I am very excited to show you Lila's new big girl room!
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For Lila's ever growing book collection, I decided to use gutter shelves. I looked at a lot of tutorials, but in the end, I went to Home Depot and bought one 10 foot length of vinyl gutter. I also bought six doohickies for hanging it as well as six end caps. I cut the gutter down to three pieces and hung each piece after using my handy dandy stud finder.
I love using book illustrations as art around our house, so Lila's room was no exception. Babar was a favorite of mine when I was little, so when Johnny and I were in France, I picked up a French version of the original Babar book. I bought three frames on sale at JoAnn's, cut out three pages using a craft knife, stuck them in the frames, and hung them on the wall. Probably the easiest project in the whole room.
I really wanted Lila to have a chalkboard at her level in her new room. Luckily, I had a lot of chalkboard paint left over after painting our pantry door. I drew out a rectangle and then attempted to paint the chalkboard paint inside the lines. Then Lila and I took another trip to Home Depot and bought some crown molding. Johnny measured it out and cut it for us and then nailed it into the wall like a frame around the chalkboard. I have a pole with cups that hang off of it that I plan to install once Lila is a little older and understands that chalk is not for eating.
The last fun thing on this wall is a mirror I hung at Lila's level. She likes to make faces in the mirror and lick her reflection.
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I hate those closet doors that we have all over our house...
obviously. So in Lila's room, we simply took them off and hung some curtains instead. I have some of her hair bows doubling as curtain ties.
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The crib was a Craig's List purchase, and I got the letters at JoAnn's.
To cover the letters, I followed
this tutorial. It was very easy. Just make sure that you don't trace your letters backwards...
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This bed was mine growing up, a gift from my grandmother, Margaret, who Lila Margaret is named after.
The quilt I made was inspired by
this quilt. One fun thing about Lila's quilt is that I got to use scraps from almost every quilt that I have made as gifts over the last few years. Anna Diaz's quilt makes an appearance as well as Aunt Katie's, the quilt from the CCA art auction and a dress of mine along with Aunt Melody's baby girl's burp cloth, to name a few.
I didn't really know that kids Lila's age could have preferences concerning their toys, but Lila absolutely loves dolls. She has two "Didi"s that she loves to hug and kiss and throw out of the shopping cart. (Johnny keeps telling her that as foster parents we are obligated to call social services on her.) So I put my little Madame Alexander Doll collection up in her room. She loves looking at them.
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This box at the foot of her bed is what I used for my dress up box when I was little. Right now it just has toys in it, but I'm excited for her to be old enough to play dress up. I might even let her borrow some of the costumes out of my costume closet that my mom keeps trying to get me to clean out of her house. Yes, I do realize how cool I am.
The curtains I made are ballet pink and white striped. I got the fabric from Home Fabrics and Rugs on 119th and Metcalf. My cousin Melody alerted me to them a little while ago, and it is definitely the best place if you're needing to buy home fabrics at cheap prices. I got this fabric for $6 a yard (which is probably 1/4 of what you'd pay at a regular fabric store), but I have often purchased fabric for as low as $3 a yard.
I'm very happy with how her room turned out. I'm a little tired of painting rooms and sewing curtains but not exactly sure what my next project should be. Suggestions?
