a minor major undertaking

the deets on scarlett's bedroom makeover.

 in august, we will have lived in this house for 2 years. in that time i've made a ton of house plans, but pulled the trigger on very few. i had been thinking of doing a simple redo for scarlett's room(not that she even sleeps in it) for quite and while and i decided to give it a go.  i did some research and found some inspiration that convinced me that it wouldn't be a major undertaking. i try to avoid major undertakings. i often read the blog, little green notebook and i found this blog post of a darling girls room. the cost of the redo was only $250 to do the whole room and i must have just consumed a whole bunch of milk chocolate chips because i thought i could do it too. 

BEFORE:

blah with a healthy serving of blah.

i asked scarlett in a round about way in order to keep it all secrety what color she wanted but i really didn't need to because of course she said pink. i tried not to gag since i do not prefer pink, but what can i do? i like scarlett so we went with pink. however, scarlett's input stopped there. i wanted to make sure this would be a room she could grow with and not some room she would be embarrassed by in a few years.because i'm not redoing this room every few years. 

i happened up this bedspread at anthropologie and i almost died when i saw it. i think it's what i would look like if i were a bohemian print blanket. love it. however, i didn't love the almost $200 price tag so i decided to go with a solid white bedspread from overstock.com and i would make pillows from fabric i ordered from fabric.com that mimicked the style and print of the bedspread. 

white bedspread from overstock.com- $60

pillow fabric from fabric.com- $40

fabric covered headboard- $60

i found a lady on craigslist who makes fabric covered headboards in any style you like and with any fabric you like and so i jumped all over that like jaws on a pack of swimming kindergartners. since the all the walls were going to be pink, i tried to pick colors to coordinate with that would be feminine but un-pepto bismol at the same time. 

lamp- already had

cork board- already had, just recovered it with new fabric

lamp shade- old time pottery $9

unfortunately, i ran out of time to actually finish the pillows before her big birthday reveal, so they are sitting on her bed like this:

chock full of pins until i can sit down and finish hand sewing.

curtains were actually sort of hard to find. i just wanted plain while curtains that would be heavy enough to block light but not look like unshapely sleeping bags hanging from the curtain rod like most light blocking curtains resemble. i found these at target and they do the job. eventually i'll have thomas hang some inexpensive plantation blinds in here like we have in the other 2 kid's rooms.

ikea expedit shelf- already had
dresser- already had
curtains- $22 a panel
curtain rod- spray painted old rod
floral artwork- scarlett made at school and i had it matted and frame for cheap cheap at hobby lobby with salvaged frame i spray painted
antique baby cradle- i found this on craigslist for $20. i can't believe what i a deal i got on this. i saw this and i knew this is the kind of thing i wanted scarlett to have. it's more than 50 years old and it has the original painting of a frolicking lamb on it. i just bought a length of foam for $3 at joann and recovered it with some of my new fabric to make a new cushion for it.

this chair may be the thing i was the most excited about. after reading the post on little green notebook, i was determined to find a fancy style chair for scarlett's room. i really loved the wicker chair they had and when my sister was visiting a few months ago, we were driving down the road and i saw this sitting in front of a second hand furniture store. i crossed several lanes of traffic in an unsafe manner and i ran in the shop like a crazy person, desperate to get it. i was worried that i was already too in love with it and that i would pay more than i wanted to but when the proprietor said it was $20 i almost hurled my money at her because i couldn't get it in my possession fast enough. it just need a bit of the wicker glued down again and i gave it a fresh coat of spray paint. easy peasy lemon squeezy.

this desk came from a second furniture store that refinishes old furniture and resells at incredible prices. i loved the style of this desk but i didn't love the color. finally, the store dropped the price enough that it was such a deal that i color didn't bother me anymore. actually, with the pink walls and pink mirror, now i really like it . it was originally $150 and i got it for $100. it's a really sturdy, high quality desk that they sanded down and painted and varnished. i'll definitely be heading back to the shop often to see what else they have.

the white desk chair was $10 and it came from goodwill. i sanded it and painted it and recovered the seat cushion with new foam and fabric. i frequent goodwill every thursday while reagan is at one of his therapies. i kept seeing this poor, sad chair and it looked rough. i felt bad for it. but it was such a cute design and size that i went back and took it home with me. after much sanding, the wood was still in such rough condition that my only option was to make it shabby chic(which isn't my favorite style) but with the more modern fabric, it really works for me. unfortunately, it's still a little too big to fit under the desk well so i am still on the lookout for a stool to slide under the desk. i have several other places in the house i can put this chair. i'm just proud of it.

the mirror is also from goodwill. i think it cost around $8. the frame and the glass were covered in black spray paint. 20 minutes and a bottle of nail polish remover and it was good to go. 

i'm glad i did it and it was a confidence booster. i normally shy away from anything crafty, but this was fun. and i'm glad that my thrifty shopping skills came in handy.