Tween Teal Room Remodel

My daughter had a big birthday this year - 10!  And that called for a big birthday gift.  We converted her pretty, pretty princess pink room into a room more reflective of her current tween tastes.  Since she loves all things peacock, we went with a palette of aqua and teal with pops of green and purple.

I also wanted to use this opportunity to improve the functionality of her room, so that meant making a few frugal changes in her furniture.  I didn't want to spend a lot of money on this, so I tried to modify what we all ready had or rely on thrifted and discount finds as much as possible. I'm so happy with the outcome.  Take a look...

We took her walls from pale pink to cool aqua.  I agonized over the color choice.  Too dark and it could have been depressing.  Too light and it could feel cold.  I ended up finding just the right color from Behr at Home Depot.  I always seem to end up picking Behr - something about the saturation and clarity of their colors just feels right to me.  We kept the high white shelves in place - they are so useful for displaying pictures and knickknacks while keeping lower surfaces less cluttered.  The area under her bed is useful for extra storage.  I found some great bins at Michaels to corral nail polish and doll clothes (and does that not say it all about being a tween - halfway between little girl and young woman - sniffle sniffle...) as well as stuff she doesn't need to access daily, like her gear and bathing suits for synchronized swimming.

We modified the arrangement of the room slightly by moving the bed away from the wall and giving her a good sized nightstand with lots of storage.  She is a big reader and needed a place to keep her stack of books and collection of bookmarks.  The nightstand was originally in the guest room and I thought it would be a good fit for her.  I painted it white with green in the cubby and did a harlequin pattern on top using painters tape to help form the design.  That lamp was originally hers, but it is now sporting a deep purple shade - a Goodwill find courtesy of my mommy.

Above the nightstand is a piece of custom art that I created from a thrifted frame.  It was originally a pale peach frame with a colonial blue matting surrounding a poem extolling the virtues of grandmothers.  I snapped it up because I liked the oval shape and that it had a mat all ready.  Once I got it home, I cleaned it up, primed it, and spray painted the frame lime.  For the mat, I painted right over that bad boy with acrylic paint and then slapped on a top coat of glitter for good measure.  I then went to wordle.com and fiddled around until I created something that would fit.  My tween is really into synchronized swimming, so I populated the wordle with terms from the sync rho world.  I was so pleased with how it turned out.  All told, it cost $2 and took less than a hour of active work time.

Hanging from the window is a ribbon chandelier that I made from lots of ribbon and a small embroidery hoop.  The curtains were a close-out find at Ollie's - sheer white with aqua polka dots.  Only $5 a panel!

Her desk resides on the other side of the bed.  With a few modifications to the area, it's a little more functional now.  I covered her original French memo board with a pretty piece of calico that I found at Walmart.  Where the sheer lavender ribbon is stapled to the board, I hot glued iridescent rhinestones.  The pegs holding buckets were originally in our nursery (AGAIN with the sniffling).  I repainted them aqua and wasn't happy with the aqua on aqua look, so I tried to put a opalescent top coat on one to see if I liked it.  I'm still not sure how that will end up - I may just scrap aqua and go purple with those.  On the other side of the memo board are fabric-covered cork boards in pretty thrifted frames (only one is up in this picture, but eventually there will be two - the other one is aqua and as previously mentioned - aqua on aqua it too much aqua).  I'm a big fan of using walls for vertical storage to keep horizontal surfaces clear.  I hope that this helps her to keep her desktop clean and open and ready for work.

After I mounted all of the desk stuff, I found out that my hubby had bought a custom lattice-style memo board for the room at a craft festival.  He was so proud of himself because he NEVER buys decor (or anything really-  he is completely averse to shopping).  I'm thinking we might put that on her closet door since the desk area is full.  Funny story - the craft festival was in North Carolina - my inlaws live there - and when my husband inquired about the color choices, he was informed that (cue pretty southern accent), "his daughter might like this seafoam green and they also have a very nice Richard Petty blue."  Huh?  I've heard of a lot of varieties of names for different hues of blues, but never a "Richard Petty" blue.  Apparently that's a race car driver's signature color?  Can you tell we are not race car fans?  Does one call oneself a race car fan?

Moving to the other side of the room, we kept her 9 x 9 storage cube and swapped out the pink bins for blues, greens, and purple.  She originally had a 3-shelf bookshelf, which was woefully inadequate to hold all of her books, so we swapped it out for a tall bookcase.  We modpodged scrapbook paper onto the back of each shelf to give it some personality.  The books case is large enough to hold lots of books and her American Girl dolls.  Yay - they don't have to live on the floor any more!  I swagged the name banner that I made for her birthday party from curtain to curtain - it adds a nice touch.

Above the cube is a peacock painting we stumbled across at Ross - love it!  And for only $7!  Next to the 9 x 9 cube, we put her teal saucer chair and a little aqua storage ottoman - both from Target.  The ottoman is just big enough to hold a fleecy throw.  With a little lamp on the adjacent shelf, she now has a cozy reading nook to curl up in.

At right angles to the reading nook is her closet and then a little alcove just the right size for her dresser.  We mounted a thrift store mirror that was originally an awful pink and gold color - with a coat of glossy white spray paint, it's perfect in this space.  And then - the piece de resistance...  the custom accessory organizer.  It's made from a thrifted calendar holder.  I removed the back and sanded it down and then stapled chicken wire to the frame.  Next came a coat of primer and some lime spray paint, followed by affixing some cotton batting around the back to prevent the chicken wire from scratching the wall.  After that, I attached the lavender ribbon and screwed little cup hooks around the edge.  I am so happy with this piece.  It's fun and functional.  My tween can now see all of her accessories at a glance.  They are in one central location and are not occupying any horizontal space.  Clips are attached to a ribbon knotted through the wire.  Headbands are tucked into the wire openings.  Necklaces and bracelets dangle from the hooks.  Tiny items are corralled into a hanging bucket.  And pony tail elastics are color coded and loaded onto shower curtain rings suspended from hooks.  This project was worth every ounce of sweat.  If I ever make one again, I will remember that it's easier to snip chicken wire with scissors than wire cutters and it's easier to install screw hooks if you drill a little hole 1st (yes, I am that clueless about hardware) and I will try to find a frame with wider edges so there is more space for stapling.

Lego Storage

We are crazy for Legos at our house.  Both my daughter and my son love them.  My husband and I love that the kids love them, but what we do not love is stepping on Legos - that is no good.  We have several storage systems in place to combat this torture. 

For what I think of as "general" Legos - these are the ones that don't come with a specific set and are used for free play - we have some regular Rubbermaid/Sterlite tubs, a nifty sorting bin with removable compartments, and my personal favorite - the giant Lego head. 

My problem with these solutions, however, is that they don't allow for a way to keep kits and instructions together.  It drives me nuts to spend big bucks on Hagrid's Hut or a Ninjago Rattlecopter and then see the pieces scattered and the instructions lost.  Not to mention mopping up the tears because the kids want to recreate these structures and can't because some crucial, tiny piece is lost in the playroom.  My solution...

... small Dollar Tree snap-top bins.  These are sold in sets of 2 for $1.  I love the bright colors and the secure locking lids. 

They are sized just right for most of our Lego sets and you can fit the instructions right in there with the Legos.   They stack nicely (vertical storage!) and fit well on the shelves in our playroom.

For larger sets, I just look for larger containers.  8x10 Rubbermaid Take-Alongs are great for those and can also often be found at Dollar Tree.

Craft Room Organization - Ribbons

I am a very lucky gal, because I have my very own craft room.  (At this point my daughter would chime in that WE have a craft room.  It's the FAMILY'S craft room.  That's nice and all, but we all know that the craft room is my domain.) 

I love my craft room so much.  It's so nice to have a space that can get messy and have paint drips and beads and sequins and glitter eddying around on the floor.  I find that it really helps me to be more creative when I don't have to worry about being neat.  With that said, however, I do think it's important to be organized, because it's no fun to waste time searching for things or worse, buying duplicates of something because you can't find it when you need it.  Waste is unacceptable to me.  So I'm always on the lookout for ways to organize my craft supplies for optimal usage.  Here are some of my craft room organization solutions specifically for ribbons.

I have a bajillion spools of ribbon - satin ribbon, chiffon ribbon, curling ribbon, you name it.  I store all fabric ribbon on spools in wooden clementine boxes.  The boxes are sturdy and basically free and happen to fit perfectly 4 across and 2 high on one of my shelves.  Each box is assigned to hold a different color family.  Spools are nestled together in the boxes and then stacked 2-high on a shelf.  It's a simple solution that has worked really well for me.  One day I will paint the boxes or label them to make it easy to see what color family is in what box.  Maybe I will paste paint swatches to the front...

For curling ribbon, I decided to keep that near my gift wrap holder.  (A tall laundry basket was perfect to hold those rolls of paper upright.  I keep the paper from unrolling by slitting empty toilet paper rolls and cupping them around the roll.)  I found a clever solution on Pinterest - but I can't find the original post that I got the idea from.  Basically, you thread the curling ribbon spools onto a pants hanger.  Simple, right?  So easy to load the spools and you can see at a glance what colors you have - I clearly have too much yellow.  You don't even need to unload the spools to use - just pull out what you need and snip.

So this is all great for spools of ribbon, but what about ribbon scraps or bits of ribbon that come with wrapped around things you might buy, like pajama sets or a new blanket, or even ribbon that you harvest from things like gift bag handles?  (Yes, I keep all of that stuff.  Don't judge me.)  I have two approaches for those situations.  For longish bits of ribbon, I reuse those clear plastic circles that they sell scarves on in stores.  I just double the ribbon over the rings and hang them on a 3-hook towel rack that I found on clearance at Joann's a few years ago.  Voila!  The ribbon is out in plain sight as a reminder of what I have, is not taking up any storage space (love vertical storage!), AND does double duty as colorful craft room decor, AND does triple duty sometimes when my kids dance and spin and wave the ribbon rings around like little May Day sprites. 

Bits that aren't long enough to hang get rolled up and secured with straight pins and grouped in empty glass jars.  The jars go on  shelf with hooks that I bought from Hobby Lobby (with a coupon!) and painted.  More ribbon rings go on the hooks.

And because you can sort of see my Laundry Room quilted door hanging in one of the pictures, I'll conclude with a pic of the whole thing.  My mommy made it for me and I LOVE it and I love showing off her skills.  She is mega-talented.  Thanks, mom!  It's so cheery, it almost makes me want to do laundry.  Almost.

Yarn Wreaths

I have to confess that I am obsessed with yarn wreaths.  I love them.  So much.  The colors, the texture, the endless possibilities...  love love love.  There are tons of tutorials out there with great step by step instructions with pictures and stuff.  I like this one:  BHG Yarn Christmas Wreath

Here are some of my tips and tricks...

Wreath type:  I really like to use straw wreaths.  The size is just right and allows for a large surface area for embellishment.  The price is good, too.  I always buy them with a coupon, so I generally pay about $2.  The key when using a straw wreath is to LEAVE THE PLASTIC WRAP ON THE WREATH.  Do not, repeat, do not take it off or your house will have straw bits everywhere.  This is not fun.

Yarn type:  I like to do a base wrap with cheap yarn and go over top with a more expensive type.  For the owl wreath below, my base wrap was a skein of gray on clearance ($0.25!).  I used it to cover the wreath in full.  I then went over the wreath again with a more expensive fluffy, multicolor yarn.  I didn't need much of the fluffy yarn as a result, so it's good way to use up scraps as well.

Process:  It couldn't be more simple.  Just wrap your base yarn one time around the wreath form and tie it tightly.  Then just wrap, wrap, wrap until the wreath is fully covered.  When you've reached that point, tie the end of yarn to the wreath and tuck the little tail under the wrap.  I usually work on these while watching TV.

Embellish:  Go crazy here.  The felt roses pictured in the linked BHG tutorial are great and I love to use them (I don't use the template - just eyeball it and cut a spiral).  Don't be afraid to add other things as well.  The owl above is a Christmas tree ornament purchased in the after Christmas sales for $1.  The pink wreath below also features a Christmas ornament.  You could use anything.  Broken jewelry, fabric rosettes, cupcake wrapper flowers, those holiday foam thingies I always seem to see in the $1 section at target...

And incidentally, in some of these pictures you may notice that the wreaths aren't on a door.  I keep my wreaths on "display" all year in my laundry and craft rooms.  They do double duty that way - they brighten up the space and don't take up valuable real estate in my storage area.  Yay for functional, vertical storage!.  Get a couple Command Hooks and you're good to go.