Feature Friday - Guest Post: Tiffany @ Raising Lemons

Good morning sunshines and happy Friday!

Today I'm doing a guest post over at Family Ever After so go check it out!  Plus, she has an awesome Linky party so if you have completed projects, link them up!



I'm so excited for this Feature Friday because my friend, Tiffany over at Raising Lemons, has been working on this project for a while and now I finally get to see it (and share it with you)!  Take it away, Tiffany.

Hey guys! I am excited to be guest posting over here at The Turquoise Piano. Kelli is my sister's BFF and now Kelli is my friend too. (I'm glad I get to mooch off my sisters for friends.) Today I am revealing my 9 year old daughter's Paris room.

But before the reveal I wanted to give you a little background. I did a post on my parenting blog, Raising Lemons, that I called Battle of the Bedroom. It outlined several ideas I had tried to encourage Elle to keep her room clean. In that post all strategies failed but I learned a good lesson. Finally, this time, I decided to try one last tactic: give Elle her own room where she would have a say in the decor and style.

My theory behind this strategy is that most of us take better care of things we when we have some kind of stake in the outcome- when we own them or choose them and when we can't blame someone else for the mess. I believed Elle would take care of her room if she considered it her room. Plus, Elle was becoming a pre-teen and her room needed to grow with her.

We consulted with each other and Elle told me she really wanted a Paris theme. Her name is French and she has always wanted to go to Paris. I was on board as long as I could add my aesthetic. I envisioned a natural glam sort of room with really neutral colors but where the interest is created in the materials and textures. I wanted to use the glitz of glass, glitter, and metals juxtaposed with the naturals of burlap, twine and wood.

We came together and got to work. (I was hoping it was going to look as good in real life as it did in my head:)

We had to switch bedrooms and she was going into the boys room. We spray painted her bed black and got her all neutral bedding, then we moved her into the boys room.

Here is a before pic of the boy room with her bed moved in there:

We wanted to go with a blush pink on the walls. I had to get just the right color- not too pink; not too peach; but blush. After sampling a few colors, I went with Martha Stewart Ballet Slipper Pink. It is perfect.

Her new bedding was all cream, but I still needed a dust ruffle. I was about to toss out her old dust ruffle because it was so chewed up from the trundle being pushed in and out.

But then I got the idea to keep the beat up dust ruffle and use it as a form. I decided to add lace to it to cover up the holes. I bought some lace on the spool when it was 50% off at Hobby Lobby. Then I layered the different laces and my SIL sewed it on the dust ruffle.

I love how the lace adds contrast, texture, and femininity to the simple, modern bedspread.

The curtains were my next project. I had 2 plans for the curtains. One was to rehang them wider with the edge of the curtain barely covering the outside edge of the window. This would make the window look bigger and grander. My second plan was to make a fabric strip banner to hang over the window.

To make the banner all you need is some fabric scraps and twine. I raided my MILs sewing scraps and bought just a few 1/4 of a yard fabric samples to supplement the scraps stash.

I cut the strips 1 1/2 inches wide and about 2 feet long and tied them in the middle around the twine. I wanted the banner to look random so I literally closed my eyes and put my hand in a bag and pulled out the next fabric strip. I tied on whatever came out.

Can you tell how much bigger the window feels? It made a huge difference.

Now that the bed and curtains were feminized I needed to fix the ugly recliner in the corner that my husband insists on keeping. (I've rocked and nursed every baby in that thing so I'm nostalgic for it too.) It was to be Elle's reading chair.

I took the pillow that we already had and just flipped it over and added flowers that my SIL and I made out of scrap fabric and left over lace from the dust ruffle.

I added this cute tool box I found for $7 by the chair to hold Elle's books. After all, if this is her reading chair, you need to have books close by.

I threw a cream fluffy throw from IKEA over the back of the chair to soften the look as well. And added 2 mirrors from her old room and an old oval frame from an antique store. The reading corner was complete.

My last project (for now) was to feminize the functional area as well. Here is the before when it was in the boys room:

I used those same bulletin boards and mounted them on wood with spray adhesive and covered them with burlap.

Then I added some furniture tacks to the corners.

I switched out the brown hooks for pink ones she had in her old room.

To make it Elle's Paris room, I accessorized with Paris pictures and some picture frames...and glitter.

And no girl's room is complete without a chandelier. I got this one at IKEA. I love how you can see it in all the mirrors around the room.

And probably my favorite part of the whole room is this piece that I found at an antique store. Right now it sits on the unfinished vanity project...

So here is a final shot of the feminized Paris room:

I am still going to add this rug from Dash and Albert when I can justify spending the money:

I am happy to report that Elle has kept her room clean since the beginning of school. She makes her bed every morning and now the fight is over if her brothers and sister can even go in her room or sit on her bed! There is always a battle, but at least this room is clean. I'll take at least one victory.

Before

After

(Kelli again)

Okay, there are soooo many things I love about this room.  My top 3 faves are the chandelier (you know how I love a chandy), how she made the window look huge by hanging the curtains at the edge instead of over the window, and the lace added to the bed skirt -- oh, and everything else.  Head on over to Raising Lemons and let Tiffany know your favorite things about this room!  Check out the rest of her amazing blog too!