Back in April I shared that I wanted to update the girls bedroom.  It was actually one of the things listed in my "Goals for 2014" (#4) and so it is time to get serious.

The room previously looked like this, and although I don’t want to make MAJOR changes, I do want to modify it to accommodate the girls now that they are older (and no longer using a crib):

So here are the basic ideas of what I plan to change (and not change) in the next few weeks:


I am going to stick to the pink and white color scheme since the paint job and the board and batten are only a few years old and they still love it:


I do want to do a fun wall treatment inspired by this Eyelet fabric.   (Eventually crown molding will be going up too, but that isn’t going to make it onto the short list.)

As for furniture in the room, I recently found this exact loft at a furniture consignment store for about $300 and snapped it up (it doesn’t include the bookcase or the shelf):

It will be the 8 year old’s bed and the 5 year old will inherit the white iron flower bed (which houses a trundle underneath.. for sleepovers!):

I know you often see children’s rooms in blogger’s home tours and there is just NO STUFF in them. Maybe a few gorgeously staged toys on a shelf... maybe, but I’m keeping it real.  

My kids have a LOT OF CRAP.  This is their room and I want to make their things accessible since they are the ones who live here.  I am not removing everything for the photos since that is deceiving and unrealistic.  (It is a different story when I stage a childs’ room to put on the MLS, but not for everyday life.)

I feel like half the purpose of blogs is figuring out what will and work for people in their own homes, and so I want to be totally candid about how a room acts FUNCTIONALLY.  I think my readers deserve that.   Could I pull everything out and make it prettier?  Yeah.  But that isn't how I roll..

However, that doesn't mean I won't try to disguise and hide the stuff as best I can.  I don't necessarily want to look at it all the time, and I am not above putting it behind some cute little curtains.. Which is exactly the plan.

I want to do something similar to what Bright Green Door did by adding curtains along the bottom to make it a little ‘play area’ and a place to hide all the clutter. And whoa baby!!.Do we have clutter! 

To do this I will probably re-use the current window curtains (they are blackout curtains to cut down on the pounding California heat, but we recently had replacement windows installed and they aren’t as necessary as they once where).  Plus I would love to lighten up the windows and get rid of the valance too.

As for new window treatments, I am envisioning something like these since there is already so much going on in this room..


I do plan on adding additional storage in the form of an Ikea Trofast system (my favorite toy organizing furniture EVER!)

But the dressers and desk will be the same:

I’m not exactly sure what I will do with the floor coverings (if anything).  And I am still undecided about lighting as well.

These aren’t huge changes to the room, but just enough to freshen it up and make it feel “new again.” I hope to do the entire transformation for less than $200 (plus the $300 I already spent on the loft) for a grand total of $500.

We’ll see how it goes..   Fingers crossed!