bedroom makeover: gracie edition

really, you can't appreciate the after till you've experienced the before.

i'm still in awe of the amount of bags {trash and donation} that came out of this 10x10 room.  or maybe it's shock.



my childhood desk, completely cluttered.
a tarjet dresser with very shallow drawers. a waste of $. 
most clothes, stored in plastic drawers in the closet.
stuffed animals, blankets, and lord only knows... 
crammed between the bed and wall.
as high as the bed.

bags, toys, scarves, and did i mention bags?
all piled high next to the bed.
we always shuffled our feet, pushing away the bags, to tuck her in at night.

sometimes, you purposely ignore the mess, for the love of your child.  who wants to give the 'born in a barn' lecture right before your littles drift off to la-la land?  we love our girls.  and they love us. those conversations were usually reserved for daytime.

when the room is this out of control, honestly... they don't even know where to begin.



posters, painted canvas, bulletin board, and random strings of yarn covering the light pink walls.
american girl furniture made from cardboard boxes.
the girls were always equally excited to see brown boxes by the front door.  for different reasons.

it took me nearly three days to move 'stuff' out of both girls' rooms.  good. heavens.  we said good-by to her free pink thriftstore headboard. *sniff*sniff*

room makeovers have been on the agenda for quite some time, so i've picked up things here and there, as they were on sale.

gracie's room now that i found the carpet...

cherry pink paint.  took nearly 3 coats.  we love that olympic is low voc.

the ceiling is painted a light shade of blue.  it's embellished with white clouds, using an old t-shirt, dipped in white paint (adding a little water).

i wrote, "... we'd still choose you." next to her bed, to remind her of something we tell her nearly every night.   

"if we lined up aaaaall the gracie's in the whole wide world, we'd still choose you.  and if we lined up aaaaaall the {insert current age} year olds, we'd still choose you.  you're a beautiful princess, and we love you very much."

the bedding came from tarjet - included hot pink sheets.

a dresser {with 3 deep drawers}, built for us when nator was born, once used as a changing table, now painted white. {it also weighs a ton = quality} drawer pulls spray painted from brass to silver.  the tall side is the perfect size for housing toys.

chandelier {ikea}. zebra shades {hobby lobby}.  shadow box {hobby lobby} housing gracie's pins and ribbons from dance competitions.

a green sheet {walmart}, hung on a tension rod to create a 'tent' under her loft bed.

daddy did an awesome job building the loft bed from scratch, using ideas found here.  really, we needed more floor space.

under the loft bed, a toy chest my step-dad built for us when gracie was born was painted white, padded with a cushion, trimmed in hot pink, now doubles as a seat for her new desk area.  there's room for her bean bag and a shelf to house her american girl dolls.

mirror peace-sign wall decals and frames {hobby lobby}.

on the other side of the room, we have a basket for her stuffed animals, the same polka-dotted curtain that we already had {hallelujah}, an ikea shelf, and drawer container to organize legos. the drawer container in her closet now houses shoes, hats, scarves...

i drew a whimsical eiffel tower, from ceiling to floor. decorating is my favorite part!  dad updated televisions - found on sale.  not a need, but a fun addition to watch dvds - no cable, of course.



organization makes me happy. 
knickknacks have been condensed to one shelf.
zebra bins {tarjet} house smash book supplies, etc.
and there's even room for more books! 



one of the biggest hits, was the green ikea lamp by her bed.  now they can read themselves sleepy - without fumbling with a book light.



zebra prints in $3 wally-world frames.  'peace'/zebra boxes {kirklands} found on clearance.  vinyl chandelier {hobby lobby}. mirror hung on the inside of the closet door.



wow... that was a lot.  still with me??

holding my breath, but now that everything has a place... everything finds it's place again!  

worth every callous on my hands. 

when you're surrounded by beauty, you tend to want to keep it clean... that's the theory we'll be testing. ;)


revealing nator's room soon...