Noodle’s Big Girl Room Makeover! #GliddenTesters

First of all, I’m in awe at how a little paint, a few hours of time, and some accessories can totally transform a room.  In less than a week and for under $175 this room turned from a nursery with some tough memories to a fresh and BOLD new start!

Let’s take a step back in time.  Here’s what the room looked before we moved in, with the previous owner’s furniture (and partially mirrored bookcase).  ::shudder::

Then it became a craft/storage room.

When I became pregnant, it turned into a  bird-themed nursery for Noodle.

And now, just 6 years after moving in to this home, it’s undergone it’s fourth transition.  I still have quite a few touches to add (read all the way through to see what’s in store), but “phase one” is now complete.  Introducing… drum roll please… Noodle’s Big Girl Room!

I have to be honest, in the beginning I thought I was pulling for True Turquoise.  But a whopping 59 people voted on what color to paint this room, and 30 of you chose Misty Aqua.  {I love you if you voted, no matter which color you picked}!

As much as I liked it, the Misty Aqua looked quite minty when I first put it on the wall.  Tentatively I cut in around the trim and windows with the color.  Taking a deep breath and assuring myself it would look fine, I grabbed the roller and covered huge chunks of wall space in the aqua.  I rolled and rolled and rolled, finally stepping back to see what I thought.

Ya’ll, I fell in LOVE.

Once the color dried it settled into a beautiful shade of almost-Tiffany box blue.  The painting went quickly since Glidden has primer in the paint, and so after two coats I was D-O-N-E.

Then I started stressing about the stripe on the wall.  It felt like an episode on HGTV, I was pulling out swatches and muttering things like, “I could go with something in the same color family, like the True Turquoise.  Possibly a contrasting shade like fuschia or melon.  There’s also a complimentary shade next to blue on the color wheel like green.  Or, a classic white.  Like the satin bow on a Tiffany box.”

This one kept me up at night.  {yes, I’m a nutcase}.

Thankfully it dawned on me that it’s just paint.  If I didn’t like it, it would take $12 and two hours to fix.  With that in mind, I decided on Apricot Nectar from Glidden (at Walmart).  Bold?  Yes!  I’m moving out of my neutral zone, and went bold.  Hey, if I don’t like it, it’s just paint.

I also realized the color of the stripe would look great on the back of the bookcase.  I still have some painting to do in order to clean up the white trim on the bookcase and everywhere else in the room, but for now, I’m basking in the {aqua and melon} glow of this room.

First up is her dresser.  Now that she’s potty trained (WOOT!) we took off the changing pad and it’s finally a true dresser.

I snagged this lantern/bird cage thing a few months ago.  It’s HUGE, and was in the clearance aisle, and I had to have it!  Just need to hang it somewhere in here.  Soon.  The modern lamp (in the above photos, it’s not in the one below) has been living the past few years in the guest room.  We have lighting issues in this room, so I moved it in here and it works great.  Plus it’s practically unbreakable.  BONUS.

This frame-turned-bow hanger (I guest posted the tutorial here) is finally out of the kick-zone now that the changing pad is gone.

I found these great melamine plates at Acme for under $2 each, and one sits here to hold miscellaneous {girlie} things.  The others will get hung on her wall when I start that project.

I rehung the lanterns from her previous room, they matched the blue!  They’re a good placeholder until I get a white frame gallery going on this wall.  Note to my friend C.V.- won’t they make great hot air balloons if I can find little baskets to hang below?

Moving on to the other side, we have to address the elephant in the room: the BED.  I call it “the elephant” because it’s HUGE!

For the bedding, I found this great duvet cover for $79 (aren’t duvet covers amazing, what an inexpensive way to change the entire look of a room}.  The bike pillow shams are totally inappropriate because below the bikes they say “Free Ride.”  But I loved them, so decided I’ll cover up the double entendre with a fringe of ribbon across the words.

The bed’s pretty tall, since I miscalculated how high the mattress would be.  A step stool makes it easier to get up there, and *if* she starts sleeping in here (oh please!) we’ll move her bed rail in too.

Can you believe the bunting on the wall was FREE?  I won them in a giveaway on Natalie’s Sentiments.  Once the frames go up (see below) I’ll move them to another part of the room.

Here’s her very own reading nook.

These turquoise trellis pillows (they are reversible, the other side has a larger pattern) were a perfect fit.  I bought them two months ago, that’s how long I’ve been coveting this color!  For $7 each, they cozy up this reading corner.

Next, the bookcase.

The “ABBY” letters needed to stay, I worked so hard on them and Abby (ooops, Noodle) loves to spell out her name while pointing to them.  So I simply added nails onto the bookcase instead of the wall, very easy to do!

This framed photo sits on a shelf between two vintage bookends.  Can you believe my little sweetie used to wear a tube taped to her face?  And yet, see how much she loves life?  Such a strong little girl.

Check out this sagging shelf.  We sure do love books around here!

Here’s a librarian tip: use rubber shelf liner (picked up at the Dollar Store) to keep books from slipping.

These sweet birdies in a nest were hand-knit by friends and given to me at my baby shower.  Those same birdies held up her tubes in the NICU, and now they watch out for her from this shelf when she’s not playing “mama bird, baby bird” with them.  I love that game.

The back of her door holds stuffed animals, shoes, and other “essentials”.

Proof of my messy painting.  The poor bear’s nose got marked when I opened the door onto wet paint!

The room has come so far, but I’m not yet done.  I have 25+ thrift store frames, prepped and ready for the temperature (and humidity, whew) to drop to proper spray painting weather to turn a nice coat of white.  I’m planning on hanging them above the stripe, in a child-proofed gallery like on House of Smiths:

For the stripe, I might try to write some of the words from Oh, The Places You’ll Go across it.  There’s a lot of great lines in that book, so if it doesn’t look too cluttered I’m going for it.

The window will soon have new curtains.  I’m pumped about this one, I’ve been eyeing the fabric at Ikea for months just waiting for a chance to use it– with a twist.   You know me enough by now I can’t just use the fabric as is, right?

There’s also an end table that didn’t make it into the photos.  At the very least I’m going to add new knobs, at the most either repaint it or find a “new to me” one at a thrift store.

Here’s my to-do list:

• paint frames
• hang frames
• write words in stripe?
• paint nightstand and add new knobs
• sew curtains
• sew bedskirt?
• refurbish old toy chest and add padding/fabric to double as seating

Yeah, I should be done with it by Wednesday.  HA!  {anyone want to lend me a babysitter?}  No, this will be a “work at my own pace” project.  It’ll be done when it’s done.

I’m thrilled Noodle has a new room coming in at under budget at just $160 for everything– including paint and bedding.  Now, if I could just get her to sleep in it.  That would be GOLDEN.

As for her reaction when she saw it, in a classic “Trading Spaces” type moment:

She was thrilled.  Gosh I love that girl!

When she first turned the corner to see the reading area she said, “Mama, this looks like a classroom!” and started reading.  I asked if that was a good thing and she said, “YES!”

Then she climbed up on the bed and began to point out all the things she saw.

Next thing I knew, she was surrounded by stuffed animals.  I think the room has her seal of approval.