House Tour: Ella’s Room

 

 

When we moved into this house, Ella’s room had to be one of the worst in the house (in a close tie to our bedroom).

She had the same hideous green carpet as the rest of the house but accented with an enormous neon green stain. Complementing that carpet color were bright blue walls, with cream, burgundy and navy blue stripes on one wall.

 

 

It was all just so bad.

We made the situation worse by shoving far too much furniture in there. In addition to her (frameless) twin bed, there was a battered IKEA desk we’d picked up off the curb, her little table and chairs set, a dresser, a small bookshelf, the little blue sleeper sofa that’s now in my office, and her usual large assortment of art and craft projects.

Basically, this room was a nightmare. I couldn’t even go into that room without feeling mildly angry.

Naturally, Ella sobbed her face off when we took all the furniture out of her room and informed her that we were repainting and that the green carpet was about to lose its residency.

But, once the room was finished (and she’d had a few days to adjust), she couldn’t stop leaping around the room and exclaiming how much she loved her new space.

I tried to be really thoughtful about how she actually uses her room, and I was just completely firm on not bringing any furniture in that didn’t actually fit or match.

It’s just such a wild improvement.

The starting point for her room were these Poppy Dot sheets I won at The Hello Session’s opening party hosted by Schoolhouse Electric last fall.

Then these two photos from Pinterest helped me imagine the color of the walls and the style of furnishings I wanted to go with.

When I went to Home Depot to buy the paint, I went with a Sherwin-Williams paint because I’ve been so happy with theirs so far. I asked about color-matching the Benjamin Moore shade from Pinterest and he said they could do that exact color in a Sherwin-Williams paint. It’s called Love and Happiness, if you happen to care.

Once everything was painted, it was time to think about furniture. I loathe the look of no bed frame, so that was the first piece. I looked at hundreds of twin bed frames and finally settled on this one from Hayneedle.

I’ve heard people say that they’d heard Hayneedle products aren’t good quality, but that hasn’t been my experience at all. Considering how many products they have, I’m sure some of them aren’t 100% amazing, but everything we’ve ordered, we’ve been delighted with.

This bed frame is beautifully made, reasonably priced, and instantly made the room feel significantly more finished. I love that it’s not overly little-girly and will be something we can use for decades.

I always like the look of a rug in a bedroom to set off a play space and also keep dirty little feet from staining the carpet, and we’re all obsessed with this rug (we want a very similar one for our room) – it’s cozy and plush and makes reading books on the floor delightful.

Next, I added this rocking chair that had been in my office, which fits much better in her space than it did in mine. I also had this little telephone table in my office that was getting no use at all, and it was the perfect bedside table for her room, with space to hold all her library books and a place for a reading lamp, her sound machine, and her clock.

 

We added pillows to bring in the coral and gold, and a white bedspread with subtle circles to mirror the polka dots on her sheets.

The desk situation had been a problem from the beginning. Ella is a major project girl, and she needed a lot of desk space, but also something that wasn’t too tall for her to sit or stand comfortably at.

We brought up the table from the basement/school room which was really a little too small for that enormous space, and it was PERFECT. It had a drawer and a shelf built in, and enough space for her to spread out. Also, the white and wood was exactly what I wanted for this room. Handy that we already owned it.

Another thing we’ve owned forever were these shelves which had been sitting in our basement storage closet for the past year. Bart mounted them above the desk and voila! Space to keep her finished papers, more art supplies, and a few fun decorative things. Plus more room on her desk and in our storage closet. Win-win.

The finishing touches were the curtain, which my mom made (those pom-poms on the edge just kill me!), and then hanging this print, which had been sitting unhung in Star’s room, above her chair to balance out the height of the bed.

 

We also bought a little dresser to go in her closet to hold socks, underwear, pajamas, and swimsuit. Above it, we mounted the bulletin board that had been on her wall but that she mainly used to hold jewelry already.

So now even her closet makes me happy.

Having this room done, along with our room and Ani’s room, has made a huge difference in how much I like this house. Instead of trying not to open my eyes when I walk into her room, I’m happy to spend time in there reading with her or checking out her various projects.

SOURCES:
Bedframe: c/o Hayneedle
Sheets: Schoolhouse Electric
Bedspread: Target
Pillows: Target
Rug: c/o Hayneedle
Bedside Table: c/o Schoolhouse Electric
Reading Lamp: Target
Wooden Bowl: Target
Chair: c/o Lulu & Georgia
Temple Print: c/o Whitefield Design
Desk: c/o The Land of Nod
Desk chair: c/o The Land of Nod
Shelves: IKEA
Cork Hexagons: Target
Magazine Holders: Target
Marker containers: IKEA
Wooden Toys: c/o Summer Afternoon
Mirror: IKEA
Closet Dresser: IKEA
Bulletin Board: Walmart

if you liked this light pink girls room post, you might also like these other posts:

• 9 Ways to Make Your House a Reading Home
• The 12 Best House Updates We Made
• House Project: Family Room Shelves