Chaselyn's Big Girl Room

One of the reasons I've been absent from blogging for a while is this very special project we've been working on. It took us a week and a half to find time during naps, after class, and after the kids had gone to sleep to finish all the painting. And I'm happy to report that we've both found a pretty good technique for doing the edging on the walls or "cutting in" as my painter friend tells me. After the walls came the bedding, which I had picked out about the same time I picked out Jacob's crib bedding. Then came the tough part putting everything together and hoping that whatever we did lived up to this vision I had in my head. Which decorations work in the room? Where do they go? What furniture do we want in the room? What needs to be done to get that ready? And what about that huge arched window? What in the world do we do with that?

As many of you know, I'm very indecisive. For things that matter, I can lay down the law, but for decorating, picking something to eat, and deciding what to wear, I'm the worst. So the decorating took longer than it really should have. And finally on Monday night I decided that things just had to start going up. If I didn't like it I could change it. And so, by bedtime last night I had finished it. And today I staged the room for a photo shoot complete with my adorable models.

Welcome!

 The happy tenant.

 The letters are just transported from her baby room. I actually used a piece of wax paper to trace the nail holes off the wall in the old room to use as a guide to put them up here. I plan on repainting the H and the S. The white bench is a toy box. My brothers and I and eventually Rachel too shared this box when we were growing up. It was just plain brown wood then. My mom had painted it for my sister's room in the new house when they moved. I plan on making a more permanent cushion, but for now, the blanket is working fine.

 

 The little flower purse holder came from Hobby Lobby and the cute polka dot night light came from Ducky.

 

The window was kind of an issue. Thankfully I have a crafty mother-in-law who was able to make a fantastic arch covering out of an extra sheet from the bedding, some blackout material and pvc pipe. She also supplied the colorful polka dot accents seen here and throughout the room.

 

 Below the window we set up the little people village. Fun for kids of all ages.

Past the window, we get to the rooms purpose, the bed. Notice the big girl bed! Chaselyn has done great with the transition. Notice the bedding. It's like big fireworks of all different colors. The C above the bed was painted by our cousin Leslie. The blue rug is not permanent, it's a carry over, but since the walls are blue, I'm hoping to get another color. Notice the cute little book rack at the end of the bed.

 

That little bookshelf opens up into her own little reading nook.

 

  One of my favorite parts of the room. Her little rocking chair, the books, her CD player, it just makes me smile. For now, I put her robe on one of the hooks, but in the future, there will be little book bags.

 But it's already so much fun.

 Going around the room there's the closet. With a little nook up above. Eventually I think this nook will probably house some of her stuffed animals

 And rounding out the room, we have the infamous cubies. We have two sets of these in our house and we love them. We love that you can use the colorful bins or just display your toys.

And there you have it. The happiest place in the home. Where everything is put away and everything has it's place. The whole family spent the evening playing in here tonight, just loving the open floor space and the happiness of it all. Jacob had plenty of room to crawl around and Daddy had plenty of room to wrestle with his little ones. That is he was able to wrestle after he was done playing with the dolls.

 

Is there anything more endearing than seeing the love of a father playing dolls with his little girl?