A room fit for the girls

Stas and Lexi share nearly everything and had been spending almost every weekend night sleeping in each others rooms. We finally asked if they wanted to share a room, of course they exclaimed YAY!!! So we took the plunge and decided to create a fun girl room for them to share. I had originally planned to put the room together over a few months and move them in right before summer, but then Tom suggested we get it done in a weekend, so get it done in a weekend we did. Luckily all of the stuff from both of their rooms coordinated so we just repurposed nearly everything.

And look how cute it turned out:









Some of the details of the room:

Lexi's big girl room

We've been working on Lexi's big girl room for awhile, just taking our time because, well, we had time to kill. She's been sleeping on a cot at daycare, so we thought it shouldn't be too much of a transition to move her out of the crib. We finally finished the room the weekend before the end of the year and officially moved her in New Year's Eve. ::knock on wood:: She's been doing great - doesn't cry, doesn't get out of bed, just rearranges her friends and blankets and falls asleep. And stays asleep until morning. We're hoping she doesn't become a bedtime rebel like Stasa. Hoping, praying, begging, pleading.

So, back to the room itself. We had the room painted in a light buttery yellow. I love how light and bright it is in the middle of the day and like our other kid rooms, it's a color that could be for any kid, not your typical pink or purple princess room.





Here's a breakdown of what's in the room.
Bed: This End Up hand-me-down top bunk with both rails, similar
We have both twins that convert to bunk beds, but decided to use just one of the two and to keep both footboards on the bed so we could use the built in bed rails until she's ready to sleep without them.

Bureau: IKEA Malm 6-drawer

Nightstand: IKEA Malm Chest with 2 drawers

Curtains: sheers purchased years ago and hemmed by me; striped fabric from IKEA and sewn by me

Lamps: IKEA from a couple of years ago, similar

Stuffed animal storage: Target

Pillows: all handmade by me with quilting fabrics from Joann Fabric

Rocking chair: bought for ~$5 at a local yard sale and painted by me

Artwork: book covers DIY project: just print out your favorite children's book jackets or pages and frame; gold framed art: Uncle Vince's used paint palettes; birth print (on bureau): DIY with birth stats and framed by me

Things we still need to do:

• Install ceiling fan (we'll probably do this closer to the spring)
• Install wooden blinds
• Clear out the closet, install a closet system, and bring in the rest of her clothes
• Hang last piece of artwork from Uncle Vince

Yeah, I'm getting waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of myself

We didn't move Stasa to her big girl room until she was nearly two years old, so why am I already planning out Lexi's? (NO I'M NOT PREGNANT NOR ARE WE TRYING THANKYOUVERYMUCH.) 


We picked up a couple of neat framed pieces of Vince's painter's palettes and I loved the idea of decorating the room around the colors in them. They're full of color and look so fun! We'll eventually move Lexi into our smaller guest room with the bunk beds. Right now we have crisp white quilts on the beds and I love them because I really love clean white bed linens, but I don't think they're practical for a toddler. So now I'm browsing the internets for handmade colorful quilts. I found a couple on eBay and put bids on them, but man handmade quilts (at least the nice looking ones) are expensive! I don't want anything too matchy matchy, just as long as they have similar coloring, like these:



A small part of me is wondering if we should chance it and put both girls in the same room with the bunk beds as twins. This way we'd still have two guest rooms (and two closets for storage), but then I remember Stasa is a serious bedtime rebel and that might not be the best idea when transitioning Lexi. What to do. What to do. It's not necessary that the girls share a room, especially since we have five bedrooms, but then again, kids share rooms all of the time, right? Well, at the very least it's something to think about and maybe we'll talk to Stasa about it. Either way we'll also need to get a bureau for Lexi since all of her current stuff will stay in the nursery. 

Now I'm off to start pinning stuff on Pinterest since it's going to take me forever to figure everything out and then get it all together.

The beginning of the year

Napping in her big girl bed



Yeah, sometimes we don't change out of our pajamas on the weekends...



Showing Papou how to use the iPad



Pointing our her family members
Papou...



Crazy uncles...



Mommy and Mimi...



Daddy...



Kitty!

Blue bath!

Santa left Stasa a tub of Bath Dropz in her stocking for Christmas and we tried one out the other night and had a blue bath. 









After her bath it was time for pjs, books, and bed.



Stasa thinks her Elmo slippers are actually Muno from Yo Gabba Gabba. She has to wear her "Muno" slippers to bed every night and if they come off she calls out "uh oh Muno!"

Dress-ups and chalk

Stasa found last year's ladybug costume and insisted on putting it on to play. After 15 minutes of admiring herself as a ladybug, she started clawing at her body to take the costume off. 






Then we played with the chalkboard for a bit and she tried drawing trees and circles and eyes.









She quickly became an expert at erasing her artwork. "Bye bye!"






And it's just not playtime without a bit of closet peek-a-boo.



After bathtime she and Tom curled up in her new bed to read some books. 



Nighty night!

Playing in her big girl room

Stasa's Big Girl Room

Introducing Stasa's new room...


I had a lot of fun putting her room together and took on a few extra projects to make it more personal. I made  the ABC art, a pillow cover for the chair, the handprint art, and added ribbon edging to the curtains






I hung the pictures from her nursery and my childhood cross above her light switch.One of Stasa's favorite pieces in her room (besides her piggy bank) is the new family picture collage. We added pictures of all of her immediate family and hung it at her height so she can see everyone that loves her.



I was a bit sad about losing an almost 8' closet, but after installing a closet organizer I realized I had plenty of space to store all of Stasa's stuff PLUS all of her old clothes and other baby items AND still had space to fit all of our luggage in a corner.



And the complete tour: