Silje’s Room Makeover

With all the photos I posted yesterday, I got not one, not two, but three phone calls yesterday asking where in the world Silje’s new room pictures were.  😉  It went so well.

I give you, her fresh, clean new room.  I think more than the new comforter and sheets, and little things here and there, the biggest difference is that the clutter is gone!  I literally took out 2 large trash bags full of…trash.  I have 1 bag of things she may want back in the next few months during the “I really miss ____ that you took out of my room” conversations she can have with me if she notices I took out something she really uses often.  I removed several toys down to the general play room.  As I mentioned in the previous post regarding Silje’s room, that we cut the number of clothes in her closet in half.  We just took out all the clothes she never wears and just aren’t her style.  My goal was to simplify her life, and make cleaning a bit more manageable.

So the new things in this picture are: the purple comforter.  I got it 50% off clearance at Target.  It’s a queen size, and has 2 shams, but I knew from previous experience that Silje hates 2 big sham pillows on her bed, so I just put one in the linen closet.  I was hoping for a dark purple sequined accent pillow I saw at Target when Silje was with me, but on return without her, I only found this hot pink ruffle one.  It was 70% off at $5, so I wasn’t too sad.  The new lamp was also a clearance find: 50% off.  I got 2 clearance bulletin boards (with that purple leopard print)  that match it that hang above her bed at different heights.

I also finally got some tie-backs for her curtains, which is simply purple glittered tulle.  The big splurge was some new sheets.  They’re hot pink and white zebra print.  It made my eyes hurt just putting them on the bed, but I really think they really jazz it up a lot!

 The shelves in her room have about 90% of the things gone.  Knut thought it was still cluttered.  Silje thought they were empty.  So that must mean that it’s just about right.  She wanted me to leave her kitty collection alone, so I did.  Solveig’s crib was moved over to this wall, so I had to take everything off that wall so she couldn’t pull them down.  Silje was a bit bummed about the bare wall, but I pointed out to her that the wall it was previously against used to be bare, and now isn’t.

The other new thing in the above picture is a little hair clip hanger.  It’s the little pink and black painted wooden dress with ribbons and tulle hanging on the bottom.  The ribbons are for clipping and organizing her hair bows.  I got it at the Hobby Lobby for less than $10.

This was where the crib used to be.  I moved her dresser over to this wall, and completely removed the vanity from the room as it had little storage and was just one more clutter surface.  I’ll keep it for when the boys and girls switch room a few years down the road.  However, before that switch is done, we plan to gut, re-insulate, dry wall, texture and paint this room.  In an old house, it’s never just a paint job…

The boy’s room actually only needs to be painted before the girls move in to the larger space.  However, Knut promised the boys that he wouldn’t make them move into the pink room until we finished the wall project in the girls’room.  Actually I think he’s dragging his feet a bit about it.

You see, the boys’ current room was shared by Knut and his brothers when he was growing up, and I’m told it’s going against nature to move girls in there.  I’ve heard him and one of his brothers discussing whether or not such a move should be permitted.

I don’t take them too seriously.  There will be more girls; the girls will get the bigger space.  Period.

Since she lost her vanity temporarily, I put a little stand mirror that my grandma gave me for Christmas on the dresser.  I moved her old bulletin board, jewelry tree, and beta fish (“Violet”) over here, and added 1 new thing: the “Princess” canvas.  I went through the organizational tubs that I got her a year or so ago, as there was no order to them at all.  Now there’s her Highlights magazines in one, and her Barbies in the other.

I found this canvas also at the Hobby Lobby for less than $10 on sale.  I purposefully put it next to her little mirror.  As she watches herself grow and change, I want her to remember who she really is.  She is “redeemed”, “treasured”, “Daughter of the King”, “beloved” and “beautiful.”  She is a Princess.

Last, I got her something that she’s been begging for for months:

She has this arm chair for reading in here that I got at an antique shop about 2 years or so ago.  I love the French country toile print on it, but Silje…not so much.  She’s not a fan.  She likes the canopy over the chair that someone at church gave her when she was cleaning out her room.  That’s been there for awhile.

What’s new is the really fluffy zebra throw.  She’s been wanting it for ages, so I finally got it as the final touch for the room, to cover up the toile print she dislikes so much.  (She actually changed it after this picture to cover up the chair even more.)  Knut hates it with a passion, as he says it clashes with everything else in the room, so I told him he doesn’t have to use it when he sits there. I know for Silje, it was the cherry on top.

I didn’t get an area rug as I was hoping, as I didn’t find one I liked at what I deemed a reasonable price.  I still have a few stores to visit next time I go to the big city to see if I can find something.  One of my local blog readers has offered me one of her dressers, so I need to stop by her place in the next week or two and see if it will work.  Although the new baby won’t fit in this room, it will be nice to move all the baby girl things in this room’s closet into some workable space!

Silje’s reaction?  She LOVED it!  She asks often “Mommy, can I go up to my room and just…sit?”  I think it’s become such a retreat for her.  She can’t be in there during Solveig’s nap time, but she sneaks in alone time up there as often as she can to bury herself in a book.  She loves how fast it is to clean up now.  She’s been offering to help me downstairs more often.  I’m not sure if she’s just got more time, or if she’s just so grateful.  I know it wasn’t her birthday, and wasn’t Christmas or anything.  However, she’s my hardest worker, and she’s my right hand most days, and I wanted to her to be able to have a retreat all her own too.

David is now very eager for me to get to the boys’ room.  He’s been making his bed and picking up his clothes like crazy to show me that he’s ready to take care of “nice things.”  I love it.

Knut’s reaction?  He was way more excited to see it done that I had anticipated.  He can’t wait for me to do the boy’s room, and finish up all the unfinished things in our room.  He was so excited that it finally “looked nice.”  This whole project was my idea, and I just sort of did it without running it past him much.  I just told him about it and he didn’t say much for or against.  When it was done, though, he was full of praise, and encouraging me to keep going around the house.  That felt good.

And the stuff that I took out?

Well, it’s more organized than at first, shown on my bed here.  (We really need to get a headboard one of these days.  We’ve been saying that for, oh 10 years or so.  We actually went shopping for one once, but of course, once you save up for one, you can’t find any you like.  We don’t exactly like furniture shopping with the kids, and we don’t often get to go shopping without them. We did find one we both liked in a catalog…just 5x our budget giver or take $100.  Ha!  Yup.  That’s the way it goes.)  Anyway, this was about 2/3 of what was removed from Silje’s room.  It wouldn’t all fit on my bed.  A good amount was in the hallway as well as I emptied it all out.  It will require several trips downstairs and out to the garage for donating, throwing, etc.

Right now the piles are still all around our room, because stairs seem to be the death of me during the 3rd trimester.  I like walking, but up and down stairs just hurts after not too long.  So when Knut has a spare moment next weekend maybe, he offered to bring them all downstairs for me, since it’s all now sorted into bags and labeled.

The kids “could” bring the things downstairs, but I just know the moment they get a glimpse of that which they carry, it will be tears and “but I waaaaaant this!” and I’m not up for that fight.  So dark bags and Knut’s arms only.  I can wait.