Improving Home: The Girls' Room, Corner Two

Did I mention the deadline was midnight?

Did I mention the deadline was just for the next corner?

The valance is finally done! I'll show it to you and then give you the long explanation of how it came to be:

First I looked and looked and looked for a plain yellow valance. Finally, I gave up and bought a yellow bedskirt from D.I. (a thrift store) for $1 and sewed a valance out of it. The only problem was, it looked like this:


I hated it. I was thinking it was going to be so easy to just use the bedskirt as it was...but then I realized the lining wasn't gathered like the front. Also I didn't like the white top. That was when I decided to crochet a top from some baby yarn I had that was the exact same color. I was happy that it also added some texture. Then I stole a cute pink bow off a hand-me-down dress that had an ink stain on it. Years ago, I salvaged this lace from some old sheets (I just couldn't throw it away). It was a little too white, so awhile back I used some Rit dye to make it cream-colored.


Then, I sewed that entire crocheted piece on by hand, both top and bottom.

Basically, what I'm saying is I spent WAY too much time making this valance. Hopefully it will seem worth it after my poked fingers heal. And at least I only spent one dollar.

Oh, and guess what I found in the window track when we were hanging the roller shade? The foot to my sewing machine! And did you spy that I painted the hands on the clock? Now I can see what time it is from across the room.

So, the price of corner number two: I don't know what I paid for the laundry hamper: maybe $15? The bedskirt-turned-valance was $1, the roller shade was $6, and so was the flower pot that came from Big Lots. This adds up to $28. Everything else was either gift or hand-me-down (the figurines, table, chairs). Tally: $106 + 28 = $134 so far.

There are only a few things left to do in this room, but my dishes are piling up.

So, I'll see you Sunday maybe?

Improving Home: The Girls' Room, Corner One

So Monday's here, but I'm not. Not really.

I've been sewing until my fingers bleed (from getting poked), but I'm still not ready to show you the after shots.

The good news is, I'm getting so much more done than I would have if I hadn't told you I'd be done days ago. So thanks for that!

I do have one corner that is ready for you:


This is the reading spot I told you about. It is also the dressing area, as you can see. I cannot take credit for the idea of putting books in baskets, but I loved it from the moment I heard it (because sloppy bookshelves hurt my brain). With this set-up, even my baby can put the books away nicely!

I bought the baskets on sale at K-mart, but I don't remember what I paid for them. I think around five for the small one and ten for the big one. The frames are 12 x 12s from Michael's and I believe I paid around five each (I have three) after using a coupon. The paper-towel-holder-pretending-to-be-a-shelf/blanket-holder was in the kitchen when we moved in. I almost got rid of it until I realized how well it matched the shelf on the other side of the window. I purchased the Precious Moments clock for $6 on clearance at K-mart, but I can't read the stupid thing unless I get close. I think I'm going to try to paint its hands black. The dresser was a steal for $75 new from a furniture store. I'll have to tell you the bartering story another day, but there is a scratch on top of this dresser that I covered with this beautiful runner that a friend from Finland made for us when we got married:

The blanket and chair were gifts, so the total amount of money spent on this corner was $106. This sounds like a lot to me, but considering that I was using boxes for my girls' clothes before we got the dresser, the dresser alone has been worth that much to me.

I am giving myself a new deadline (so cool that I can do that): Wednesday, the day after tomorrow.

Fingers crossed.

Improving Home: The Girls' Room After

Is today tomorrow or was that yesterday?

I've had a few snags. My sewing machine is suddenly missing all of its good feet, and you and I both know it's hard to do things when you don't have feet.

I plan to go pressure foot shopping online soon, but because I'm tired of waiting to finish the valance for the window, I started sewing the finishing touches BY HAND last night.

LIKE A PIONEER.

At this rate, it will probably be Monday before I have any pictures for you. Sorry! I do have a sort of chart. Does that excite you at all?

What We Did----------Why

Replaced carpet with vinyl
-----I already told you!
Got bunk beds
-----Because we have two daughters and this room is small
Put shelves in the closet
-----All I can say is: life was messy until we got that done!
Painted a pink room pink
-----Because we had to move the baseboards down
Turned outlets around
-----Because upside-down outlets are annoying
Framed posters
-----Because the swamp cooler made all of them ripple
Included daughter's artwork
-----Because her artwork is awesome
Put in roller shades
-----Because I hate mini blinds and 2-inch blinds are expensive
Made a valance
-----Because I couldn't find a plain yellow one at K-or-Walmart
Shopped at K-or-Walmart
-----Because I have no where else to shop *sniff*
Gave up on yellow bedspreads
-----The only ones I could find online were too expensive or cheap
Bought cream bedspreads
-----BECAUSE THEY WERE ONLY $18 EACH!
Removed kids' bookshelf
-----Because kids' bookshelves always look sloppy to me
Designed throw pillows
-----Because it saved me a lot of money
Glued lace on the lampshade
-----How could I not?

*Acknowledgments: 1. My friend's husband Steve helped with the shelving while they were here ON VACATION. Isn't that nice? 2. My best friend helped me paint the pink room pink. 3. My husband helped me turned the outlets around because I'm way too chicken to try to do something like that myself. I'm also afraid of lightening.

Improving Home: The Girls' Room Before

Now that I have only about a month left before the baby comes, I'm starting to panic about all of my unfinished projects.

REMEMBER THE NURSERY?

Before we get to that, I'd like to show you what we did with the girls' room.

It started out like this:













I wrote about my joy at removing the carpet here (and let's just pretend that it hasn't been a whole YEAR since I started working on the nursery because that's just sad).

The wallpaper was still in good enough condition that with some creative arranging of posters and pictures, we could keep it until we are ready to redecorate the room (which may be never at my speed).

This was how my girls began their new lives in a pink room three years ago. The posters were a miracle. I looked for posters on allposters.com: something to hide all the nail holes. I never would have believed that among the thousands of flower posters I would find an exact match to the wallpaper trim, but I did! The picture of Jesus with the children is an old favorite that I have had since before I married.

So we could have been happy to let this room be, but as the girls have grown (my three-year-old has long since outgrown the crib), this room has become more complicated. Tomorrow I will show you how it went from a room with one bed, one crib, and one changing table, to a room with bunk beds, a table and lamp, a dresser, a reading spot, and a corner kitchen.

The word "tomorrow" may be relative, but I will try!