Shared Girls Bedroom Transformation: Before and After

When we moved into this house, I was ten days away from delivering baby number five, so unpacking boxes was a priority...decorating? not so much.

The girls (who were 3 and 6 when we moved in) were happy with their new shared room. It was much bigger  than their previous one, with vaulted ceilings, large closets and lots of natural light. But it lacked style and it definitely lacked organization.  This spring I took on two "re-decorating" projects in the house..both shared spaces: The girls bedroom (ages 5 and 8) and our twin boys' room (ages 11). Here's how the girl's room transformation turned out.

Oh...please don't forget...I'm a speech language pathologist, NOT a decorator. We do the best we can with the skills we have, right ;-)

BEFORE: (sorry there's only one before pic--I've learned since to take lots more photos...you never know when something will turn into a blog post, right?):

Here were the problems with "before"

1. Paint color made room seem dark
2. No storage space for girls stuff; mainly stuffed animals, books and bags. Items kept ending up in floor. Girls kept sticking all their pics and treasures into the wall with push pins to "decorate'.
3. No cohesive "theme"
4. Lots of quarreling due to one child being very neat and the other, well...not so much.

And, the girls (now ages 8 and 5) had a few "wishes" for the new room:

1. green walls
2. Fairy garden style (they didn't want "Tinkerbell" per say, they wanted it to look like a place that fairies would like to be...English garden-esque
3. A reading nook (very important to my 8 year old)
4. The 5 year old wanted pink in the room; the 8 year old wanted it to look like a big girl room.

And Mr. Darcy and my wish list also included:

1. A theme and color scheme that could make both girls happy AND be timeless
2. Pieces that the girls could not, would not outgrow so that we would get alot of bang for our remodeling buck.
3. Organized
4. Inviting

And are you ready to see the AFTER?

a fairy garden style room for two...with lots of floral touches, built in organizational features, and a reading nook :-)

Organization included a corner cabinet (upcycled, free and repainted white to match), a post rail  hung below the window to hang bags and purses at child-level, a hanging bookcase, pinboards behind the beds (instead of headboards) where the girls could pin their "treasures" and photos to their hearts content WITHOUT putting holes in the walls, and a dry erase calendar above the dresser to help keep them organized.

**For a shared room space is important. Headboards and foot boards take up alot of the floor space. By using wall mounted pinboards instead of headboards, we saved valuable room space, and the room still looks "finished". 

Little touches included a great print I picked up at our local Halmark store, pink curtain, and using the flower wreaths from the last two years of Renaissance faire visits as decoration on the curtain rod. Two wreaths of flowers hang on each side with ribbons trailing down, framing the window in that "English garden" style the girls craved. Floral bedding and a new lamp (complete with shade covered in dried peonies) completes the garden theme.

Another change? removing the two mirrored closet doors and replacing them with soft pink curtains that match the window curtain. The girls love them. They soften the room, make a great space for the girls to "hide" and give Charlotte the "pink" in the room that she craved without making her "not a fan of pink" sister TOO crazy.   

Functionally and financially, the girls new room re-do worked on many levels... 

1. Unlike Disney characters or popular commercial themes, theirs is a theme they will not soon outgrow. The new bedding, purchased via a clearance sale at Pottery Barn Teen, works for a 6 year old or a 16 year old.
2. Each piece refurnished (corner cabinet) or purchased (hanging bookcase, creme colored bean bag) can go into different themes, color schemes, or even be used in different rooms if we so choose, easily,for years to come. 
3. The organization pieces (bookcase, corner shelf cabinet, and pegboard rail) have been worth every penny. The girls and I use to have to pick up their room daily or be buried in clutter, books and stuffed animals. Now picking up is something they can do themselves, once a week, and the room stays looking nice in between.
4. Curtains--5 total-- one for the window and 2 for each closet were purchased at Target.
5. (and this is the most important one) The girls loved it!

I hope you enjoyed seeing how we transformed the girls room this spring. I will share the boys room remodel photos with you soon! Do you have a project at your house you are currently working on? Tell me about it :-)

This post is linked up this week with:

Metamorposis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

No Ordinary Bloghop

Time to Shine Party at A Diamond in the Stuff

Inspire me Monday at Create with Joy

Welcome Home at Raising Arrows

Works for Me Wednesday at We are That Family

Homemaking Link Up Wednesday at Raising Homemakers

Thursday link up at These Peas Tastes Funny

and:

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