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When we moved our daughter out of the nursery that is conveniently right outside of our primary bedroom, we decided to give her the second biggest room in the house. With the hope that we could have it act as both her bedroom and the playroom!
This room had seen a lot of changes in the short three years before this “final” design. (I say final because we all know its going to change again, probably sooner than later. But lets document it for how it is now!) When we moved in, this room was the brightest shade of green I had ever seen on a wall, and it was on all of them. So bright in fact that it for sure glowed out the window and could be seen from the street. Take a look (and im so sorry for burning your retinas):
The first evolution of this room was our office. A year later, it became our daughters room and the paint color just stayed as it was when we repainted it to be the office. White walls with one dark green accent wall. It was great for our working space, but for a little girl it ended up looking pretty sad and stark.
A few months after she moved into her big girl room, the world went into lock-down and looking back I swore I did this a few months in. Nope, I painted this room in March 2020, that’s how long those days felt back when Covid first started. Don’t you agree?? Going stir crazy had me itching for all the projects I could do without stepping foot in a store. I had the brushes and the rollers, the inspiration, all I needed was the paint. And as luck would have it Sherwin Williams just introduced curbside pick up, we were in business! I bought their sample sizes thinking I would use plenty of the paint. I hardly made a dent in each one but they have proven to make great colors to have around for art projects!
For sure it took the craziness of covid to get be brave enough to just go for it with very little planning on this wall. I wish I had more of a method to document, but honestly I just looked at several abstract paintings and knew I wanted large areas of pink with spotted areas of the darker green color. Along with some squiggles and strokes. See? I sound like a crazy person trying to describe this to you. The biggest things was to make sure I felt like all the colors were balanced. If there was enough yellow in this portion of the mural and also that one, if not, add a streak of yellow, etc. What I did do that’s super fun is hide some tiny hearts in the mural for our daughter to spot. I believe she has found them all three years later!
When it came time for us to say goodbye to the crib, our daughter graduated to a twin and talking her out of a bunk bed we chose a canopy style frame. Like a bunk bed… without a top bunk. How you convince a three year old its just as cool as a bunk bed! hah.
The wall was fun and beautiful, the canopy bed was the perfect compromise and she loved it, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how I loved the pop of yellow in her room and how I wanted a yellow quilt for her bed. Unfortunately I can’t get you a link to her amazing sunshine blanket, as we call it. It was lovingly made by one of our dear family friends and it is hands down one of my most cherish possessions. I received it just after suffering a traumatic ectopic pregnancy (you can read about that here if you want) and the words she wrote on the quilt and in the card had me weeping on the floor. And it was, and is, the star of this room.
Of course her room has undergone many small changes, like bed placement (hello staying up all night looking out her bedroom window) as well as changing out bigger items as her interests change. Think, less climbing and more drawing and writing. Her space is so cheery and playful and I think we both are really proud of how it came out
The pink ombre drapes are something I DIYed for her nursery when I was pregnant with her. They are a dropcloth sheet I got from home depot and then dipped into pink dye in a bowl and brushed upwards to create the ombre effect! They are layered with lots of blackout shades behind them, because not only do we want the room dark for her to get some quality sleep, but this west facing room can BAKE in the summer evenings without them. Makes for some epic sunset viewings over the Rockies though, I am not at all complaining!
See what I mean about how handy it was to have all the leftover paint, we could paint anything to match the color scheme of her room, including the rocks on the climbing side of her pickler triagle slide!
While her climbing and fort building with the nugget are a little bit more few and far between, it is one of her favorite reading and singing/guitar playing spots in the house! The yellow guitar is a garage sale treasure, a purple Hawaiian souvenir, that I painted months before knowing her sunshine quilt would make a big yellow statement in her room!
This painting was another one of my favorite aesthetic kids crafts that she painted back when she was two. She loves her artwork and that she did it herself, I love that part the most but the cherry on top is how it goes so well with not only her room, but the whole house!
Three shelves, one book holder by the bed, and a whole closet full of books because this girl LOVES reading and books. And of course I pull the most attractive book covers out for the visible shelves and even organize them by color because with a wall like that, there needs to be a bit more coordination to let my eyes rest otherwise its just too much chaos! And yes, I do judge children’s books by their covers. Some of my favorites are by Oliver Jeffers, and Jessica Hische. You gotta check out Stuck and Tomorrow I’ll be Brave, two of our FAVORITES!!
Aside from her bed and her play kitchen, this desk we got her for her fourth birthday is by far one of her most loved items. She colors and creates things here for hours. Our course my designer heart loooooves this. Go girl go! The desk has a spot for a built in roll of paper which lasts forever (when you buy the bulk size one from ikea!)
And that’s it! The covid-fueled mural, the sunshine bed, the playful and girly, but not too girly room, whats your favorite part?? If nothing else I’m glad I documented at this phase of its life. My daughter is now 5 and I’m sure she will be asking to switch up her room any day now. While that makes me a little sad, it’s honestly exciting to me to see what its next evolution will be!
The details / sources:
canopy bed
rocking chair
Picklers triangle
Kids Desk
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