A Bedroom for a Girl

My dad and mom work with exchange students. My mother told me about a special girl who loved the Lord and hoped to be with a family who would be involved in church. I told my mom, "She sounds like a good fit for our family..." and everything fell into place. Since we have such young kids, I didn't plan on having a teen in the mix for a while. But this girl didn't sound like a difficult addition, and indeed, like she will add sunshine to wherever God leads.

Our guest room was functional storage with a bed. I decided it needed to be more welcoming, and that it would be so fun to add some girly touches into a room (for a change!). Here is the before picture (back when it was a home gym for the previous homeowner).

 

Here is when I stuck furniture in it when we first moved in (complete with an extra toddler bed for our guests with friends)

 

 

We added a bed that we had, and a wooden headboard that someone gave us. The headboard was wood, but I had painted it offwhite for our orignial guest area. However, having a teen girl come inspired me to make it a bit more fun, so I added some white stripes and polkadots.

 

 

I still need to make throw pillows that have the green accent color. The art over the bed I've had for a while. Someone had given me the wooden flat trays years ago, and I had painted a tree on them. My quick update for using them here was to repaint the frames gray to tie it into the rest of the area.

 

Here is a closer photo of the white accents (and magic marker) on the bedknob.

 

 

 

A girlfriend gave me this lightswitch plate when I was a teen. I've used it ever since - loving the little fun detail it adds to a room. My motherinlaw gave me the chalkboard cat - which the boys enjoy decorating from time to time.

 

 

 

Can you guess what my bedspread is?

 

A straight-out-of-the-package shower curtian from Target! Much cheaper option than a real coverlette. I might add some edging in the future, we'll see. One day I want a sewing machine.

  

 

 

This is the desk area. I painted a desk and piano bench to match each other. The desk had a crack across the bottom of one drawer. It functioned fine, but made an obvious line. That was my inspiration to make intentional lines, so I added white stripes. Here is a detail photo of the cracked drawer (which looks normal now that it has a stripe!)

 

 

I antiqued everything so that I didn't have to worry about wear and tear. It'll just look natural this way.

 

 

 

The E is for our student's name. I added a cut out bird to and painted the whole thing gray, with a bit of black rubbed edging.

 

 

These frames were on clearance for $2 at Michaels (and cheaper for the smaller sizes!) so I picked up several. I cut an old cork board to fit, and added a ribbon to cover the seam. So here is my bullitan board. I pulled fake flowers off their steams to decorate the pushpins.

 

 

The clipboard got a modgepodge treatment with a typewriter piece of scrapbook paper. It's super hard to see, but I ordered a pen cup that attatches to the wall. Keeps the clutter up, instead of in your way. It's fun. I also painted the mini-dressmaker gray so that it fit more with the room. (It used to be olive green and gold)

 

 

And I printed off a horse off google images to add another personal touch for our exchange girl, since she likes horses.

 

 

These paperclips where so fun, that I bowled them into the room as a little touch of my green.

 

The chairs were a project my mom did with me. I want them in my livingroom eventually, but until then, they work well to "store" here. The verse sign was 90% off at Hobby Lobby, but I want to move it and put a coat and backpack hook there instead (and frame the hooks with my fun cut outs)

 

The rug was an answer to prayer too. It's from Lowes. We had a giftcard from a faulty product and so this was a free rug. It was something I wanted to add into the room (warmth for the floor) but didn't want to spend $ on, so I asked God for one, and He arranged this for free. Nice.

 

Overall, I used mostly what I had, or things that were given to me (like the curtians). The fabric on the chairs I bought, and the shower curtain, and a few details, but the room came together on a small budget. I'm not totally finished, but it's at least a more welcoming teen room!

 

We can't wait to me the person who is going to be living here! Less than one month...