Bedroom DIY // A Room to Grow With

 For Christmas this year just gone, my girl asked for a bedroom makeover.

"Mum," she said, "I would really love to do up my room. My bedroom was cool when I was six, but I'm ten now and I really need a room I can grow with..."

In my mind it was only recently I'd done up her room in her then-favourite colours of green, pink and aqua, painting a magnet wall that was a mural of rolling hills... but actually it was over four years ago. And there is a huge difference between a little girl of six and a big girl of ten.

 What she wanted now was a room that was monochrome-cool. Black and white with tiny touches of pink. A room to grow with. She had me at "chalkboard wall"...

[ Black Chalkboard paint from Bunnings. A 500ml tin did the whole wall ]

It was a crazy time leading up to Christmas, and I didn't accomplish much more than painting the chalkboard wall and putting the first coat of white on one wall.

Oh and I also gave her tired old desk a spruce up with a can of mis-tinted charcoal enamel paint I spotted at Resene ($8) and some new black glass knobs from Bed, Bath and Beyond ($5 each on Sale)....

DESK DIY: A light all-over sand followed by two coats of water-based enamel applied with a small roller for an even matt finish; The wobbly old chair was originally from TWH. We removed the back and covered the seat with fluffy fabric from Geoffs Emporium.

Everybody knew what to get Miss Fab for Christmas: Room accessories in Black and White.

Really, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves (I found a burst of DIY energy on the Boxing Day and completed the room by 4pm)...

Blackboard Letter "A" and wooden name letters from Typo; Woven heart lights, zebra throw, microfibre duvet set and black floor rug from Bed, Bath & Beyond; Zigzag bean bag from KMart; Cushions from The Warehouse; Existing mirror, curtains, lamp, furniture and accessories re-used & upcycled

To say we are super stoked with the result of this room makeover would be an understatement. It's fantastic. It's stylish. It's fun. It's flexible. It truly is a room to grow with.

Just one more thing needs to be said, a moment which was, for me, the icing on the cake.

On Christmas morning after Miss Fab had opened her various bedroom-accessory gifts, I handed her the final package: two framed black n white prints for her wall.

They weren't expensive gifts, they were pretty much homegrown. The frames were scored from the Bed Bath and Beyond pre-Christmas sale for the princely sum of $11 each. The prints I had made myself, typesetting my daughter's favourite saying for one, and finding an image of a dancer's silhouette for the other. They were printed on A4 paper at Warehouse Stationery for an earth-shattering .20c each.

Like I said, not expensive gifts. But something told me she would love them.
Well.

Christmas morning, this final package was opened and there was a gasp. It was the silhouette print on top, the dancer which looked so like my flexible daughter, it could actually be her.


"Oh mum! I love it! Oh...!" There was a tremor in her voice and tears in her eyes.
Then she saw the second print: "Keep Calm and Dance On..."
The floodgates opened, she fell apart, sobbing.
My jaw dropped as she hugged me, her whole body shaking with sobs.
I mean, I thought (I hoped) she'd like these prints, but never in my wildest dreams could I have anticipated such a response???!! BEST. GIFT. RESPONSE. EVER.

So there you have it. One very happy ten year old girl, one very satisfied mama and a room to grow with.

MY OTHER DIY ADVENTURES

P.S. I've been very busy lately with DIY projects small and large.
Coming soon to a blog near you: Bathroom Makeover, Hallway Makeover, and Scrag's bedroom mini-makeover among others...!

DIY SPECIFICS: White wall paint = Half Sea Fog from Resene (a slightly greyish white, so not too stark); Blackboard paint from Bunnings (a 500ml tin did the entire wall, just); Furniture was re-painted white, using Quarter Thorndon Cream water based enamel left over from Kitchen makeover; charcoal paint used on desk was a water-based enamel found on the mis-tint pile at Resene for $8. I applied the paint on the furniture using a small (mini) roller which was super quick and gave a very even finish with no brush strokes.