I had a great plan for my weekend. I was going to work hard in Sophie’s room all day on Saturday and after church on Sunday and be greatly impressed with my progress. Unfortunately, I was assaulted with a lovely stomach virus part of the way through Saturday and got seriously derailed. I spent Saturday night and Sunday morning running from the bed to the bathroom, the rest of Sunday asleep and today being so weak from not eating for 48 hours that I basically laid on the couch all day.
The good news is, that I got a lot of shopping done on Friday afternoon, a good bit of cleaning done in her room on Saturday morning (thank you to SD and my parents for moving furniture for me!) and I felt well enough this afternoon to finish getting things out of the room that didn’t belong.
Most of the pieces have been purchased, ordered or picked out and the rest I at least have on paper. Garan is going to help me do some things this weekend and we’re shopping for fabrics on Sunday. Now that I have a plan, I feel much more in control. I thought an update post was in order to show you some before pictures and tell you about the things I’ve picked out. Ready?
This is the wall you see when you walk into Sophie’s room (formerly our craft room). The fireplace doesn’t work, but I love the character that it adds to the space. We (Poppy, of course) will be adding custom bookcases on either side of the fireplace. Instead of being on the back wall only (like in our master bedroom), they will be L-shaped and wrap around onto the flanking walls. I plan to paint them out the same color as the fireplace and trim and have some nice fluting and rosettes to finish them off. Since we have very little storage available in her room, we needed lots of shelves for baskets, books & toys.
Ella’s art above the fireplace isn’t staying, but the chair on the right is! I thought seriously about using Ella’s upholstered chair, but the colors weren’t quite right. I couldn’t find a ready-made slipcover that fit well enough and SD said buying a custom slipcover or new chair was out of the budget and out of the question! Instead, Garan & I are making custom cushions for the chair and it does rock gently. K has offered a wire ottoman that we’ll be slip-covering to match. I’m excited about how funky and vintage it will look! I’m also keeping the floor lamp, but changing out the lanterns for pastel colors – maybe pink, green and yellow (any ideas on where to find?).
You can also catch a glimpse of the baby bed and bumper pads on the left of the fireplace. We’re waiting to put it together until after the bookcases are installed, but I’m ready for that part. I think having a bed in the room will make it real. I cried today just moving the pieces into the room! The plastic tubs are full of things we’ve purchase for the room as well as toys and books that Ella has outgrown.
As for the windows, the curtain rods will be going, but the sheers will be hemmed to touch the bookcases and possible embellished with some fun trim. Garan is making valances for these windows that will resemble awnings and stand away from the walls. I’m hoping to use the same fabric for the chair cushions, dust ruffle and valances and I’d like the valances to have a scalloped edge with fun ball fringe.
The photo above shows the view if you turn to the left. The door in the center of the wall leads directly into Ella’s room. The wall to the right of the door is where the bookcases will wrap around from the previous wall and you can make out the dresser there on the left. I’m not sure that I’ll do much of anything on the these two walls – the right one will have bookcases on the bottom and will often be obscured by the door from Ella’s room. I might hang that green window cork board here just for mementos. The wall on the left might house a few shelves for changing supplies, but I’m currently undecided. I think I’ll wait until we get the rest of the furniture in the room to make a decision.
Here is the view if you turn to the left again. The door on the left is where we came from (dining room). The dresser was a steal for $50 at a consignment shop about 18 months ago. You’ll remember I refinished it for the craft room then. It is wooden and very sturdy and the drawers are lined with laminate, making it easy to clean! I’ve taken the pulls of and will be touching up the paint before adding our cute mix and match drawer pulls. I found knock off pulls at Hobby Lobby for less than half of the Anthropologie prices. YEAH! The dresser will house our changing pad and a cute new lamp that I’ll be picking up from Homegoods tomorrow. I’m taking the shelf down and hanging empty frames on the wall along with a few family photographs and a silhouette of Sophie once she’s big enough to sit still!
Finally, this is the wall to the right when you walk in the door. You can see where the bookcases will be L-shaped in the left of this picture. You can also get a better idea of what the chair and lamp look like. The chair was a part of a patio set that I picked up at a local antique mall – it was $50 for 4 pieces, so technically this chair was $12.50! The giraffe door leads to our only bathroom, but we’re hoping to add a second before Sophie’s arrival making this the girls’ bathroom and next on the list for redecoration. The door on the right is currently our linen closet, but it too will be getting a makeover for girly dresses and baskets full of clothes. I love the giraffe growth chart from my own childhood room, but I’ll be moving it to another door in the house since the colors aren’t quite right. I can’t wait to take pictures of both of our girls as they grow!!
The walls and trim will remain as is, with the exception of a few touch ups. We are adding crown molding to the room to finish off the ceiling. The rug that you can see in the photos was newly purchased for Sophie’s room. I actually ordered three 4×6 cotton rugs from PBK and I’m using the other one in Ella’s room. They are machine washable and reversible, so I think they are just the thing for a nursery. Not to mention, I can’t fork over $500+ for an 8×10 which is the minimum size appropriate for the room!
Wow, that was long and I didn’t even have much to show you! Hopefully this time next week, I’ll have much more to show for our efforts and I’ll do my best to update incrementally. The belly update will be posted tomorrow (thank you stomach virus) because I still look a little sickly today. I also plan to share the rest of our holiday photos this week and get back on track. One of my resolutions for the year is to be more organized and that includes the blog!
