The credit for this girl’s room makeover really goes to my 8-year-old daughter. I let her make the bulk of the decisions for her new room after she decided pink was no longer a suitable color for her bedroom. That seemed fair since we painted it that color back in her diaper wearing days.

Then again, I had the same bedroom for ten years growing up and it changed paint colors exactly once. Worst of all, I didn’t have any say in the color, although I lucked out with peach, my older sister on the other hand ended up with split pea soup green. Gross.

We started looking for inspiration in catalogs and on Pinterest, and Ella was pretty sure she wanted a blue room, but gray and sea foam green were also on her list. After rifling through some Pottery Barn catalogs we decided on Sherwin Williams paint, and after a visit to the store to see the top choices, she ended up choosing Meander Blue, a beautiful light bluish aqua color.

Next, we had to replace all of the dark stained furniture from her nursery days. We went with a dresser from IKEA in a white stain finish {the one we chose is real wood stained white, but there is another version in white veneer.} I purchased new Martha Stewart knobs from Home Depot to spruce it up a bit. We kept her iron IKEA bed {similar here} and purchased a new purple floral bedspread from a Pottery Barn outlet.

We also got two shelving units from IKEA for all of her books, collectibles and treasures {ie junk.} We also purchased baskets to hide all of the Barbie’s and their many accessories.

We found a vintage desk on a local selling site, which was painted pink, so we changed it with Annie Sloan chalk paint in Paloma, a nice light purple.  We chose to keep the vintage handles on the desk, which looks like it was originally a makeup vanity. The desk chair was also purchased from IKEA.

The rocking chair came from Poly + Bark.  We chose to keep her Ivory silk curtains {similar here} because she had a budget to stick to and while they aren’t her favorite, she chose to update other things instead.

Part of our inspiration for the new room was an oil painting of a bunny we got a while ago at Home Goods, so we knew we wanted to have more animal artwork. Ella loves the Sharon Montrose Animal Print Shop prints, and she chose the Baby Zebu. This turned into a research project as we had never heard of a zebu, and wanted to know all about it. In case you’re wondering, a zebu is a sub-species of domestic cattle found in South Asia.

I framed a picture of our cat Violet, taken when she was a kitten and liked to sleep in a glass bowl we have in our living room. Rounding out the wall art is a painting Ella painted at a friends birthday party, a banner she made from the Happy Heart Kid Grit Kit, a bulletin board full of treasures, and two cross stiches she asked Nana to make for her.

She really loves her new room and I do, too! While the desk was purchased to do homework at, it has become a catchall for junk. I sometimes worry I’ve got a future hoarder on my hands. You may notice many pop culture references in Ella’s room as she loves a lot of it as much as me. Especially Star Wars. Parenting win for mom.

Resources:

Paint – Sherwin Williams Meander Blue

Dresser – IKEA Koppang 3-drawer chest

Dresser Knobs – Martha Stewart Living Bedford Brass Button Knobs

Book cases – IKEA Kallax Shelving Unit

Baskets – IKEA Knipsa Baskets

Desk Paint – Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paloma

Desk Chair – IKEA Idolf chair

Rocking Chair – Eames Style RAR Rocking Chair

The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose