This space had a ceiling fan and one can light over the closet doorway, so we’re switching the fan out for an incredible chandelier, adding sconces over the dresser, and bringing in several lamps. The room gets east facing light, so good lighting is important in here most of the day.
So far we’ve scraped the ceiling and Micah roughed in electrical for the sconces. Our drywall guy has the first coat of mud on the ceilings and he’ll finish them up this week along with patching the drywall Micah had to remove to do the electrical work. Micah hopes to start on the trim Saturday while I participate in the area wide garage sale. While I’ve got your run of the mill finds, I’m also doing what I’ve been calling The Makerista Tag Sale. I have quite a few great finds that I couldn’t leave behind, but I need to thin out my stash. I also have some great baby things, especially girls. Hard to believe Domino will only be a baby for a few more weeks! If you’re in KC shoot me an email themakerista(at)gmail(dot)com and I’ll let you know when and where!
Thank you to the generous sponsors and Linda of Calling it Home for making this possible. Be sure to check out what the other designers are up to!
Boxwood Avenue | Coco & Jack | Design Manifest | IBB for DWD | The House That Lars Built | Little Green Notebook | The Makerista | Making it Lovely | Old Brand New | Old Home Love | The Painted House | Megan Pflug Designs | Pink Pagoda | Erica Reitman | Sacramento Street | Simply Grove | Jill Sorensen | Sugar & Cloth | Vintage Rug Shop | Waiting on Martha *
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Tee @ Beauteeful Living says
I can’t wait to follow along this makeover. I’m redoing my soon to be 7 y.o. girl’s bedroom. Have fun at your tag sale :).
Ariel says
DYING over the inspiration shots. So much good pink in there!
Emily Vanderputten | chez V says
Feeling you with the pink | purple train that has to have staying power. My daughter has requested ALL purple for this ORC. Nope. And while I swore I would be doing a barely there pink for the walls, Peignor keeps coming out on top as the choice from all of our samples on the wall as well – b/c the barely there pinks are too limpid in the lighting. Still undecided though – so I will be excited to watch your room unfold.
Daniela - Sukhi says
I would have never guessed that so much pink can actually look so good! Great job!! 🙂