Kristi Kruse Photography | Raleigh newborn photographer

Last week I posted about my daughter’s 6th birthday and her “Frozen” themed cake.  This week I figured I’d share a bit more. I took a lot of time off in February and the main reason was to spend my daughter’s birthday month with her. All she wanted for her birthday was a room makeover, so we’ve been working hard on that.  I thought maybe she would like a princess room, or something similar. She however informed me that she would like a “big girl” room.  My 6 year old is apparently going on 12.

It actually was a fun project to do together though, and a great experience for her to really express herself and her style.  She picked out her own bedding – “Lara” from Pottery Barn kids (she has great taste).  That was our starting point for inspiration for the room. We then took a trip to our local Lowe’s and I let her pick out her own paint color. Yup, this was the hard part for me. I typically bring home like 20 samples, tape them up, paint small samples on the wall and then spend endless hours trying to make a decision based on what it looks like during the day, night etc.  My daughter luckily did not inherit my indecision. She walked into Lowe’s, spent about  2 minutes looking at purples, grabbed one and said this is it. I asked her if she wanted to bring it home and test it out and she said nope, let’s get it and start painting.  So my nervous self went ahead and brought it home. Amazingly enough when we started putting in on the wall I loved it. It matched her bedding perfectly.

After the paint my new task was to find a headboard for her. This was the hard part for me. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted. At first I thought standard white bed, either wood or metal. But with white trim, dresser, and curtains I thought that would be a white overload. I also didn’t want purple. I decided to play off of the other color in her bedding set, a turquoise blue. I thought it was a nice complimentary color and would break up the purple and white nicely. I spent a lot of time in fabric stores searching for just the right fabric, to no avail. I didn’t want a solid, or couldn’t find one I loved I should say. I was just about to settle when I was walking through homegoods and found a Cynthia Rowley shower curtain (yes, that’s right – a shower curtain) that was perfect.  Even better it was only 16.99. I immediately bought it (and a second to hang in her bathroom so they both coordinate) and headed home where I googled “how to make a diy upholstered headboard”.  Time for me to get my Martha Stewart on.   It was actually surprisingly easy.  Here is the blog post I followed – http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2013/07/diy-tufted-headboard-tutorial.html.   The hardest part was since I had a pattern in my fabric, I had to line up my tufting holes just right so that they appeared evenly spaced within the pattern. For the most part I got them all spot on, one however is a little off and yes, it does bother me but luckily it’s hidden behind pillows 99% of the time. I absolutely am in love with how it turned out.

What’s also great is that I had leftover fabric to make her a matching bulletin board for her desk area, and a seat cushion as well. Talk about thrifty and coordinated! Not to mention that second shower curtain to match in her bedroom.   We then added a chandelier to her window area and a table lamp to her dresser to girl it up and add a pop of color.  Those simple, white ruffled curtains were made my by awesome neighbor. I found similar curtains at Anthropologie for an outrageous price and knew my super talented neighbor could pull it off – and she did.

All that’s missing from the room is a mirror to go over her dresser. I’m being picky about finding the “perfect” one. I’d like an antique baroque one that I can paint light pink to finish off the extra pops of color in the room. I have to say this was such a fun project and I loved spending the time with my daughter getting to learn each other’s tastes. Lots of memories were made, and her face when I showed her the final finished room on her birthday was priceless. She loves it and spends a lot of time in there.  Of course now my youngest wants her room re-done – in a rainbow theme. Luckily her birthday isn’t until July, I’m hoping she changes her mind by then =)