Piper’s Bedroom

Well, I did it.  I almost finished decorating Piper’s bedroom.  And almost” is as good as it’s gonna get I think.  My forte’ is not in the details.  For that I will be seeking some guidance from my decorating guru friends (you know who you are!)

I am very happy with how it turned out.  The big girls’ room is colored in pink, so I decided to go in a different direction with Piper’s - purple.

 The crib:  I turned a Goodwill-find Pottery Barn table runner into a crib skirt (via duct tape).  In front of the crib is a real sheep’s wool rug.  I had seen a picture of this in a magazine and thought it was a cute idea.  I decided to ask Momma Kay if she had one (why not, she usually has everything) and sure enough she did.  This rug used to belong to Elliott’s great aunt Twila, who as a little girl would kneel every night on it to say her prayers.  What  a lovely family heirloom.

The dresser:  Isn’t she a beauty?  Well, she’s a find.  We didn’t have a dresser for Piper when we moved to Utah; I was just using some plastic storage drawers.  One day my mom was visiting with a new neighbor and found out they had an old dresser in their garage, one which hadn’t sold at their garage sale.  They said we could have it, just come and get it.  I love the lines and the size.  And the color is really starting to grow on me.  I may just leave it the way it is.  As for the two humidifiers, just ignore them.  One is actually in use as a humidifier and the other I use as a noisemaker.

 The art:  I ordered this canvas print of Piper sleeping (she was only a few days old when the picture was taken) when Canvas People had their last sale.  The “Be Happy” print I made myself

I saw the “Bee Happy” print at Sprik Space and decided to make it work for me.  I had this blank canvas sitting around (from a garage sale) and had been trying to figure out what to do with it.  When I saw this picture I thought it would be super cute to make into a large piece of art for Piper’s room.  Didn’t hurt that I had picked up a mis-tinted quart of dark purple paint at Lowes the week before for $2.50.  My friend Lisa had sent me a link awhile back on how to blow up a picture and print it out on your computer (via Dittle Dattle).

Rather time consuming but here’s what I did:  I threw the original Sprik Space print into Photoshop and re-oriented the picture to be landscape layout rather than portrait.  I also resized it and messed with the color so that when I printed it out on the home printer I wouldn’t be using very much ink.

Once I had the design I wanted to followed the instructions at Dittle Dattle to print out a multi-page print.  I cut out the shape and letters by hand, then traced them onto the canvas.  Finally, I painted around the bee shape and letters with two coats of the purple paint (but I still want to add another coat to really make the purple pop).  Yep, like I said, alot of work BUT it turned out exactly like I wanted it to.

I made tissue-paper pom-poms in a couple different sizes and shades of purple and hung them in the ceiling with fishing line.

This was the start of it all, my inspirational fabric.  I wasn’t sure I would like a heavy seersucker as curtains, but I have fallen in love with it and think it is perfect.

This is the other side of the room, opposite the crib.  I still have the rocker chair I bought when Ava was a baby (which I love).

I have a thing for labeling.  I love to label.  These boxes on the bottom of the changing table hold our burp cloths and bibs.  Even though the girls can still get into them, the lids at least make them a little more inconspicuous.

This is my sad, sad attempt at having decorative shelves.  Since the girls like to get into everything, I can’t keep the diapers and wipes on a changing table shelf, so when these shelves went up I immediately started using the bottom one to store these items.  Not attractive, but my utilitarian side wins out every time.  I did throw up a little peacock feather in a mercury glass, which I think is cute.  The top shelf has a repurposed Christmas decoration (the “wish” sign) which I intend to repaint silver at some point and Piper’s “First Year” frame.

This is a trio of  pictures when Piper was two months old.  Precious.

Finally, about a year and a half ago I was trying to make/find some large art to fill a space in our living room.  So I put Ava to work with some paint on a large sheet of paper.  This is her original artwork.  I think it makes Piper’s room special, to have this artwork by her sister decorating it.  Someday I may lighten the frame, but for now it stands.


So what did you think?  I am happy with how everything turned out.  I am still contemplating a few tweaks, like making a box valance for the top of the window and fleshing out the shelving decorations (time to pull out some old Pottery Barn catalogs for inspiration).  I may even add more pom-poms in the corner.  But I love that it is light and cheerful – and girly.