She's A Big Girl Now

When we found out that Madeline was going to be a girl, I knew that I would keep the nursery the same and Emmalee would get a "big girl" room.  I wanted to make her big girl room a special place for her - a place that she liked and enjoyed playing in.  So I made the decision to let her make the room her own.

First, I had to pick out the bedspread.  I picked 3 different spreads that I liked, each having their own color scheme or theme.  Then I let her pick the one that she liked best.  She chose the American Sweetheart, which just happened to be my favorite!  I adore all the colors in it and its not too "girly," but still contains some pink so I was able to use several of her name and "E's" from her nursery.

Part of making this room her own was letting her help create things in this room.  She helped create pictures for the wall and she has a craft line that she can hang her artwork on.  Everyday she makes projects at Ms. Kim's house during their "school-time" and this has been a great way to reinforce the letters, colors & numbers she's learning.  

A lot of the decorative items in her room are ideas that I found off pinterest.  They were so great, and simple.  I posted on a "5 on Friday" about some of the projects I wanted to do and you can see it here.  Here are some close-ups of handmade items in her room...

Here's what we did.
1.  I found some beautiful scroll brackets at Canton before Emmalee was born.  I got some crystal knobs and wood and Brant made this shelf for her nursery.  It's perfect to hold the letters for her name.  I knew this would be something that I wanted in her big girl room.  This piece cost us a whopping $15 to create.

2.  I love that the girls' rooms have window seats and I enjoy making them a focal point.  To help make this simple red curtain pop, I used an idea from Pintrest to create this pennant banner to go across the window.  This was made with white cardboard, scrapbook paper, and ribbon - it was that simple.  I adhered the banner to the curtain rod with two bows and I honestly LOVE the touch it gives to the room.  Cost, MAYBE $3.00!!!

3.  If you look at the picture of the dresser area above, you can see that the mirror over the dresser was much smaller than the width of the dresser.  I loved the mirror and wanted to use it, but I needed something to help fill the space.  I found simple thin wood frames for only $2.99 each at Micheal's.  I spray painted the wood, then took the scrapbook paper used for the banner and simple adhered it to the back of the frame.  I absolutely adore the color this brings to the wall and fit perfectly over the dresser.

4.  This is one of my favorite parts of Emmalee's room, mainly because she helped create them - her button pictures.  I just happened to be at Micheal's when they had little containers of buttons for only $1.  I got a small set of craft paints and canvases, heated up my glue gun, then we got to work.  Again, this was another Pintrest idea and I spent maybe $15 on all of the materials.  Emmalee is so proud of her artwork and loves showing all of her friends what she created. This was a super fun project for us to do together.

I have to admit that I truly enjoy how this room turned out.  I feel like it took forever for it all to come together, but now it is one of my favorite rooms in the house.  Emmalee loves her room too, which was so important to me.