This is a picture of Molly and Jill's room right after we moved it.
We got the dresser from ksl.com and it was very functional and sturdy, but not very pretty. The beds I love, but the comforters were freebies that were ... not exactly the style I wanted. Also, we needed curtains for light control and privacy. And I really wanted the girlies to have a chair for reading, or rather, a chair for a grown-up (Daddy) to sit on while reading aloud.
So, little by little I found things or made things or made things over. It was fun, but I wish I was much faster at it (a la Trading Spaces in 48 hours). But, my goal was that it at least had to be finished before the baby came and SUCCESS! I finished just in time.
Thanks to my awesome neighbor, Aly, I learned some good techniques for painting the dresser. (I didn't want it to be all brush-stroke-y, but I couldn't find a very good selection of greens in the spray paint section.) She pointed me toward this stuff that you add to your paint that slows the drying time, so your brush strokes fade away. It worked great. She also recommended the wax paste, which gives it a nice finish, much better than just that latex feeling.
Disclaimer: Molly and Jill found the butterfly and fairy (Molls prefers to spell it faerie) pictures at DI. I really didn't like them, but sometimes you have to be nice and let your kids choose at least some part of their bedroom decor, right? And they were only $1.
I made these twin quilts for the girls. I loved the pattern and it seemed really easy (it was). But it turned out to be much more time consuming than I would have thought. However, I enjoyed cutting and sewing while I listened to (several) General Conferences. I don't think you can tell very well from the picture, but the circles have a raw edge that I think will be really fun once they have been washed a few more times. And these are made out of my favorite kind of fabric, Aunt Gracie, which is reproduction 1930's. My friend Andrea really helped me out with these as well, because she told me about a basting spray that both simplified and sped up the process of quilting. (I just couldn't bring my self to pin-baste these babies with my huge, enormous belly.)
Another, admittedly gratuitous, photo of the quilts.
My kids are big readers and the main problem we were having with bunk beds was the lack of nightstand. I was constantly finding books all over in the beds, or even worse, in the crack behind the bed. (Yes, we got a few library fines for that.) Anyway, one of the ladies in my ward posted on her blog about these handy-dandy, wall mounted, book-holders. They are made using the hardware for double rod curtains, dowels, and not that much fabric. I added the pockets to the design for the "treasures" that I knew would inevitably accumulate in there anyway. I used the same fabric as the quilts.
So I got the curtains from DI and added black out fabric to the back. I think everybody should have blackout curtains in their bedroom. It is just so nice to make it really dark whenever you need to sleep. If you are sick and really want to take a good nap, for example. Or if you are under 10 and need to go to bed when it is still light in the summer. Blackout curtains really help.
The chair was the last thing I wanted to complete the room. I looked and looked at the millions of chairs on ksl.com and I didn't see anything I liked. Until one day...I saw this awesome flowery beauty. But the lady had two chairs and an ottoman and she wouldn't break up the set. I posted her ksl add on my facebook and found a friend who wanted the other chair. I don't think I've ever worked so hard to get something from ksl.com. But I'm really glad, because I think the chair adds a lot to the room.
So there we have it. A totally girly bedroom that hopefully my girls will love for at least 3 more years (cause you know it's going to take me at least that long to change it again!)
