Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Sister's "Big Girl" Room Makeover

Well, she's almost 4 years old. I guess it's time to transition from the crib to a bed.
No kidding! Sister still sleeps in her crib- quite happily too. But she's getting so big, and has noticed that all her friends have "big girl" beds, and has started talking about it, so... off we go.
The good news is that we already have a bed for her. It's my cousin's iron daybed (with a trundle) from 20 years ago. My DH always hated it- it looked old and dingy and had these tacky gold finials on top of the posts. But I talked him into just giving it a fresh coat of paint (finials included) and seeing what he thought then.
Here it is undergoing it's new paint job: (I know, I know... spray paint is terrible for the environment, but it's the best option for painting a bed like this. DH's vacation time is limited!)
The bed used to be cream (with a lovely overcoat of grime and dirt), but we decided to change the color to a light pink. It turned out perfectly!
Bedding was next. My mom offered to pay for any costs associated with the new bed (bless her!) so I logged onto the Pottery Barn Kids website. Of course, I loved so many of the bedding collections, but I chose this one:
Isn't it sweet? It's called "French Rose." I loaded up my cart: a comforter, duvet cover, sheet set, and three pillow shams. Then I went to check out. After taxes and shipping the total came to $348.00!!!

I just couldn't do it. I know my Mom is paying, but I just couldn't let myself spend that kind of money on BEDDING for my kid. (*For those of you who have spent that kind of money on your kid's bed, please don't feel judged. I spend PLENTY of money on other things, believe me.)

So, I loaded the kids into the van and made a Target run. I found a lovely Shabby Chic quilt with matching sheets- yay! I was worried at first when all I could see from the end of the aisle was commercialized Disney stuff. (DH would NOT approve.) I ended up buying the quilt, two sets of sheets, curtains, and a lamp- for $100 less than the bedding alone from Pottery Barn.


And the more I look at the Target set, the more I love it.
I'll be sure to post a photo when the bed is put together.
Edited to Add: I popped in over at Jade's blog and saw that doing lots of cleaning out, decluttering, and re-decorating, just like me! So, I'll be playing along with her Exposing Myself theme for a while. Do join us.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It will be beautiful - Target has the sweetest things for girls. I'd like to have some myself, if there wasn't a man sleeping in my bed next to me. :) He might feel a bit uncomfortable with all the pink.

I did Claire's room last year in the Shabby Chic from Target. It's so sweet, and perfectly "little girly." At least I have one willing to go "all girl." The other has "sky blue" walls to go with her colorful quilt. She is feminine, but not fru - fru. I need at least one fru-fru baby.

In fact, her bed looks a lot like the one you were spraypainting, there - only Claire's is the real thing, an antique iron bed that weighs about a ton. No tilting that baby over for a spraydown. My grandfather was born in it, along with his siblings - and my dad had it sandblasted and painted for our wedding. Sigh. Do my girls appreciate that? Not too much, really. One day.

PinksandBluesGirls said...

I think everything looks absolutely lovely... beautiful and classic! It is so amazing what creativity will accomplish... especially when you are aware of saving money too! It actually makes decorating much more fun.

Our kids are all grown up now, and we have 8 grandchildren... and we still love to find special things for them. We go to lots of antique shows, and we find little things that are so specific to each child. One of our granddaughters LOVES little resin shoes, and I am always on the look-out. Last year at a consignment store, I found 10 shoes... and I give her one for each special occasion. I love doing this.

By the way, three of my grandchildren slept in cribs til almost 4 years old. There certainly is comfort and safety within those beautiful familiar rails!

Good luck with the room... can't wait to see photos.

Beck said...

I hope you post pictures of the finished room!
And nearly FOUR? My kids were LEAPING out of their cribs before they were one and a half! They must be monkeys, I think.