My oldest daughter tends to get the short end of the stick when it comes to bedrooms. She shared a room with her baby sister for a few years. Then she let the younger two choose their rooms first in our last home and obviously ended up with the room nobody wanted. And now in our new home she has the storage room. Our three bedrooms are all on the upper level and she could have gone back to rooming with her little sister, but we all knew she needed her own space. So into the storage room on the lower level she went. It has a closet type structure under the stairs and a big window, so technically it can be called a bedroom. It’s shaped quite oddly. With the closet jutting into the room from the front left and the lower level half bath taking up room on the back right, her room is like two small squares that are offset from each other. And, like 90% of our house at move in time, it was greige. Everything was painted the same color- the walls, the door and all the trim. It was a sad, sad (and messy) room.
Because of her thinking of her younger siblings first and getting stuck in the storage room I told her that we would update her room first. Unfortunately for me, she is old enough to have her own opinions of what it should look like. None of them were anything at all like my Pinterest board for her room. But, that’s okay. It’s her room and she tends to make good decisions. So, I let her play designer and pick out the fabric, the wall color and a feature wall.
Her first decision and jumping off point was the fabric. We went to Hobby Lobby and after looking at every fabric multiple times and narrowing the choices down, she chose the brightest and most vibrant one there. It encompassed all the colors she was wanting in her space.
Now on to paint. Ever let a 10 year old pick a paint color? It’s not easy to let go of that control. I can’t say that I let go completely, because I was giving bits of advice here and there. Like, choose a color from the fabric and go with a much lighter version of it. The final call was hers. She took the “pick a color from the fabric” advice, but the much lighter version didn’t sink into her ears. The walls are just as bright as the curtain fabric. I can’t really fault her for wanting something bright. The winters in the Pacific Northwest are very long, cold, rainy and gray. She needed a room that would be a break from that.
Next on the list was the feature wall. I had been wanting to try out putting up a faux ship lap wall. She was game and gave me the go ahead. I bought two 1/4 inch thick pieces of plywood from the Home Depot and asked them to rip them down into six inch strips. After sanding I installed them with the intention of painting them all white. But, after they were up, she liked the natural look and wouldn’t let me paint them. I guess I’ll have to try it again somewhere else in the house now. As you can see it was a late into the night kind of project. It wouldn’t have been so late, but the air compressor likes to give me fits now and then.
All that was left to do was install the trim. I like simple baseboards and crown mouldings so that made install very easy. Everything is squared up and no angles to work with. A bit of touch up paint here and there and tada! it’s done. Well, almost done. There was one more request that I haven’t gotten to yet. A painting of a branch with a robin sitting on it. I’m not so good at painting birds. So until I get up the nerve to just go for it, that wall will remain empty.
So, here it is. My daughter’s first attempt at design. Not too bad, right?
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