A Christmas Makeover Surprise: PreTeen Bedroom Makeover

Here is another Christmas makeover I can now share.
My friend, Kim, asked me to redo her daughter, 

Aggie's, room while they were in Colorado over the holidays.

I LOVE this kind of makeover!!!!!!!

Where I can come in and just have my way with a space!!!!! 

And not be in anyone's way while I'm doing it..

And take all the time I need to futz and play...

And have the room be seen only when it's totally finished!
It's like playing house!

Here's what the room looked like when Santa arrived.

This is a difficult room for furniture placement

because of a door to another room off the back of this one.

(See the door camera front? That goes to the little playroom.)

So…as you walk into the bedroom, 

you immediately face the side of the bed.

And the bed cuts the room in half.

I'd like to try to reposition the furniture to open up the space.

Looking left from the doorway, you see this chest of drawers, the

closet door, and a small bookcase over on the opposite wall from the bed.

 

Further along that wall is a window (directly opposite the bed), 

and then back behind the bed on the far wall,

is a long dresser….

 …and to the right of the dresser, 

the door to the little playroom.

I had already painted her grandmother's vintage bed turquoise.

And Aggie had picked out some fun turquoise and white

curtains for the window.

Kim wants to lighten the walls

which are presently this avocado green.

We discussed options, to spunk up the space…

Coral…??
I'm afraid it would be too much.

We finally decided the best solution
would be to keep the walls pretty 

neutral, a nice light gray,

and then use the furniture and accessories for the pops of color.

This way, we won't be repainting in a couple of years.

Kim wants to move the dresser and chest of drawers to another bedroom,
and use this dresser, painted to match the bed.

Maybe a shade or two lighter.

Here's a shot from behind the bed looking at the entrance to the room.

So the house is quiet as a mouse…

Except for me…..

and away we go.

 I selected a Benjamin Moore color, Barren Plains.

 Oooh, it's already feeling much lighter and brighter in here!

After the walls were completed, I repositioned the bed.

I catty-cornered it in the left corner of the back wall.

Next, I brought in the dresser and placed it where the bed had been located.

I primed the dresser and mirror with a gloppy grey primer.

I used the same color as the bed, 

but added white to lighten it a notch,

and painted the base 

and the mirror.

Here are the drawers painted, but then

I decided to do an ombre technique.

I added some of the Barren Plain to the base color,

and used for the topcoat on the bottom drawers;

and I continued adding more for each of the other tiers, 

so that the drawers get lighter on top.

Then I used Annie Sloan Chalkpaint in old white

for the pulls, and then added some dark wax to seal them

 Here is the dresser all finished…….

Hard work completed!

Now the really fun stuff begins: 

Dressing the room!

Oh boy!!!!!!!

You may have seen this spray painted lamp in an earlier blog.

It is perfect here on the dresser.

I pulled in the arm chair from a storage room.

To help protect the dresser top, 

I whipped up this little runner in a tropical print fabric.

I love the pops of orange and coral.

Another storage room find: 

This little frenchy mirror - but it's cracked!

Darn it.

I took a starfish from Aggie's collection 

and used museum putty to 

adhere it to the glass.

It hides the crack perfectly.

(This kind of solution makes me so dang happy…)

I put it above this little bookcase that I brought in from the playroom,

and placed beside the closet.

The shelves have little ledges that are perfect to clip on

her fast growing collection of riding ribbons!

 

Next, colorful bedding options……..

I accessorized with this little rug...

And a tall reading lamp.

For a bedside table, 

we'll use this little decoupaged table I did several years ago.

And I found this poster at a thrift store.

How ironic that I found an artist from Colorado 

while the family happens to be there right now skiing!

T'was meant to be!

 

I love all the colors in this poster. 

I cut it down and placed it in this gold frame.

Lovely above the bed.

 And the gold frame plays off the gold in the lamp.

Isn't it incredible how much space is in this room now?

 And how sophisticated it is? 

This room can grow up with Aggie!

But for now, 

she's still a pre-teen!

 

So Mr. Polar Bear returns...

…and all her fuzzy friends.

Merry Christmas and

welcome to your new room, Aggie!

Love, Santa