Happy Thursday, my friends! It’s time for our one room challenge week 5 update, where I talk about all of the things that we did that weren’t part of the original plan. That’s how you roll when your child is a student of the more is more school of thought. Our original plan didn’t have quite as much going on, but as we started bringing items from the old room into the new room, it was clear that we were going to need a wee bit more storage and wall space. Today I am going to show you what we’ve achieved, and even though we strayed, I love where it’s going, and most importantly, Emmy does, too.
As I started clearing her built in shelves of books and artwork, I knew that she was going to be emotionally attached to several pieces and I’d have to hang them in the space. I decided to create an impromptu gallery wall above her dresser. Don’t worry- nothing is really styled at the moment, so that’s just random junk on top of the dresser.
I started by hanging the largest piece of art above the dresser to anchor the space. Now, most people I know measure and plan and map out gallery walls. Some of them even cut out paper shapes resembling their art and attach it to the wall to play with it and decide on a final layout. Not this girl… get me the hammer and get me some nails because we’re just gonna start hanging as we go over here! That’s right! Once I get that larger anchor piece on the wall, I just sort of work around it, placing things here and there so that it’s visually pleasing to me. This method is far from scientific or mathematical but it has always worked for me.
There are pieces that really are special to her like the “Lucky Girl” stitching my mom created for her with a vintage quilt when she was little. The peace sign was a souvenir I brought back to her from the Country Living Fair. And the little black and white drawing is my grandparent’s house from when I grew up. I have so many memories of my brother and I ringing the intercom and talking to my grandparents through it; we thought that technology was so high tech and fun!
Of course in clearing off those shelves, I brought down loads of books as well and it was evident that some sort of book storage was needed. I thought about building book ledges, but I know my child I knew that the ledges would never look as pretty as intended. I happened to have a petite midcentury bookcase in my garage and I had accidentally broken the glass doors setting up at Sweet Clover one day last Spring. I had taken it home knowing one day I could do something with it. I moved it into Emmy’s room, and tried a few locations and really liked how it worked under the window and gave her more room for plants.
However, when I brought it in, there were no doors and I didn’t want open bookshelves in her room. I added doors and hardware and will share a post on how I did that soon. I am really happy with the midcentury two tone look it ended up with and the fact that I won’t see the mess that lurks back there. Right now it isn’t bad, of course!
Some other changes you may have noticed… I brought down Emmy’s “Love, Peace & Awesome” banner and added a couple more plants as I brought them in from outside.
The trunk at the foot of the bed was intended to store all of her American Girl clothes and accessories as well as her dolls. She moved all of her girls down, but I guess she didn’t want to close them up. For today, I left them there because something about picturing her placing a little quilt for them to sit on, and lining them all up next to one another carefully makes me smile. She also has a Journey girl and loves her just as much.
Lastly, one major thing that I wasn’t planning on happened. This past weekend, I put Emmy to work going through every last thing in her room because I told her it didn’t all need to move. After that, we transferred what was moving, brought down her clothes, and I let her officially move in. The new look for this room is Mexican Boho Typhoon….it’s a thing, right? And the best part is all of the images I shared today were taken after I asked her to tidy up so I could take photos….
In her defense, the floor was cleared off, and all of the things that are laying there on the bed are her pillows and stuffed animals and blankets that she likes to sleep with.
And as you can see, Snowball and Catcher are also loving this room and are feeling right at home in here.
Still to do….
- Paint closet trim (I drag my feet at these kinds of things!)
- Hang the plant that is living in her hanging chair
- Style to my liking and shoot
- Allow her to style to her liking 😉
And after the ORC, I’ll still be working on her closet, and spraying her hanging chair base when the weather isn’t cool and windy. (We live up on a hill and always get the brunt of the wind, making the odds of being able to safely spray paint outside 1/365).
I can’t wait to come back next week and share the final reveal and to see everyone else’s complete spaces!
