I pulled a “While You Were Out” bedroom re-do for the girl while she was on her Great Grandparent Tour of 2008. Her room badly needed repainting, so I started there and added some extra touches to take the room from “elementary school girl’s room” to “middle school girl’s room.”

Here’s the whole set of bedroom makeover photos.

I took advantage of the three-day July 4th weekend to accomplish the project, and began by taping the first section of the room on Thursday night. I had purchased paint and supplies the previous weekend, so when I was ready to get started, I had everything I needed.

The room started off as a pretty deep purple. I was concerned about covering it and did not necessarily want to do a coat of primer. I decided to go to Sherwin Williams and get an education in paint. After a half hour discussion on the benefits of their various paint products, I opted for the Duration interior paint.

When it came to supplies, I headed to Lowe’s and bought paint tray liners for $.67 each and a big roll of 3″ tape.

The room prep took all Thursday evening. It took me quite awhile to get the furniture moved to the center of the room, to tape off the walls and windows and mostly, to remove the curtain brackets which were screwed in very tightly to the walls. It was hot, too so I was pretty exhausted from just this step.

I couldn’t wait to get started though, eager to see the room transform. I had chosen two light shades of blue and decided to do opposite walls. Respite Blue would go on two and Swimming would go on the others.

I started with the Respite Blue, the lighter of the two colors. I was immediately concerned because as the paint rolled on, it looked very white. I pressed on, though and finished the first coat on two walls before I was ready to quit for the day. I completed the second coat early the next morning. I was surprised to find how the color came through as the paint dried and relieved to find that it was, indeed the color I’d selected. I was halfway done with the painting portion of the project by 10am on Friday. It took me a couple of hours to prep the second two walls, primarily

because these walls were more difficult to navigate and because I ran out of 3″ tape and had to make a second trip to Lowe’s. I have decided I will never use anything but 3″ tape, though. That, plus the high quality, more expensive paint is what made this project go much faster and have much better results. I was pleasantly surprised when I pulled off the tape from the first two walls that I did not have a single paint rip and had no touching up to do at all.

 

 As the paint dried, I grew more confident in the color choice. The lighter color really brightened up the room and a fresh coat of paint always makes a room look clean and new.

I got started with the second color, the Swimming blue on Friday afternoon and was totally finished painting the room by Saturday morning. It was the easiest painting job I’ve ever had. Granted, I made it easier on myself by using the wider tape, the better paint and the throw-away paint tray liners - all steps that saved

tons of time and stress. On Sunday afternoon I went shopping for embellishments. I bought fabric in solid purple and a patterned turquoise. I bought a bulletin board and reframed it with the purple fabric. I also replaced a pale pink lampshade with a purple beaded one, bought purple satin ribbon to make tie-backs for the curtains and a blue-framed message board to hang on the wall.

 The girl had been asking for a mirror in her room and I bought one at Target for $10 to go on the back of her

door.

The two shades of blue ended up being pretty closely related — there’s not much of a difference between them. It’s noticeable, but just barely. I was at first kind of dismayed by this but I’m still glad I didn’t go with a much darker shade — it would have been a little too dramatic and the lighter colors really make the room appear larger.

The purple accents were not pre-meditated; it was just so easy to find and seemed to work well with the pale blue. Once I found the lampshade, the rest of the purple followed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found turquoise throw rugs at Pier One for $6 each and decided to brighten up the beige carpet by putting one in front of each of her closets. It took me the better part of the day to clean out and reorganize her closets and while I was shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond I found a closet organizer and a matching “bedside buddy” to help keep her stuff in place.

 

 Her bedspread is the original — she still likes it and the colors still go with the new paint so there was no need to update them.

The bedside organizer will hopefully cut down on the pile of books and stuff she typically has next to her bed. It has several pockets where she can store games, her Nintendo DS, her iPod, books and magazines.  

The closet organizer has a few stuffed animals in it for now, but will be a place for her to store folded clothes or to plan her outfits for the week.

 I developed a fondness for fabric storage bins during other organizing projects this year. I have dark blue bins on the shelves that line the stairs to the basement. They keep our recycling bags in order, our cleaning products and overflow kitchen items neat and organized. I also have a collection of cooking magazines filling one bin.

The boy has brown suede bins on shelves in his room and stores tee shirts in them.

  

I try to pick these up when they’re on sale and found them luckily two for $11 on my shopping day. The girl can store any manner of stuff in them and keep her toy closet organized and neat looking.

In some of the photos you’ll see big blue flower cutouts. From the girl’s last birthday party she had a decorative streamer that she loved, and had hung on her wall. I salvaged the flowers from it and placed them around her room; on the bulletin board, the message board (which is magnetic), on her desk and bookshelf to use as coasters when she has a drink in her room. The color of the flowers happened to match perfectly and she was very happy to see them incorporated throughout.

The whole room redo was not too expensive. Paint and supplies were around $100, the closet organizers and bedside buddy totalled $36, the lampshade was $15, two rugs were $12, the bolt of ribbon and fabric was $15 and the bulletin and message board were about $30.

The girl was surprised (she knew I was painting — but that’s all she knew) and delighted by her room redo which is a good thing because it’s a look that will have to last through high school.

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