A Precious Room for a Precious Girl

BEFORE...

You can't really tell from this photo, but this room was painted the exact color of a band-aid. Blech!

In fact, the whole house was painted this color when we bought it. It just sucked the life out of every room along with any shred of happiness you might have brought with you. My mother-in-law called it a "Dementor" color. I have been slowly eradicating it from my house. I have one more room to go before it's all gone!

AFTER!!!




Here is a close up of the painted dresser. I love how the hardware turned out painted white. I was going to "antique" the furniture but my neighbor and I agreed that it turned out so well painted creamy white that it would be a crime to change it.

The cording still isn't ready for the beds. My project apparently isn't the biggest priority. That's cool...I can be patient (sorta).

Hubby built this cornice board! Can you believe it? His grandfather was a carpenter, so it must be in the genes. I still haven't decided what to do about this window. I was thinking of doing a balloon valance with the leftover material from the headboards and I still might, but now I'm thinking some half shutters would be cute. The problem with this window is that when you look outside, you look down onto the roof of our screened-in porch. The shutters would hide that but still allow in the natural light. In this picture, the blinds are pulled up and hidden behind the cornice board.

Hubby also did the crown molding! I LOVE this man and his mad wood-working skillz.

Okay, here is the deal with the artwork. I have been looking and looking for ballerina pictures for Miss Priss's room for about a year now. I didn't want anything that looked like a poster and I didn't want anything that looked overly precious. Real watercolors are every expensive and I didn't want to make the investment in case next week Miss Priss decides she's into roller derby or something else. So I went into clipart, searched for the word "ballerina" and came up with these two images. I printed them out onto watercolor-quality paper and then painted them myself. If you can color, you can do this project. I bought the frames at Hobby Lobby (50% off), painted them to match the room and had the mattes cut to fit ($6 a piece). In all, I think I have about $20 invested in each picture.


This lamp is a testament to never throwing anything away. I bought it several years ago at a flea market and then never did anything with it. I liked the femininity of it, but didn't really care for the brass base. I painted it pink, bought a new shade and then hot glued the feathers around the edging. It looks so sweet in the room and to think, I almost took it to Goodwill in January, but changed my mind at the last minute.


Can you tell which one of these drawers was missing the veneer?


This one! I found this amazing product. It's a wood putty that comes in a jar. You smooth it over the boo boo with a trowel and then scrape it until it's smooth and even with the rest of the wood. Sand the whole thing down with 220-grit sandpaper and VOILA! No more boo boo. I wasn't sure I was going to able to fix it, but I'm so glad I tried.

Here is Miss Priss in her first night in her "big-girl room."


Sniff! She looks so big in her bed...she's not our baby anymore!

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THE BREAKDOWN:

The wall paint was from the Eddie Bauer Home Collection at Lowe's. It's called "Taffy". The trim paint for the crown molding, cornice board, floor boards and doors is Valspar Signature from Lowe's in semi-gloss. The color is "Whitwashed Oak." The ceiling was also painted with "Whitewashed Oak" but in an interior flat.

The furniture is painted with Valspar Signature from Lowe's in an interior satin called "Cream Delight."

The bedding is from the Rachel Ashwell "Shabby Chic" collection from Target. The duvets are also from her collection, but I bought them brand new off of E-bay for about half of what they were charging at Target.

The material for the upholstered headboards is named "Polka" and is manufactured by Waverly. I found it for $7.98 per yard at a fabric store here in town. It took approximately one yard per headboard. I recommend buying a little extra than what you need in case you mess up (which I did). You can always find a use for the leftover fabric. I'm going to use my leftovers to make throw pillows for each bed and I'm going to have each monogrammed.

The artwork was painted by yours truly.

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LESSONS LEARNED (Learn from my pain, people.)

When painting furniture, use an interior satin finish. It doesn't leave brush marks like gloss or semi-gloss paint but the finish is smooth enough that you can wipe it clean. In fact, if you take the time to go over your paint with 220 grit sandpaper in between coats of paint, you will get a factory finish that will be less likely to chip.

If you want to paint furniture white, don't go with a stark white. It comes out looking too institutional. Try to find a white that looks closer to a glass of milk. Cream looks so much more expensive that stark white.

For the best outcome, take the time to sand all the nicks and dings out of your furniture with a 120-grit sandpaper and then prime it. This will help the paint adhere better to the wood and will make it less likely to chip. Then let your paint cure for several days before you use the furniture. It may feel dry to the touch, but paint really does take several days to dry thoroughly.

Use at least two (but really three) thin coats of paint to avoid paint globs. Nothing says "bad paint job" like paint globs, so watch out for those! If you find them, sand them out and then lightly touch up the spot.