My older daughter turned 17 months old yesterday. Which is equally unbelievable. In about 3 months we're hoping to transition her from her crib to her toddler bed in her "big girl" room.
I've spent the last couple of months transition our third bedroom from this:
Scary, dangerous looking mass of clutter...
To this:
Adorable, colorful, happy looking retreat- don't you want to just run in and play?
So what all have I done in there?
To start we had to move all the junk out. When we moved into this home we gained a bedroom but lost any kind of outside storage. So the room housed our tools, seasonal decorations and other random things that we use occasionally but not enough to need in any easy to reach, daily place. We slowly sorted through everything and moved some things to the attic, others into other closets, and a decent sized portion went to Good Will. Unfortunately the floor of the closet still holds our tools (that gives you an idea of the amount of tools we have ey?)
Once the room was cleared out we were able to start moving things in. Now for the tour. The market stand, the box of train stuff, and the purple toy box were the first things in there, followed by the bed. My inspiration for the room was from the colors in this chair:
I wanted the room to be bright and fun!
The chair was a Craigslist find that my husband reupholstered with fabric we found at Hancock's Fabric back in October.
Before:
After:
The toy box was a Good Will find that my husband repaired and painted. The bottom had been damaged by water which caused it to warp and start falling out.
Before:
After:
I try to keep her pretend produce out of here, for ease of playing's sake. The market stand was bought from someone selling it online and the train box and all the train stuff was bought from someone on Craigslist (an awesome find- that whole box was only $30!).
The bed was a Craigslist find and the rug came from IKEA. The bedding I made along with three of the pillows. I bought some white sheets for cheap and dyed them with Rit brand dye to match the color scheme. I bought enough to make baby sister a matching cover for next year. She has a set in yellow and a set in purple. I made a duvet cover for her comforter. The chevron fabric came from amazon.com After washing the fabric shrunk 2 inches, which created the need for a border to make it big enough to cover the comforter. So I bought some pink and orange fabric to make the girls' blankets coordinate. I had never bordered anything before and I have to say I was really proud of my corners. I used this tutorial to learn how to make such awesome edges.
The pillows were made from the leftover pink and orange fabric. I also pulled out leftover purple fabric from the table runner I made from Mia's first birthday party. I stuffed them all with polyfill.
The basket holding books was another Good Will find. And the basket holding stuffed animals came from Home Goods. I always try to organize Mia's toys, I find she plays with them more when she knows how to easily find them. For example, she knows which basket holds her Duplos downstairs, which shelf her puzzles and books are on and whenever she wants them she heads right for them. She also knows where they go when it's time to pick up.
The art gallery wall was something I knew I wanted in the room from the beginning of the process. I had a couple frames lying around, and the rest cost about $10 after a couple trips to Good Will. I bought plain wooden frames and painted them with leftover craft paint from when Mia painted her canvas (which is also hung on the wall). I bought a two pack of canvas on sale at Michael's for that project. Aryana will paint the blank canvas when she's older. The subway art was made by Lovely Little Hello.
I'm so happy with how the room has turned out! All in all I'd say the entire room cost less than $150- without the cost of the toys. I want to empty out the closet and put her IKEA dresser in there- it keeps her from pulling everything out.
I think it's my favorite place in the house- I love all the bright colors!
