Elizabeth's Room: The Challenge

Elizabeth's room has seen some changes... it started as a bumble bee nursery:

Then moved to a Pottery Barn Penelope inspired nursery:
(I loved those curtains, they never kept out the light, try as I might.  Sad day.)

Then it turned to a desert wasteland.

::picture dilapidated living conditions resembling no sense of style.::

Here's where it all fell apart:

Elizabeth figured out how to climb out of her crib shortly after her 3rd birthday (I knew she'd be a menace to her room, so I kept the crib as long as possible, despite her brothers getting big boy beds at ~18mo).

From there the crib came down, leaving just a mattress on the floor.
The rocking chair was moved out, as it was a climbing hazard.
Her dresser was drained of it's contents, because that girl can rummage!
She even went so far as to take her knobs off her dresser and drawers out of her dresser.

She not a bad child, in fact she is fairly mild mannered despite being in the swing of the "3s."  She's sassy, don't get me wrong, but she's harmless.  She has a innate need to pick at things though... she'll pick anything, books, rip papers into bitty pieces, and displacing room contents is included in this.  And no, she was not given oodles of time in her room alone... she would ransack the room in the few minutes between wake-up and me getting her out of her room. She works fast and silent, very silent.

(As I type this, she's picking a crayon wrapper off her crayon... she's a picker, that one. Her fine motor skills are TOP! No really, when I had her evaluated for speech at 18mo, she was far ahead with her fine motor skills.  Go figure.)

Anyway!

Thus started my journey and challenge to make Elizabeth's room a cute, but indestructible big girl room.   I knew I needed to keep the walls free of low hanging items.  I also knew stickers or decals were a 'no' as they'd be picked off within days... hours... a single naptime, whatever.  I didn't love the yellow walls, but after much belly-aching I agreed to let them stay.  Below are the pictures of her new room and the breakdown of the cost factor.  Eeeee!!

**Disclaimer:  This isn't the cutest room you'll ever see, but it meets all (ALL) my child-pertaining needs and still manages to be fun and stylish.

Without further ado, I give you Elizabeth's new room!

The breakdown:

Rug:

The rug was clutch because her room is so echo-y and what a price!!! My dear friend, Rachel picked up the rug for me, even better!! Rachel rocks.  And that rug rocks harder.  It's fun and cozy and perfect.

Cradle & High Chair

We had the doll gear.  I don't like toys in my kids' rooms as a general rule, but I bent this time.  It's easy to keep things clean if there isn't anything to mess up, but these items give her a little something to play with in the morning and they were already in our playroom.  I tend to give my kids a small basket of books for their room, but uh, Elizabeth turns them into confetti.  For the cradle contents, I used a baby blanket I already had and the pillow was a left-over from her Penelope nursary.  Done deal.  

Shelf & Contents

The shelf was an awesome find by my Mother-in-law at a yard sale for like $5.00.  Pottery Barn.  I know, right?!  We've been storing it for over a year and it's just what we needed to hold her lamp and sound machine and keep it out. of. reach.  We already had everything on her shelf, but here is a close up of the changes I did tweak to match the new room...

I had all these pieces in the room before, however I went to my dear dear dearly beloved store, the Hobby Lobby and got scrapbook paper and spray glue... BAM... new decor pieces.  

Total cost (counting the glue) was about $5. 

These 2 items (round hanging thingers and wall plaque) cost me a total of $20 from Hobby Lobby.  I scored the plaque for 50% off and the round puffers were only $5 in the party section.  We already had the smaller puffier, puffs. :P

I was excited to make the bunting banner.  I scoured Etsy and debated buying one, but couldn't find one I loved that justified the price.  Again, to Hobby Lobby I went!  Don't judge.  Have you been to a Hobby Lobby? You would want to practically live there too.  

So, I came home with bakers twine and a few 12x12 scrapbook pages.  That's all it takes, beautiful banner! They were cut into triangles, hole punched, nails placed in the wall and strung! Seriously, this was easy peasy and I'm pleased with how they look.  

Now onto my favorite part of her room.  Her bed!!! 

How sweet is this rag doll?!

All these pieces were new to us: The bed itself and mattress were free.  

Didja see the picture?!  Look again.  Bed. Mattress. FREE.  It's GORGEOUS.  

What a blessing.  Complete blessing.  Jim's Aunt graciously gave us her "old" bunk beds.  And by old, I mean seemingly-new because these beauties look and feel untouched.  June took a bunk and Eliz took a bunk.  Perfect.  There is even a side rail so she can't fall out.  

Onto the fluff: The sheets were $20 total, for 2 sets.  They were on clearance at Walmart.  Score.  Now, my splurge for her room was her actual bedding.  I fell in love with this quilt from Target.  I couldn't resist that doll either.  So the total for the quilt and doll was about $80.  I did manage free shipping and found a coupon code too, but that was my big purchase.  I don't regret it one bit.  It's so fun and pretty.  LOVE.   

Ooop, can't forget over-the-door Jesus.  We already had him too.  Tinkerbell and the wall plate is new.  $5 for both combined.  Tink was a Dollar Store steal and the outlet cover, which is a baby-proof one, was an Amazon find.

 Last but not least, the closet:  

I already had the ELIZ letters, I used the extra scrapbook paper from the banner and traced, cut, and covered the letters.

Also, my dad created a closet lock that latches the closet closed.  It. stays. SHUT!! 

As for the interior (see below)... I bought 2 Rubbermaid dresser totes, & 2 crates to transform her closet.  I placed all her dresser clothes into the Rubbermaid drawers.  Leggings, extra shoes, and hair ties are in the baskets above that.  All her dresses and shirts (all seasons) are hung.  

The child will not go naked.  At least not in the size 3T.  Praise God for hand-me-downs is all I can say.  I bought very little of this.  Again, such an active blessing.  

The crates hold her sheets in one and her outgrown items (that are not yet packed away) in the other.  Above it all is storage boxes and bins of smaller/larger clothes and shoes. 

That's it!! 

The closet storage was about $40 and the curtains, which are ugly as all get-out but do a darn good job of keeping the light out (pictured in the first picture of her new room), were $25.  

Adding everything up, it came to about $250.  When I see that number, it kinda stings, BUT everything in her room is pretty much new and that bed and mattress alone would have cost us close to that.  This was a 4 month project too, so it was picked at in bits and pieces.

So there you have it:  Elizabeth-proofed, girly and fun, completely practical, easy to keep clean, perfect-for-my-daughter, brand new bedroom. :)  And as a side bonus, I stashed her crib mattress under her twin bed, so if we ever have the need, there is technically 2 beds in there.

I don't claim to have the best taste ever am not going to be picked up by HGTV, but I will admit that I'm really happy with how this room turned out.  It meets every need, which was critical when doing a room for a preschooler.  A pretty but impractical room would serve NO purpose.  Elizabeth can wake up in the morning and play and I know she is safe and I won't be having to un-do all her "fun."  Icing on the cake is that it is so eye appealing too.  

Fun fun fun.  

You are welcome, Elizabeth. You are welcome.  

Yes, those are skittles in her mouth.  Lovely.  And I tried to take a "look we are cozy in our bed" picture and she totally melted down over who knows what (it was naptime... she doth protest), but I took the picture anyway.  Because that's life.  

:)