Livin' in a Pink Paradise

One of the perks of having a second girl is that all of our offspring can sleep together in the same room.  These girls are either going to have fun sleepovers every night, or they'll kill one another.  I have visions of future me screaming up the stairs, "Stop pulling your sister's hair or I'll cut yours off!"  I'll do it too.  I already have.    

Our little house has two bedrooms on the second floor.  There's also a very small third bedroom downstairs that we currently use as an office/playroom/dumping ground.  If this baby had been a boy, we would have had to eventually move Madeline into that room.  (Alright kid, there's a new baby around these parts....git!)    We certainly weren't keen on the idea of moving Madeline so far from the rest of the family, so thankfully, things are working out in our favor.  

In reality, all we had to do to get the room ready for a second girl was dump a bed in there for Madeline and call it a day.  But I'm a dreamer, Dotty, a rebel.  I fully intend on tricking this hovel out into a full-on girlie-girl paradise.  (Cue inspirational music for me, and groans from Eric who will end up doing most of the work.)   

When we moved in two years ago, we painted her room a raspberry-pink color.  It was light brown before that.  It took my mother-in-law and my husband's aunt several hours of painting in sweltering heat to achieve that lovely hue, which I deeply appreciate.  But, I decided it had to go.  

It was just too dark for the space.  Besides, Madeline loves light pink.  Or "lightning pink" as she calls it, and I think everyone should start calling it cause it sounds way more bad ass than "ballet slipper" or "apricot dreams."  

Anyway, we painted.  

Actually, Eric painted.  I helped prime, but he got sick of me criticizing his manly skills, so he  kicked me out to go shopping on day two.  Poor me.

Next, I decided that "we" needed to add quarter round molding to the base trim in order to cover some unsightly cracks.  Eric did the measuring, cutting, and nailing himself,  but he did let me and Madeline help a bit.  I was particularly good at caulking.  

Madeline was pretending that the clamps were a family.  This clamp is the baby sister, and she's rocking it to sleep. 

 Our old house has original wood floors and horse-hair-plaster walls.  For the most part, everything is in good condition, but there are certainly plenty of areas that I wish we could magic eraser away...like all these gross, crumbly cracks.

 Ahhh...I feel so much cleaner!

I know this doesn't seem like a huge change.  Even Eric wasn't sure it was worth the time and effort when I first introduced the idea, but in the end, we both decided that it makes the room look ten times better.  It's neater, cleaner, smoother.  Fancier....

Here's what the room currently looks like:  (Don't mind the twirling Maddie Bear.  She's a photo hog.)

Here's what it used to look like:

More images of her room can be found here if at all interested although our plans have changed.

I love, love, LOVE the new color.  It's a very pale, peach-y pink, and it brightens up the room so much.

I found the new rug on Overstock last week for half the price as listed on other websites.  It's darker than I thought it would be, but very much a coral tone in real life.  Madeline's pink dresser is from Ikea. I painted it a shade darker than the walls.  I sold her old armoire on Craigslist.  I was sad to see it go, since I had decorated it myself, but it went to a nice, new home that is expecting a baby boy.

The girls' room is coming along, but there's a lot left to do.  The next big project is the closet.  It's big, but awkwardly shaped due to the sloped ceilings.  There are also cracks in the plaster that make me all sorts of nervous.  Eric claims he knows how to fix it.  I've decided to have faith in him.  We also need to finish touching up the trim and painting the doors to match.

After that, it's just a matter of decorating, refurnishing, and rearranging.  That's the fun part!