little black door: girls bedroom

Showing posts with label girls bedroom. Show all posts

February 5, 2015

the quick fix

Happy Sunny Thursday to y'all! Today I'm over at my online and real life friend Heather's blog, Decor Fix sharing my favorite quick fix for a room. I'm also doing a lightening round Q&A so be sure to check it out here! (a small hint of what my fix might be with this picture of the girls' room)

And let me know, do YOU have a quick fix in your bag of tricks?

February 26, 2014

one room challenge - where are they now

Today is a fun 'this is your life' kind of day. My friend Linda, Calling it Home fame and creator of the One Room Challenge, is having a party today. Everyone and anyone who has participated in the One Room Challenge over the years will be giving updates on their rooms.

Projects that were unfinished, changes that were made, or just the general state of the room today will all be shared.

As for me, not much has changed in the girls' room by way of additions or changes.

Full disclosure it looks like this most of the time. True life. (my mom is horrified right now).

Herbie did get some new bright orange poppies which he is very happy about.

And I did get a pom pom garland on clearance after Christmas that I'll use as a tie back for the corner window. Current version styled by my three-year-old assistant.

So the girls still love the room, I still love the room. The room is well loved.

The family room is pretty much the same story.

All the major players are still in place, it just has a more...lived in patina now. I won't blind you with the general state of toy tornado that that room seems to be in. Even I have my sharing limits. :)

So that's my ORC update. All is pretty quite on the western front. Be sure to go over to Linda's to see what everyone else's rooms are up to now. I can't wait to check them out!

And don't forget to sign up for my Wash Away Winter giveaway! You could be smelling sweet in no time.

January 8, 2014

how did i do - 2013 review

So we can't get started on the new year without seeing how I did last year, right? It's always fun to see if your December 2013 self was in tune with your January 2013 self - did I get anything done or not? So with that said, may I have the envelope please.

My 2013 goals were:

1. Entry Refresh - Wahoo! We are off to a good start. It may have taken me a while (I started in June and finished in...October) and I did have to redo the entire stencil, (sometimes I guess it pays to read the directions) but it turned out even better than I had envisioned and now it's fresh and bright and a jolly little welcome to our little home.

2. Sew something. Anything. - Bam! I rocked this one like a hurricane for the One Room Challenge in November. It is amazing what confidence a looming deadline will give you. I had just days to go before the big reveal and I was staring at a pile of fabric and no pillows, so I bit my lip and gave it a go. I will say that the intimidation factor is squarely on that damn machine. Actually sewing a pillow is pretty simple, its that blasted bobbin that gets me. Every. Time.

I even went ahead and made myself some pillows for my bedroom while I was at it. Overachiever.

3. The girls' room. This already feels like a million years ago, but I knocked this one off the list in February/March thanks again to the One Room Challenge. This was one of my favorite projects of the year and I'm happy to say the room still looks largely the same - just with the addition of a thick layer of clothes, toys and naked barbies strewn on the floor.

4. Bathroom Redo. This one is a mixed bag. Yes, I have updated the bathroom. Good homeowner. But I have yet to share the updates. Bad blogger. I did share a very small sneak peak a while back on Instagram but that is it. For shame! I promise a full reveal before we hand out Valentine's.

5. Open my little black door a little more. I just realized how...interesting that line sounds. But anyway, it was about sharing more about other aspects of my work, my life, and just putting myself out there more. And I did work on this. I shared some client projects here, here and here. I started a new series, Fess Up Friday and shared more of my crazy life on Instagram, which I consider like a mini-blog of sorts. I have more plans and more work to do this year, so we will call this one 'under progress'.

So all in all, not so bad for old Elizabeth. And I'll tell you, this has gotten me motivated for 2014. I'm ready to get working! And I'll share those plans tomorrow.

So how about you? How did you do with last years goals? Do you make any years goals for yourself, your business, your home?

March 25, 2013

anatomy of a gallery wall

Happy Monday! I trust that y'all had a splendid weekend. We got pummeled with more snow than we should have for the whole month of December, never mind the fact that it is almost April. Mamma ain't happy. I've got some flip flops burning a hole in my closet. I need spring!

I want to thank all of you for your kind words about the girls' room and all of your great questions. You know how to make a girl blush! There were lots of questions about things on the gallery wall so I thought I would tackle those today.

Here are the specifics on what I included and why.

1. Keep it personal. This is a 'commissioned original'. I wanted something vertical so I asked my uber talented graphic designer bestie to take some lyrics and make them pretty. This is from a song, I Will, by a little band called The Beatles. I sing this each night to the girls (Eve sings along). They are the only ones allowed to hear me sing unless cocktails are involved.

2. Add something with dimension. A craft I did with the girls for Valentine's Day. It is their handy work and they are very proud of it.

3. Humor is important. Let me introduce you to Herb. 'Herbie' to his friends. The hubs got the ceramic dear head for Christmas and as soon as he opened it the girls were smitten. It was Amelia's idea to put Herbie in their room and the hubs was gracious enough to share him. Right now he wears some forsythia for this season I hear we are supposed to get someday called 'spring', but Amelia is on the hunt for the perfect antlers (aka branches) that we can make glittery. Because when you think of a mounted deer head, you think of glitter. At least I do.

4. Art is in the eye of the beholder. An unsolicited piece by Amelia herself. She came into the kitchen one day over the moon to show this off. My favorite is a toss up between the swing on the tree and the paver walk. The girl is a genius obviously.

5. Include something that includes all the colors of your scheme. One of my favorite watercolors from MaiAutumn.

6. More pretty watercolors my parent's gave Eve for her 1st birthday. And yes, the one on the right is in there sideways.

7. You need an 'awww' factor. I keep several pieces of clothes from the early baby days (no matter what my mom might tell you about my sentimentality) and this is one of the few items that both of them wore. This is the hat that both girls had on when they came home from the hospital. How I wish I had better handwriting.

And good gracious, have you ever tried to take a picture of something behind glass?! It isn't pretty, and neither are the pictures.

8. History. The girls' birth announcements. Memories.

9. Add a bit of life. Mean I know as they are no longer alive, but the girls love butterflies. And the yellow ties into the colors of the room. Any random group of things can become cohesive thru color.

10. Break the routine. A vintage oval gold frame from my stash. Something nice and round...or oval, helps to break up all the squares and straight lines.

11. Words to live by. Kate Spade has spoken. Amen Kate.

12. Lessons Learned. I believe I wrote this in sixth grade. There is also an accompanying illustration that severely dates me. Let's just say Benetton was one of the stores featured. They did have great rugbys. I'll keep that little drawing for myself.

13. B. Baumgartner. No expanding on that really.

And yes, I used my tried and true template hanging method and it worked like a charm. Take that plaster.

So that is how I go about picking what little nuggets make it up on the wall. How do you pick what goes on your wall?

March 20, 2013

one room challenge - the reveal

The big day has finally arrived - reveal day! Six weeks, 20 bloggers and one room later, my girls' have a new bedroom and I have a new manicure coming my way (catch up on weeks 1-6 of work on the ORC here).

So in the words of Jennifer Grey in Ferris Bueller, 'let's not ruin this with a lot of talk.' Let's get right to the good stuff.

If you follow me on instagram, then you've been getting little sneak peeks for the past few days. Here is where we started.

And six weeks later, here is where we are today.

Learn more about the silhouettes here.

Learn more about the heart artwork here.

Watercolor by Mai Autumn.

Learn more about the vanity here.

Learn more about the dresser here.

And with that I am spent. Happy but spent.

I want to thank all of you for following along and for your encouraging comments and support. I accept this Oscar on behalf of all the....oh wait, that's a different speech.

If you are new, please come back often as this project has actually triggered several others through out the house (I'm sick, I know). And for you regulars, big hugs and kisses to you.

And a big thanks to my friend Linda for including me. My first two cocktails tonight will be in your honor my dear.

Make sure to check out my fellow ORC ladies to see their beautiful spaces as well. It's like Christmas morning I tell ya.

Now about that cocktail...

Hodge Podge

Kim Macumber Interiors

the Peak of Tres Chic

the Pink Pagoda

Powell Brower Home

Simple Details

Sharing on

Emily Clark's Kid's Spaces Link Up

March 13, 2013

one room challenge - week 6

We have arrived at week 6 of the One Room Challenge (see week 1 - 5 here) and I'm ready to put everything together. Mostly. I've only got a few things left to do and then there is that whole putting the room together thing. I'll be busy this weekend. That's for sure.

But enough about what I still have to do, let's see what I got done. I warn you it's not much, but maybe if I talk about it in a really up beat way, it will seem like a bigger deal. Smoke and mirrors people.

The dresser is finally finished and he's been moved in to the room. He was a lesson in patience and has earned his own post. Soon enough dresser. You will get your day.

I also finished the silhouettes to go above the girls' beds which was refreshingly easy. (that passive agressive comment is for you dresser) The hardest part was trying to get Eve to sit still long enough to take the picture. (bribery and a doughnut works wonders)

To get as high contrast in the pictures I set the girls in front of a window and snapped away. Take a look at those yummy cheeks.

I printed them off in black and white, which again helps with the contrast, and then cut my child's sweet little head. Thanks to the contrast, it is very easy to follow the lines.

Then I centered the black and white silhouette on top of the colored paper (pink for Eve and yellow for Amelia) and traced the black and white silhouette with my x-acto knife, leaving me with a simple and colorful silhouette. But when I pulled the finished silhouette away from the paper, I decided I liked the silhouette void even better than the silhouette itself. It acts like a mat and gives the silhouette a bit more presence. Voila. Happy silhouettes. (I'm going to call Guinness as soon as I'm done writing this post to see if I've broken the world record for number of times using 'silhouette' in a single paragraph. Fingers crossed)

And finally, I picked up the cherry on top of two very happy beds.

Now to put it all together. I've only got three items left on the list and #5 has me stumped. Should I go with grosgrain, pom poms or some awesome new trim I don't even know about? What say you?

~~Come up with functional floor plan~~
~~Paint walls/ceiling/trim~~
~~Paint dresser (new hardware too)~~
~~Update vanity (maybe some fun color or hardware)~~
Find curtains and add trim
~~Add a rug and new bedding~~
Hang art and create some personalized pieces PROGRESS
~~Find/Install new light fixture (buh bye ceiling fan)~~
~~Reupholster chair and possibly add comfy floor cushions~~
Find/Make lampshade(s)

I don't know about you, but I'm excited to see how this will turn out. Let's check and see if anyone else will be doing some last minute cramming.

Hodge Podge

Kim Macumber Interiors

the Peak of Tres Chic

the Pink Pagoda

Powell Brower Home

Simple Details

March 6, 2013

one room challenge - week 5

Week 5 of the One Room Challenge and we are in the home stretch people! (catch up on weeks 1 - 4 here). It is a good thing too, because I don't think the rest of my house can take much more of this. Isn't it crazy how work in one room makes all the rooms around it into chaos?

This week I finished the vanity for the girls' room. My mom bought them this sweet little make-up table a while back and they looove to use it for their morning primp sessions. (Sorry but this bad blogger forgot to take a proper before picture so this is as close as it gets.)

It had already been painted when we got it but it was just a sugar coat and there were several nicks and dents that needed to be fixed. So I filled in the holes with wood filler, sanded it down and took it outside to spray paint. Luckily this step was done before the weather turned on me.

Sorry Richard Branson, but you were on top of the recycling pile. Love that BeeGee hair thing you got goin though.

Once it was painted white I got out my navy craft paint and the smallest brush I could steal from the girls' art supplies and decided to paint a little trim around the doors and drawer.

I cut a piece of paper to size, measured out the size and length of the border I wanted and then cut it out with my trusty x-acto knife. A little lesson learned - don't cut out the entire border or you will essentially just cut a big square out of the paper. Then you'll have to re-measure and re-cut your template. And you'll get frustrated and cuss under your breath like an old man and forget to take progress pictures of the whole thing.

Do yourself a favor and cut out everything except the corners, thus leaving your center in tact. You'll have to free-hand your corners when you paint, but it's better than free-handing the whole thing. If that makes sense.

The template worked fairly well. I did have to go back and touch up in some spots, and the lines aren't razor perfect, but then again, neither am I. And thanks Linda for convincing me to trim out the mirror as well. Smashing.

I picked up the gold hammered knobs, or the 'sparkly knobs' as they are known to the 5-year-old set, at Hobby Lobby for the ubiquitous 50% off.

And as a final touch I painted out the inside using the left over ceiling paint.

It would be bad if I decided to keep this for myself right? Luckily for the girls its a tad small for me, so it is all theirs.

In other news, this is happening.

I wanted to be able to show you the finished piece but it is STILL not dry and instead spread out all over my living room floor. But it is looking good and hardware is in route. Next week my friends.

Makes me happy to see a list with so many lines thru it.

~~Come up with functional floor plan~~
~~Paint walls/ceiling/trim~~
Paint dresser (new hardware too) Progress
~~Update vanity (maybe some fun color or hardware)~~
Find curtains and add trim
Add a rug and new bedding Progress
Hang art and create some personalized pieces Progress
~~Find/Install new light fixture (buh bye ceiling fan)~~
~~Reupholster chair and possibly add comfy floor cushions~~
Find/Make lampshade(s)

Let's take a look at what the others have up their sleeves.

Hodge Podge

Kim Macumber Interiors

the Peak of Tres Chic

the Pink Pagoda

Powell Brower Home

Simple Details

February 27, 2013

one room challenge - week 4

We have arrived at week 4 of the One Room Challenge (you can catch up on weeks 1 - 3 here) and this week has been all about fumes. Paint, floor wax and stripping chemicals. Ahh the smell of progress.

Thanks to a well timed play date and some quality grandparent time, the hubs and I took advantage of an empty house and got painting.

Btw, I shared my progress on Instagram, and am now officially addicted. I know I'm late to the party but that sucker is just fun.

Now for those of you who are new, I'm a color girl. I need it the same way I need anything that Andy Cohen will put on TV. So I went with quite a radical choice for the walls. White.

I can hear the sarcasm in your voice, 'White?! That is soo daring.' Well, for me it is. This is only the second time...ever that I've painted a room white. (the kitchen being the other instance)

But you may have noticed from my board, that there is also another paint color listed. I can't go without color somewhere on the walls, so I went for the fifth wall - the ceiling. I took a cue from all of my Pinterest ceiling inspiration and gave the girls what they wanted. Pink.

Not bubblegum pink, or baby pink. We are going for Big Girl Pink.

My 5-year-old Amelia picked out this fabric (she's good, I know) and I used that pink/purple color as our Big Girl inspiration.

I matched up a swatch (BM Springtime Bloom) and slapped that sucker up on the wall.

I knew as soon as I started trimming out the ceiling that I loved it.

These girls' are not wallflowers and neither is their room. It is a really great color that looks different thru out the day. It is a great contrast against the white and it makes the room feel bigger. Win win.

Beautiful ceiling and walls, now on to the floor. I took advantage of the emptyness to get on my hands and knees and clean the crap out of that floor. Soap and hot water, elbow grease and then a coat of wax. I'll do another coat of wax and then buff it. (my mom is very proud at this moment)

The crib was then taken down (sad) and Eve's 'new' bed was brought up from the basement. The girls' have the same beds that were used by my sister and I, which I love. With both beds in the room, we were able to move things around and I've nailed down where all the little puzzle pieces will fit. Sweet progress.

The paint fumes must have made us giddy because we also went ahead and put up the new light fixture. And in my final burst of weekend energy I took those drawers out of the dresser and started to strip. The drawers. I stripped the drawers.

As of this morning all the drawers are stripped and the base is half way there. More on that next week.

With all of that, I'm pooped. Let's check in on the list, shall we?