Home Transformation | The Girls' Room Update

For part of the week when the girls were having the time of their lives at sleep away camp, I finally got around to accomplishing some to-dos that had been on my list for an embarrassingly L O N G time. The biggest project I checked off the list that week was "finishing" their bedroom/bathroom. I had given their bedroom in Oregon a makeover and already had the basic color scheme and idea. We used a similar color on the walls, had all of the artwork from before (+ some great new pieces we'd picked up along the way), and their furniture (+ new beds)… but somewhere along the way I had misplaced my motivation. ;)

The beds came from Coscto (online). Unfortunately, they are no longer available. However, as of this post, a similar bed is currently for sale. The walls are painted in Benjamin Moore Antiguan Sky. The bedding came from T. J. Maxx. The lockers are from Ikea (similar).  

One of the best things we've done lately is move my mother-in-law's old stereo (complete with big speakers!) into the girls' bedroom. We also rummaged through her CD collection (from her Jazzersize days) and pulled out a few jams (The Go-Go's, Culture Club, Bangles, Tone Loc, Sir Mix A Lot...) that the girls enjoy choreographing numbers to. It is highly entertaining--until they want to sing some of the lyrics to their friends.

We chose this room for the girls because it has two closets. Piper's is in the bedroom (below, door on the left) behind the entrance door. Geneva's is in the attached bathroom. 

The room also features original, 80 year-old, working wall sconces (lit, above; turned out, below). 

The bathroom is a good size and has lots of natural light. I'd love to change the vanity or at least pull the countertop off and replace it--but that's for another day (maybe). And while the bathroom has a shower, it typically goes unused, as the girls prefer to double up in ours. 

One of the biggest hesitations in finishing the project was the gallery wall. Ninety percent of the walls in this house are plaster--including all the walls in the girls' bedroom. When you're working with plaster, you really have to be sure you know where you want something before you pound/screw your fastener to the wall. Thankfully, with some of the smaller (lighter) items, Command Strips also work. I'd done a gallery wall before that didn't turn out quite as striking as I had imagined it would. (In fact, it's all come down now to make way for the new built-ins that have taken over that space.) Learning from my first attempt, I really tried for more cohesiveness by limiting the colors and frames featured, while adding interest with different "types" of things. After I had narrowed the collection, the next step was to lay it out on the floor and play around with the arrangement.

What I love most about the wall is that half of the items are things that the girls made themselves or made with me. 

1. Piper's paper-mache jellyfish from her friend's birthday party, 2. an Easter egg that Piper painted in preschool, 3. button-covered letters that I made with the girls a couple years ago, 4. melamine plate from Target (similar), 5. paint swatches I put together in a matte, 6. original artwork made for the girls by my old (but still very young) friend, Scott Morse, 7. "Frank" by Katie Crawford, 8. "Butterfly" by Geneva Jones (age 3), 9. ink drawing by Piper, 10. Geneva's jellyfish, 11. ink drawing by Geneva, 12. "Juggle Girl" on wood by Deona Fish, 13. wooden bird cage (spray painted + ribbon).