While everyone has been in panic mode and stuck at home over the COVID-19, we were able to give the shared girls’ bedroom a much-needed makeover. Their room was BAD! In this post, I’m going to show the disgusting before pictures of their room and the final results. Here is the design board I created to help me collect my thoughts on what I would like for the girls’ room and so I didn’t end up with mix-matched items or impulse buying unnecessary items.
Before I get into showing you the girls room, here is a bit of background:
We have three girls sharing a very small room. We were using Ikea’s Kura bed with Genevieve sleeping on the top and Kateri and Avila suppose to be sharing the bottom bed. I say “supposed to” because every night we encountered the same issues of
“so in so is in my bed!!”
“so in so is touching me!!”
and “I don’t want so in so in my bed!!”
EVERY NIGHT was constant bickering. At my husband and I’s wit’s end, we knew we had to separate them. The problem was is we were extremely limited with what we could do.
Here are the honest before pictures of the girls’ bedroom.
This IKEA Kura bed is OLD. We’ve had it for about 9 years. We tried to “improve” it by taking out the messed up panels and painting it but it was like putting makeup on a pig.
The walls were this unpleasant purple color when we moved in and it made the room dark and suffocating in my opinion. All the marks and writing on the walls were done by my kids.
Now for the makeover:
The first thing we did was break down the old Kura bed and threw it out the trash night before we started in their room.
After FINALLY getting rid of the bed it was time for the more exciting part, painting! We did have to prime the walls, which took a couple of coats especially to cover some of the drawings.
TIP: You must prime when painting over a primary/ very pigmented color and/or whenever you are painting a room white.
I really wanted to paint the room white. The goal was to make the room feel bright and clean. I also figured if marks get on the walls, white would be easier to paint over (I could be totally wrong). Also, I just love the simplicity and airy look of a white room! The girls’ room is north-facing which usually means that it’s naturally going to get cooler lighting. It’s recommended that if you paint a north-facing room white to go warm whites to cancel out the natural cool lightening.
Here are the four white paint colors we sampled. Luckily the couple days we were sampling the paint, we went through both sunny and overcast days. This allowed us to get a good idea of the colors in various settings.
From left to right: BM Chantilly Lace, Atrium White, White Dove, and on the bottom Oxford White
Chantilly Lace is definitely a cool, crisp, stark white. Atrium has a subtle pink undertone which we were able to pick up during certain parts of the day. White Dove seemed too creamy/yellowish for our preference. Oxford White has a gray undertone and definitely looked more grayish during certain parts of the day.
Ultimately we went with Chantilly Lace. Chantilly Lace was the most consistent white throughout the whole day. I know Chantilly Lace is not recommended for north-facing rooms being on the chillier side but so far we love it!
We also painted their bedroom door black. We are in the process of painting all of the interior doors in Benjamin Moore’s Black Beauty.
I cannot even tell you how many times I debated back and forth over what to do about the girls’ bed situation. We thought about getting a triple bunk bed but we really wanted a metal one for durability. All the ones we liked were way out of our price range. We also risked it being too high since we have low ceilings. An L shaped triple bunk wouldn’t fit in the space (we measured) either. We thought about two bunk beds but one of them would be completely covering the window. #largefamilyproblems Ultimately we decided on a bunk bed and a single bed.
I found this adorable bunk bed and it is exactly the style I was envisioning for the girls. When I found the matching single bed, I cannot even describe how elated I was. I am absolutely smitten with these vintage style metal beds!
We found these adorable insect bedding for under $20 from IKEA. I mean seriously, how you can pass up bedding for that price!
I bought this gorgeous portrait of Mother Mary with child Jesus from Bernadette Carstensen a few months ago but haven’t found a spot that I wanted to put it yet. After getting the girls’ beds setup, I thought that the perfect spot for this picture would be right above Genevieve’s bed. I have plans of making a wall rosary to put next to it soon.
We added some twine and clothespins above their dressers so they can display their artwork. Hopefully, this will help keep artwork off the actual walls.
The things left on my to-do list for the girls’ room are:
- a gold mirror
- closet makeover
- some type of little nightstand in between beds
- a new light fixture
- getting some throw blankets
- eventually replacing the trim and baseboards.
My goal was to create a bright and airy space with minimal decor to allow their own unique creative artwork and belongings to be what shines in their room. Although things are very black and white, their favorite toys and art are going to be what adds color to their room. I am happy with how their room came out and so far the girls are loving their new room! Even the cats are liking it.
Room Sources:
Bunk bed – Walmart
Twin bed – Walmart
Insect bedding – IKEA
Mother Mary and Jesus picture
Toy basket – Amazon
Metal tray – Hobby Lobby
Curtains – IKEA
Twine & clothespins – Amazon
Dressers – IKEA but no longer sold, THIS is similar. Painted in BM Black Beauty
Walls and ceiling painted in Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace
Don’t forget to pin this!
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