My Favorite time of the day & recent Big Reveal!

So it's {8:00} and the kiddos are in bed.  THIS is my favorite time of the day.  I start it with a big sigh and quickly find a comfy place to sit.  Tonight's comfy place is the nice computer chair in front of "the big" computer (which is usually occupied by my husband doing homework).  I say big because it's a 27" Mac screen monitor.  When I sit at this computer I'm motivated to work on pictures.  So, I've decided to finally post my reveal of my first, full-on design project . . . {B}'s room!

My oldest daughter is 7 now and her newest adventure is loosing her front teeth.  Hopefully we'll survive tomorrow when I take her to the dentist and probably get a couple more ripped out . . . a job I will never do myself. *shudder*

So here are some before pictures and challenges I had before I started the room.

 First, the obvious.  The color came with the house.  We gave {B} the option to change it sine we were painting other rooms before we moved in, but she said she liked it, so pink it stayed.  It's like someone planted a pepto bismol bomb in the room and let 'er go!  Unfortunately, the bedding she had matched perfectly.  Another unfortunately is that the lamp was lined with pink inside, so it only projected more pink on the walls.

Piece of school education that led me to solving this hot pink mess:
Color Theory was a fun experience.  I found that mixing colors is harder than it looks.  I also learned about a study in red that experimented on prison mates and their exposure to the color red.  They put the prisoners in an all red cell to see how they would react.  Overtime, the prisoners became more aggressive.  Then my teacher asked what they found when they put the prisoners in a pink cell.

Anyone . . .

                                           anyone . . .

they had the same result.  That was the final straw.  I decided to design a room that wouldn't give my daughter any more excuse to become an "aggressive prisoner" because of her room.

So the problems are:
1. Hot pink paint color
2. Hot pink lamp
3. Damaged desk top
4. No shelves!

Solutions:

#1 I tried to tone it down at first adding purple.  I got the purple circles on the wall at JoAnn's and DIYed the dresser.  But still, like I said, it was a hot pink mess.

I also learned in color theory that green was associated with calmness and nature and decided then and there that {B}s room was going to be green.  Not just any green, a two toned horizontal pattern green.  You'll see in the pictures below.

#2.  Her desk in her room has travelled with us in at least two moves and has the wear to show it.  This IKEA desk was once a nice smooth top, but soon showed us it's "true colors" of particle board . . . not so pretty.

Solution:

CONTACT PAPER!

I got this paper from Home Depot for about $6 for the roll.  A little measuring, matching up, cutting and one Sesame Street episode later, this sucker was on there for good.  Now we're back to the nice smooth top with more of a decorative feature.

#3 The lamp from before came from Goodwill and was fun for . . . about a week.  Oh well, lighting for 8 bucks isn't bad.  Here's a fun little DIY I thought of when we were shopping for accessories together. We found this mobile at Hobby Lobby in the clearance section for $8 and I thought, "Well, I'm sure I can find a good use for this somewhere."  It wasn't until a week before I started painting till I thought of using it for a lamp shade.  All I needed was to find a good lamp base and a top to a drum shade or bars that would support the ring.  Thanks again Goodwill for my $12 find!  So this project totaled to $20.  Not bad for a 27" lamp :)

#4 I had a book shelf that we used before, but she always had it so cluttered so I bought some bins for those tiny things that made it so messy.  And now she has a floating shelf to store her favorite things that she doesn't want her little sister to touch.

Another side note:  I made the curtains and had fun doing it, but I think after my 2 weeks I spent sewing my own curtains for my whole house, I'm rethinking my career as a professional seamstress.  I better just stick to designing and let the professionals do their job.

So here is her room completed!  I kept one of the stripes from one wall and wrapped it around the whole room to make the space more cohesive.  Horizontal stripes also give a sense of stability and purpose, two attributes I hope {B} gains in life.

{B} loves her room and loves to show anyone who comes over what her "new" room looks like.  She does a very good job keeping it clean and doesn't complain so much when we send her to her room.

Thank you {B} for being such a good girl and letting me take over your room for a weekend!