Lily's Bedroom Reveal!

This post is so long overdue, cheers to me for checking something off my "to post" list!

When we first moved into the dream house Matt and I both agreed that any and all major projects would have to wait. For one, we put our entire life savings down in order to make our offer the most desirable to the sellers and the bank, so putting money into the house right away just wasn't an option. (This was compounded by several thousand dollars in unforeseen expenses that come along with home ownership including but not limited to buying four dump trucks worth of gravel for the road.) Aside from not really having the money for big renovations we didn't have the time or the energy. Matt was still commuting to the city every two days and I was six months pregnant with two toddlers under foot all day.

After a couple of months in the house things settled down, Matt started working from home, and I finally stopped having heart palpitations every time I looked at our savings account balance (sort of). I had started to bug Matt about redoing the kids bedrooms but he didn't really seem all that eager. To satisfy my own itch I decided that I would make Lily's curtains and a matching comforter. I own a sewing machine but had only ever used it to hem skirts and other small tasks. Since there isn't anything you can't learn on youtube I decided to just go for it. I went to the fabric store and spent over an hour choosing "the world's most perfect pinks and purples" per Lily's request.

I used a couple of different websites for step by step instructions to make Lily's roman curtains but the one I found the most helpful was this one. I didn't take pictures of my progress as I went because there are so many great tutorials on pinterest. I am a novice seamstress at best but I have to give myself a pat on the back because I really do think they came out awesome.

After the curtains were finished I moved on to the comforter. I looked up the basic dimensions for a twin quilt but aside from that the design and pattern were made up on the fly. Again, I am not an expert seamstress and if you look carefully it shows...BUT I absolutely love this quilt. I am really proud that I made something so "Lily" from scratch. The quilt took me a loooong time and the learning curve was steep. Making the boys' quilts will hopefully go more quickly...with less cursing. I had enough scrap fabric left over to make two pillow shams too. What can I say, we are just that fancy!

The paint...ah the paint! Matt has a love/hate relationship with the colors I chose. For one they are very "Lily" but they are also very bright. He would have preferred I chose something that complimented the wood a little better but again, they are very Lily, and this is her room. We knew when we chose the paint that we were expecting a boy so it was okay to really just give the girl exactly what she wanted. The purple stripes were a little harder to keep straight and 'sharp' than we anticipated (read: never again are we painting stripes!), but in the end I was very happy!

My sister is so crafty and I am so not...but I am working on it. For her birthday Kate wanted to make Lily something for her room. For as long as any of us can remember Lily has had an elaborate bedtime routine. Every single night each person in attendance at bedtime must give her "a kiss, a hug, a big squeeze, and a snuggle." To immortalize this ritual Kate printed and framed these phrases to hang on her wall.

Last but certainly not least I wanted to add a little something to the empty wall space. I looked up a few ideas before deciding on growth charts for each of the kids' room. Kate and I did the projects from start (going to Lowes for wood) to finish (painting the numbers) in about 24 hours.

In the end I am just so excited that Lily has a bedroom that looks put together, is easy to clean and organize, and most importantly is a reflection of who she is at the magical age that is four!