L's Big Girl Room: Details and Pinspiration

My sister's ballet slippers

inspiration shadowbox

So here we go.  A few little details and the "PINspiration" behind the ideas where applicable.  There is nothing like a bit of visual research during the project planning stage.  

Visit my pinterest board for all links if you're interested, or inspired (pinspired?) as it were.

collection of dress up clothes

inspiration book shelf from YHL house tour

IKEA spice rack as a book shelf

our own collection of vintage quilts and blankets

the captains bed and two dressers

layout inspiration

Built in shelving made by Daddy

our shelving inspiration

Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray (HC 170)

That's it.  The full room tour.  Phew.  Now you've seen it all.  If by chance you want to see the other posts, the bedroom layout is here, and the closet details are here.

Inside the Pink Closet

So here is the (much delayed) view of the inside of her renovated closet.  Keep in mind that these pictures are from before her birthday (in April, I'm such a slacker).  Now there is a giant 3 story Barbie castle in the middle of the closet.  It has a dance floor if your Barbie wants to come over and play sometime. Can you see her collection of fancy dresses hanging in the corner? We made one section of full height hanging going sideways to take advantage of that corner of the closet that is hard to access.

 There is so much shelf space we don't quite know what to do with it all.  A few memory boxes are tucked on the very top shelf, one with baby blankets and clothes and one with crafts and school treasures.  From this angle you can see the hidden shoe storage in the white shelf.  The pink boxes hold smaller toys, jewellery, etc. and the higher ones hold shoes she is growing into.

 When the doors are open during the day it is a fun little hit of colour.  This little girl loves pinky pink and this mommy is so glad the whole room doesn't look like a bottle of pepto.

We have been living with this layout and closet organization for a few months now and it works great!  Lost of room to play, separate bins for all her different toys, easy access to her books, and lots of carpet space to play despite the small square footage of the room.  I am so thankful that A is handy enough to build the things we collectively dream up.  I love sketching my ideas on a scrap paper and then (after a bit of a wait) seeing how he can create them.  This space is a hundred times more useful than it was, and it gives L a special place to play and read and sleep.  Perfect.

AHH! I just found some before pictures I think this highlights how full the closet was before

 and also highlights the particularly useless sections on the sides.

right side is now full height hanging and where doll beds live

Left side is where the white shoe shelf is now

still keep toys here, now Barbies instead of Little People

Butterfly Birthday Details

So tomorrow L turns 5.  It is kind of amazing that our baby girl is now a beautiful, sweet, over-accessorized 5 year old smarty pants.  It was her first real friend party.  Last year she had 2 friends over for a playdate.  This one wasn't much bigger, 4 friends, but it was a 'real party'.  The theme was butterflies, and the colour scheme was... magenta or pink (Fancy Nancy says magenta is a fancy way of saying pink).  Some time was spent on pinterest, and equal time spent in multiple dollar stores.  So here it is!

Sparkly butterfly invitation

Inside the goodie bags...

 Goodie bags with butterfly headbands and pony colouring books.
I made the tiny pennant banner from an idea off pinterest from string and pink duct tape.

I bought her two dozen roses with, you guessed it, more sparkly butterflies!

Streamers, ribbons, and more butterflies for our pink table. 

Butterfly wall decals flying up from the front door came from Nana and Grandad.

The cake was pink inside and out, yummy.  As always made by Uncle G!

The blackboard got a makeover for the occasion.

Fruit caterpillar kabobs

(fruiterpillars?)

Craft time, this girl party was so quiet and they sat for a long time.  

Quietly played a few games- catch the butterflies

TP chrysalis

Present time

Snack time

The party ended with quiet play time in her room.  

They all got along, they played nice, nothing got broken.  

I really could get used to this girl party thing.

 Then we moved on to a little family party.  Starting with a BIG sparkly Barbie castle!

K read her the birthday cards to her, extra cute!

 The rest of the evening was spent playing, visiting and enjoying dessert for the second time!

She is the cutest little 5 year old in this house for sure!

Pink Closet Sneak Peek

I still have to take some good pictures of the finished product, but here is a sneak peek.

Daddy picked up a can of pink (it was a deal), and my little princess is pleased with the pink and I am pleased it's not the whole room!  What a good little helper she was.  CUTE!

the big girl room

My almost 5 year old is getting big.  She had a toddler bed that was just fine but we had a twin mattress  and it was not going to fit in that little bed.  And so began a great reshuffling of (what feels like) every room in the house.  You see a small room like this won't fit a twin bed and a long dresser, you know if you want to open the drawers um... ever!  The second problem was a very large closet (I know that is not a problem) with relatively small doors.  This made lots of the closet space less than useable.  

The solution?  I started a pinterest board and A started drawing plans on sketch up and here is what happened!

two little dressers and a captains bed

built in adjustable shelves!

so much storage

a happy BIG girl

 See those crystal knobs on the dresser? 

She calls them her jewels.

 And one more shot of the built in shelves courtesy of daddy.  Can you believe all that was space inside the closet?  It was so difficult to access before that it was pretty empty on each side.  Now there is a ton of useful shelf space and it is just so darn pretty!  There are still lots of things to do: sew curtains, hang things on the walls, get a real lamp (or two?).  But it is coming together nicely.

If I am organized I will give you a peek inside her closet next time. Spoiler alert: it's pink!

 I haven't really written because I haven't been sure where to start.  I guess I'll just jump back into it and not think too much.  Decor is as good a place to start as any! So here are our Halloween decorations so far. 

Pumpkins:

 A little chalkboard art:

 Garbage bag spider webs:

And a few knick knacks here and there:

Happy Halloween!

Goodbye

I have been a nurse for 12 years, I guess that is why I am fine with being blunt.  

Sometimes things just are, no point in mincing words. 

A few weeks ago my Dad died.

No one was surprised, many people explained how it was for the best as he was so ill and not himself for several years.

I guess they are right, but he is still gone. 

We had a good funeral service and this is what I said:

Psalm 30 tells us sorrow may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning. Our night of sorrow has lasted many years but there will still be a morning of joy. 

I saw an older man the other day at the gas station carefully lifting the hose to drain every last drop of gas that he had paid for into his tank.  I realized then that my dad will be with me in so many different circumstances, in big and small ways every day, and that is my joy.

When someone can’t read my handwriting…

he is with me. 

When I can’t read my handwriting…

            he is with me.

When I hear country music…

he is with me. 

When I see a water colour painting…

he is with me.

When I watch my kids running around with red cheeks, kicking a soccer ball…

he is with me. 

When I see R’s love of reading…

he is with me. 

When K’s sweaty hair curl out from under  a baseball cap…

he is with me. 

When L runs up to her dad after her bath with her wet hair and a brush…

he is with me. 

When I fill out a crossword puzzle in block letters with the words mostly misspelled…

he is with me. 

When I hear a volkswagen bug with no muffler…

he is with me. 

When I drive the long way through all the back roads and call it a short cut…

he is with me. 

When I have a fascinating conversation with a preschooler…

he is with me. 

When I quietly hope the underdog will win..

he is with me. 

And almost every day, he will be with me when someone says to me or my children

“Are your eyes really that blue?”

And I will answer “Yep, they are just like my dad’s.”