My Daughter’s Room Before + After

I Fear Design…
Psychologists often maintain that fear feeds dreams.  I agree.  I fear design, therefore my dream is for a professional to design my home and all its rooms for me.  So, when The Shopping Mama herself asked all contributors to submit pictures of their children’s rooms for the children’s decor features, I was quaking in my boots.

The story goes deeper.  We rent our house, so I’m not able to paint walls.  In addition, I disassembled my daughter’s room this past fall in anticipation of purchasing a bed and bookshelves from a local furniture store.  After 15 weeks of waiting, I canceled the order and planned to make a purchase elsewhere.  Then, military orders came for us to move to Georgia.  It hardly seemed prudent to order furniture only to move it and risk damage in less than nine months.

Which begs my question:  How do you design a room when you fear the project, can’t paint the walls or purchase furniture, and plan to move in six months?

Before

Here’s the scene before reorganization:

Preschool girl’s room before I reorganized.  Her bed is a simple mattress and box springs on rails and the wall hangings are positioned for a prior furniture arrangement.

The Update

I started by pulling together all the things that had been in her room, hoping to arrange them in a cohesive design.  We had purchased new bedding for the bed that never arrived.  I love the pink madras from Pottery Barn Kids and, of course, other elements of the room followed the color scheme.  I also put my crafting had on and FINALLY made two things I’d been putting off forever – a mobile to hang above her bed and a French memo board to hang her artwork from preschool.

Two handmade items for preschool girl’s room:  1) a mobile featuring family and friends to hang over her bed among fluttering butterflies and tissue paper flowers, and 2) a memo board for her artwork.  Rather than buttons or tufting, I simply stretched ribbons across a fabric-covered canvas.  Artwork will be attached with butterfly and flower-adorned clothes pins from World Market.

After

After making the mobile and memo board, I hung artwork and rearranged accessories.  Preschool girl likes having her IKEA table and chairs next to her bed for books and milk, so I made them tidy and her room looks much better.

Preschool girl’s finished room.  The hanging letters are from Land of Nod and the wall also features items from The Picture People and Piggies and Paws.  On the opposite wall, I streamlined the accessories on top of her armoire and hung a metal garden angel on the wall with a few other wall decorations.

We like it!