CrazyBusy - Home Makeover: The Girls' Room

CrazyBusy

Mar. 26, 2008

Home Makeover: The Girls' Room

(a really quick word about comments- I normally respond back to my comments by popping by your blog and replying that way or emailing you. However, I am so far behind I just went through and replied in the comments section of each of my posts. So if you've asked me a question about something, etc., check there. I try to keep up by reading my friends' page and stopping by friends' blogs when I have time.)

When we moved into this house over 4 years ago, the girls' room was decorated with just an ugly green border at the top of the walls. It was not cute or girlie at all. We decided we had to do something about that right away.

We took down the ugly border and painted the top half of the room "cricket green" and put a coordinating green wallpaper with hot pink flowers printed all over on the bottom half of the walls. They were separated by white chair railing. I really did like the room the way it was, however, since Emilia was just over a year old when we decorated that room, it didn't take long for the wallpaper to begin to disappear. We'd find long strips of it under her crib and on the floor. It looked awful.

We decided the wallpaper had to go and it was not to come back.

I didn't take any pictures of just the room after it was done the first time. The best representation I could find of how the room looked before we got to it this time was this one:

Here you can see the green walls, chair railing and coordinating wallpaper.... torn to bits. Lovely, huh? We've been meaning to do something about it since.

It took me an ENTIRE FRIDAY to get that wallpaper down! It was ridiculous! One wall, of course the one with the most wallpaper, proved especially difficult and it just came off in bits. The skin under my fingernails was so sore the next day from trying to get little strips of wallpaper to separate from the wall. By that evening, I had the whole family in helping me get that wallpaper down and we finally succeeded.

After we got the children to bed, we decided to get the room primed so that we could paint the next day. It needed a coat of primer to cover up that GREEN paint. So just after midnight, we got that done.

My parents came by the next day (a Saturday). My dad got the first coat of paint on for us in the girls' room while my mom helped me clean my neglected, dirty house (what a blessing!). He did a great job! He enjoys that kind of thing but is SOOOOOOOO picky! The children were asking me the day before if Papa would let them help and I told them I didn't know- knowing Papa, he wouldn't want anyone even in the room with him! And sure enough, I was right. He finally let them paint little tiny spots towards the end.

The next day Kenton did some touching up and finishing. At some time during the next week he painted the chair railing, got that put up, plugged up the nail holes and touched that up, painted a shelf, etc. He did all of the final touches.

When he was done with that, I went in & got the room cleaned up, put all of his tools away, vacuumed, put their new bed sets and pillows on their beds, got their furniture put back and/or rearranged, and vacuumed again. The girls decided they wanted their beds back bunk style. While I kind of like the beds apart (makes for putting them to bed and kissing them goodnight much easier), it sure does free up a lot of space in their room! It seems huge now!

All in all, I am so happy with how it turned out!

Now we do have a dresser situation in both the boys' and girls' room that we will be taking care of soon. They have all totally outgrown the dressers in their rooms. We will be using part of our tax rebate check to buy some solid wood, OREGON made, nice HUGE dressers for each of their rooms. So the rooms will look different again once we get those in and take out their old dressers. But for now....

Oh, and one more thing.... in this post and the ones that follow that contain photos, you will have to excuse the yucky lighting conditions. It was a time that I should've just used flash and I wouldn't have had to deal with the color casts. I actually did do a custom white balance but since I had such mixed light (overhead light plus daylight coming in through the windows), it really didn't help so I switched it to auto WB. I just don't feel like nor do I have time to fix each one. So there's my "ugly picture" disclaimer. LOL!

On with the girls' new room. (btw, Millie's holding up 10 fingers, and Gracie 2 to stand for how many letters are in both of their names- the goofs!)

I got those letters on Ebay for $3 per letter. I just had them paint them white but you could ask for just about any color for the letters and ribbon! And you have a pretty good selection of fonts to choose from too. I thought they turned out cute!

A shot with just the wall with the letters:

Their beds:

Their beds again facing the west wall- their dollhouse is a mess! That "changing table" is Emilia's dresser! She also has some of her clothes in their closet on some shelves in there.

Facing the north window. See Gracie's little dresser? That was Alek's when he was a baby.

The east wall. The girls demonstrating some ballet moves. Mindy, do you see the bulletin board behind them? I got that idea from you. :) They LOVE it!

Millie's name/canvas:

I don't know if you noticed the canvases hanging on their wall. These were photos I took of the girls a couple of years ago in their room (then green) and then in Photoshop, added a colored pencil drawing effect. I had them printed on canvas and then mounted.

Here's the original photo of Millie:

And what it looked like after the colored pencil effect in Photoshop:

Here's Gracie's part of the wall:

Her original photo:

And what hers looked like after Photoshop (although for some reason, it was A LOT more work to get Gracie's colorful enough):

What's nice about these wall decorations is that since the photos were taken in their room, they match with everything quite nicely.

So there you have it! After hours and hours of labor, the girls' room is done!

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Comments

Mar. 26, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous

the room is beautiful...i liked it in the first shot too though. i had so much fun doing my little girl's room when she was born. after three boys i love painting in pink.
julie
www.homeschoolblogger.com/juliestew

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Mar. 26, 2008 - Wow

Posted by Anonymous

you did an absolutly wonderful job! That room looks great. And your girls are just precious. I love the first one of your daughter laughing.

Karen
www.14fir.blogspot.com

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Mar. 26, 2008 - Thank You!

Posted by barrynmissy1972

Thank you for posting this! We close on our house tomorrow and I really wanted to have my children's names on their bedroom walls. Perfect timing! Your daughter's rooms look great!

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Mar. 26, 2008 - So cute

Posted by Anonymous

Hi Alyssa,
I love the girl's new room! It is soo cute and I love the pictures. I might need to go play with photoshop.

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Mar. 26, 2008 - Adorable!

Posted by Anonymous

I love it! Although I did like the green... the wallpaper certainly had seen better days, it was cute though!
It's so pretty and I love the letters!
Love April

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Mar. 26, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by TroopersForChrist

Wow, What a BEAUTIFUL make over! The pictures of the girls redone like drawings are awesome touches and the inexpensive lettering for their names. The girls look happy and beautiful too. It looks like a whole lot of work, for sure!

Thank you for your comment. I was thinking some day at least our daughter can say, "We used to pet and feed the horses out the dining room window." It will be a nice 'red neck memory".

In Him,
Marie

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Mar. 26, 2008 - Cute!

Posted by mamabear2003

Nice work on the bedroom! It looks so great!

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Mar. 26, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Canadagirl

That is the COOLEST girl room ever ! I love what you did with it. Thank you for sharing what you are up to.

I pray blessings and ((hugs)) on you and your family !

In Him<><
-Mary

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Mar. 27, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by EEEEMommy

Wow! Great job! I absolutely love those Photoshop sketches!!!
I came over from Natalie's (seasonsmom) blog since she has raved about your photography (I'm in the market for a new camera and am trying to do some research). But I was so excited when I saw EMILIA on the wall. My middle daughter is also Emilia and I've never met another girl with the same name (and spelling). Very fun! :)

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Mar. 27, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by henryteachers

What a great "feast" of posts! I love to see room makeovers. Your girl's room is just darling. I love the names with their photos on canvas. What a great idea. That was so fun to see their bulletin board up on the wall too. Great job Alyssa! My dd wants to come by and play with their doll house.
Mindy :)

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Apr. 5, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Haflingerhorses

I love the bright pink! And the photo shop pics is way amazing. I'm going to show Rachel that - she's my talented gal - I think she could do that. That would make great gifts for the grandkids!
Antoinette

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Apr. 5, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by YahwehISAlmighty

That is REALLY COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Awesome

Rachel

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Apr. 14, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by crazybusy

Thanks Ladies! :)
Love, Alyssa

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About Me

Hi and welcome to my crazy busy world! I'm Alyssa, pronounced A-lee-sa. Hubby & I have been married for 15 years and we have 5 wonderful children and one on the way! Their ages are 11, 8, 7, 5 & 3, with the latest model due early July! Spend any amount of time here and I'm sure you'll quickly learn that I love photography! You'll find quite a mix of posts here- lots of photo blogging, some photography tips and tutorials, posts about home schooling and posts that will give you a glimpse to the goings-on in our lives. I hope you enjoy your visit! Thanks for stopping by!