Before, During, and After -

This past June, my parents decided that they wanted to convert one of their guest rooms into a room for CallieGrace. I was excited when she asked for my help! My mom wanted it to be fun and comfortable and child friendly, but not babyish, so that if they ever needed to, an adult could still stay comfortably in the room. Here is the before picture:

The Ralph Lauren comforter set was pretty, but not washable, and the queen sized iron bed took up the entire room.

As we started talking about what she wanted to do with the room, the first question that came up was about the walls: should she paint them? I hated to see that much work be done (even though my mom loves to paint), plus the yellow was bright and cheery and the walls were in great shape. We decided no, and started looking according to the wall color. It had already been decided that a daybed was needed to maximize the space, and so I gladly took the iron bedroom off their hands.

As she started looking online, she didn’t really find anything that stuck out to her. One afternoon, my parents visited a local furniture store, where they found the most gorgeous, distressed, solid wood daybed. It was perfect for the space and the idea my mom had for the room, and so they brought it home with them. For bedding, we were looking for a quilt and lots of shams and pillows. A quilt could be washed over and over again, enabling CallieGrace to play on it and sleep under it without worrying about the wear and tear. We found one that would thought would look great, and my grandma offered for my mom to use her painting.

I thought it looked fine, but my mom hated it all together, and I’m so glad she did because the final result ended up being so much better. Also, it was decided that the yellow walls had to go, and instead they were painted Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter.

After the paint was finished, we continued looking for the perfect quilt. My mom has always had printed bedding, but she wanted something more modern looking. I remembered the quilt that we were given as a wedding gift. It still looks as great as it did the first time I washed it, but everything it’s washed it gets softer. It’s my favorite blanket we own. She settled on the quilt color, and found the perfect picture to match: a huge painting of a Golden Retriever shaking water off. CallieGrace loves, I mean LOVES, animals, and she especially loves dogs. Whenever we visit my parents, she runs through the house yelling for their Golden Retriever, which also made the Squishmallow Sam a necessity (CallieGrace also loves Squishmallows). She also painted a dresser that she already had in the room, and the kid’s size table set she had kept from when my brother and I were kids. Another special thing she put in the room was a Bluetooth record player. These, paired with the vintage Disney records she had, brought memories into the room as well, making it even more meaningful.

One thing that my mom did was repurpose furniture she already had, making the project more cost efficient. After refinishing the chest, rocking chair, end table, and table and chairs, everything came together into a beautiful, incredible space that we all love.