A Sunny Sanctuary for a Little Girl

Rachel
by Rachel
$800
2 Weeks
Medium
Since we moved into our house, our 4 year-old daughter was desperately needing a space where she could create, play, imagine and that wasn't cluttered with hand-me-downs and make-shifts. When you are the youngest, often such is life! However, I got a vision for how to transform and organize the tiny (9' x10.5') room into a sunny sanctuary and got to work!
The before was a chair rail at 1/3 height up the wall, and lots of purple. It said nothing to represent her contagiously happy personality or to inspire creativity. So, here is the list of what I did:


-Removed the chair rail


-Installed board and batten and painted them white-- that whole process was the most difficult part of the whole room makeover mostly because there were 4 inch nails from the baseboards and chair rail into the studs that I had to pull out.


-Painted the walls a pale pink then stenciled them


-Bought a used day bed and spray painted it turquoise


-Bought new bedding and lots of little pillows


-New rug


-Built a roll-away storage trundle to hold all her clothes


-Make a canopy reading nook


-Buy a small bookcase to hold baskets of toys and books
And here is what her room looks like now! Lots of fun, bright colors and patterns!
She insisted on having a hot pink "dresser" as she calls the roll-away storage trundle. :)
Those dividers can easily be removed and it holds a twin-sized mattress too!
The other side of the room has a lace canopy (made from ikea curtain panels, some tassels, and an embroidery hoop) her bookcase with toys and such, and a sweet little gallery wall over it.
She loves to read in this nook, but the funniest thing we discovered is she likes to close the curtains of the canopy and get dressed in there! Funny girl...
I wanted to make some art for her to enjoy for years to come, so I hand-painted this globe with pretty florals and a Bible quote. It was more popular than I thought it would be, and I ended up selling a few more right before Christmas!
This little artwork I bought and hung on her door is one of my favorite things because it is the song I sing to her most often and really is true of her personality, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine". Now her room reflects that sunshine both literally and figuratively! ;)


To see more pictures, and to get the links to the Roll-Away Storage Trundle, Design Plans, and Christmas updates I made to the room over the holidays, see the blog post below!


Rachel
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 6 questions
  • Jean Stewart Jean Stewart on Feb 03, 2016
    Where do you get the board and batten? What do you ask for when you go to the store?
  • Janice cox Janice cox on Feb 03, 2016
    Where did you get the wallpaper and what is the name of it?
  • Beth Davis Beth Davis on Feb 04, 2016
    Rachel, Did the company string the felt balls for you or did you do it? Thanks! Beth Davis : )
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2 of 65 comments
  • Pat Ruge Pat Ruge on Feb 09, 2017
    Lucky little girl to have such a beautiful place to grow and imagine all sorts of things and lucky to have such a loving and caring mother. Just beautiful!
  • Sheryl Monaspa Sheryl Monaspa on Jun 21, 2023

    Cozy and welcoming, thanks for sharing these good vibes!

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