Painting and Decorating a Girl - Boy Bedroom

We've lived in our house for almost 6.5 years. During that time Joel has painted every room once and one room twice. And, until earlier this month, I had painted ZERO rooms. Somehow the painting always seemed to be while I was pregnant, which provided me with a guilt-free pass on all the fun!

Is it any wonder Joel refused to paint after Ben was born 4 years ago?!

After 6 years and 4 kids, you can imagine our walls have gotten pretty dirty (not to mention the stray crayon markings). The dirt and the possibility of moving this year influenced Joel to lift the painting ban!! Yippee!! And this time I had the pleasure of helping.

We decided to start in the easiest room - Ellie & Sam's.

I thought I had a couple of pictures of the room before we painted but I can't find them. So here's a picture taken after it was first put together before Will was born in 2003.

I love that room!! It has always been my favorite room in the house! This picture makes the walls look a little purple but I assure you they were blue.

I have to confess I had a few tears when we brought out the primer to cover the blue. It felt like the end of an era. Sort of admitting that my first baby is no longer a baby. {sniff.sniff} (Remember I'm still nursing and had a baby 8 months ago. The hormones are still going strong, folks!)

Those who've been reading here for a while may recall I had a whole decorating dilemma for this room last fall. Eventually I found the perfect quilt and bedskirt for Ellie's twin bed but that was as far as I got.

Well, my decorating block is officially unblocked!! Now I'm full of ideas {sh! don't tell Joel!}!!

I don't think these pictures do justice to the room. The walls are now a soft green (called Milkweed C68-1) and the trim is a soft white (Swiss Coffee 1012).

Idea #1: I need to buy a soft yellow dust ruffle to go under the eyelet ruffle. Also, I want matching soft yellow sheets and pillowcase. I have a sham that matches the quilt but it needs another solid color behind it.

It's hard to see that the quilt has blue ticking stripes between the colored pinwheels. The quilt and walls really work beautifully together!!

Idea #2: Paint the changing table with the trim paint (Swiss Coffee).

Right now it is a flat finish yellow. Which is ok (though the pink pad cover is NOT) but kind of blah. I think the semi-gloss soft white with all white knobs would look great. AND I want a basket to keep the diapers/ wipes box in. I'm toying with the idea of taking the changing pad off and just using it as a dresser. I change Sam on the bed about half the time anyway so this wouldn't be a big deal. Any suggestions?


Here's the crib. It's opposite the changing table. I didn't realize until now that the rail is down so you can't see the bedskirt. It is denim with triangles of bold colors. Because they are on opposite sides of the room, I think it works well with the quilt.

Because of the sunshine, I couldn't take a picture of the window. It's right above the stool you see in the lower right corner. It's covered by a white muslin curtain panels and a white muslin valance with a decorative muslin trim across the bottom.

I love how the curtains play off the white eyelet bedskirt!

Idea #3: Install a white roller shade on the window. The curtains just don't block enough sunlight for naps.

Idea #4: You can't tell from the pictures but there is a fair amount of floor space. I'd like to buy a couple of braided throw rugs for in front of the beds.

Last, but not least, we added a Rubbermaid Closet System. I bought a kit to save us time and aggravation. I love it!! Ellie can hang up her clothes and get her own shoes. As you can see, I haven't filled the shelves yet. I like just looking at all the organizational goodness of this closet!!

We have 2 sliding doors that go on this closet. They are cheap wood doors about the color of the floor. The floor is beautiful but that dark wood really breaks up the lightness of the walls. So I have 3 different options:

Idea #5: Closet Doors - 1. leave them off. 2. hang them as they are. 3. Paint them the same white trim and hang them. My concern with painting them is that the paint will scrape off and look ugly. Any suggestions?

Idea #6: Wall Decorations - Holder for Ellie's bows, Hat rack for Sam, Re-frame some paintings, this print.

Thanks for reading all my decorating ideas. I'd love to hear any suggestions you have. Over all I'd say the room now has a summer cottage feel to it. Which I love! It's still my favorite room in the house!