Decorating thoughts for Ellie's room.

I'm sure you are all sitting on the edge of your seats wondering what we've decided about our bed/decorating situation. If you have no clue what I'm talking about go here and here to read my rambling thoughts on the topic.

For now, Will & Ben will remain in their current bedroom. Now to the task of decorating and organizing Ellie's current room for a 2 year old girl and infant boy (in October). For the bed I'm pretty sure we're just going to buy a set of twin mattresses and a frame to put them on. That's what the boys have and it works well for us. I'd love to buy her a whole set of furniture but the reality is there's no space for it. Hopefully we'll be in a bigger house in 3-5 years and who knows what we'll need/want then.

In the meantime, I'm making due with the furniture I have, buying the mattresses and focusing on the decorating. I've even found a way my sweet husband won't have to paint the walls (he's THRILLED!).

I'm planning to use this painting by Joel's paternal Grandmother as the inspiration for colors. These two pictures do NOT do it justice (or the blue of the wall for that matter). It's hard to tell, but there are pink and yellow flowers in the foreground and a small pond in the valley. I'm considering having it re-framed. I think this frame is beautiful but a little formal for a child's room.
For other wall decor I'm considering some kind of wallpaper pieces (NOT the whole room, Sweetheart!) to go around her bed. A tree at Lowe's looks like it might be fun. I've also seen wallpaper that only goes half-way up the wall and looks like a picket fence. I can't find in on the Lowe's site right now and I'm running out of patience to look. I was thinking of using some at the head of her bed like a headboard. The only problem with that is it would restrict me on furniture placement.

Another idea I've toyed with is to frame pictures of me, Ellie's grandmas, and maybe great-grandmas as girls or young women.

During my recent Girls Weekend I saw this quilt at Country Curtains. I loved it immediately! So I went back and took pictures. The twin size is $100 and the pillow sham is $30 so they are a little pricey for me BUT they are quality products and very versatile. Unfortunately, it's not in the catalog or on-line, thankfully I visited the store that day or I would have never seen it.

Some of the pinwheels are pink and purple floral prints so it's definitely a feminine quilt.

The backside is this floral print.

They used a yellow gingham for other pillows on the bed. I think a gingham would really help set off Ellie's bed as girly without overwhelming the room AND yellow would look nice with the walls.

I like the look of the white dust ruffle with the quilt but want a few more feminine details. I think this eyelet from Bed, Bath & Beyond will work really well. Bonus, the twin is only $20! Amy suggested that with the eyelet I might be able to layer another colored bed skirt underneath to add more color to the bed. I think this is a great idea I'm going to consider.

Next will be to find a throw rug, lampshade, and drawer knobs for the changing table. The bed skirt on the crib and the curtain on the window are the same as the bed skirts on the boys' beds. So I think they'll coordinate with the primary colors in the quilt but I'm also considering taking a plain white curtain set from the boys' room and putting it in Ellie's. The white muslin curtains would coordinate well with the white eyelet bed skirt. Then I'll have to find new curtains for the boys. = ) See how this works. = ) I've never been thrilled with the curtains in the boys' room anyway but haven't found an alternative I like better.

I think those are all my thoughts on the subject for now. I'll keep you posted as I find (and buy) pieces. I promise to post pictures when it's all said and done.