Teen Daughter’s Bedroom Reveal

Last week I shared how we were in the throes of a mini-room makeover for our daughter while she was away visiting her grandparents. While it wasn’t as involved at the makeover our son’s room received ( nor was it a surprise) there was still a lot of labor involved.

Before

In fact, we are still looking for bedding that will coordinate and be something a 14 year old girl likes (harder than it sounds, folks…), so there is still a little work to be done.

After painting the lower walls, updating all the trim to a lighter white, giving all her painted furniture a fresh coat of paint, tearing up the carpet and giving her a torn-paper floor treatment, here is a picture of her room after a week of work:

After
We all love it – I love walking by a bright, clean room (wonder how long that will last?), and she loves the new color and brightness – and it certainly looks like a more “grown up” room.

Before
I’m glad we have pictures of the flowers she painted freehand a few years ago.

After
But she was ready for a change and picked this color from the cover of a book. I took the book to the store and had them match the paint to it. I painted while she was gone and held my breath when she saw it…whew, thank goodness she loved it!

We “shopped the house” for some things including the vintage wedding ring quilt, matelasse coverlet, and decorative pillow to hold her over until we find (or make) something she loves.

Here are some more details of the makeover, including a cost breakdown:

Her dresser (which was both the kids’ changing table…aahh), needed some repair work as well as new paint. The vintage tri-fold mirror was a peach-tan color and now that it’s painted to match the dresser it looks like they belong together!

We replaced the red gingham lamp shade with a plain white one. She’s thinking of painting the lamp base purple…

I removed an emerald green ribbon from the bottom of the curtain panels and replaced it with a green that matched the wall color.

The floor? It’s the same treatment our son got that I thought was a failure. Apparently, I just didn’t wait long enough. After drying for a full week, it flattened out nicely, is wearing well, and gets a ton of comments from people who see it. The lesson? Wait a bit before declaring something a “failure.”

And we’ve got a video tutorial for you tomorrow if you’d like to replicate this treatment in your home, so stay tuned!

We moved this slipcovered chair from another room and combined it with a crook-neck lamp (just out of sight on top of the bookcase) from around the house to create a reading corner for her.

The rug was only $25 at our local home center- it’s 5×8 and plush, so it was a steal!

She’s been asking for a mirror for her door (we don’t have it up yet, have to find some of those darn mirror holders, I know they’re around here somewhere…), and Target had this in the same green color for $5.

She’s definitely not 6 anymore if she’s asking for a full-length mirror. *sniff*

They also had these coat hangers for $2 which I couldn’t resist. Sometimes I really get into the coordination. When I showed them to my daughter she just said, “I don’t want everything green…”

Ungrateful girl.

We left the wonderful sky-blue upper walls and ceiling, but the clouds I painted for my daughter when we moved here were never clear enough. I tried using spray paint instead of a sponge (don’t do it- I could barely breathe…) and they were just too light and most people couldn’t see them.

Well, five years later, I finally went over them with a sea sponge. I included shapes that she could identify laying on her bed, just like we like to do when we lay on the grass in the summer. There’s a flower, a sheep (for counting, of course), and a dog, plus…

A heart right above her bed (yellow outline is for your benefit) to remind her that she’s got my heart.

The cost?
rug- $25
green paint- $22 -$5 mail-in-rebate= $17
floor- $65
white paint (1/2 gallon of our house trim color)= $10
lamp shade- $8
ribbon- $4
mirror- $5
coat hangers- $2
Total= $136.00 -and no more awful old carpeting!

What do you think? Would you have liked a room like this when you were a teen? Was it worth $136?