Tag: interior decorating

Wizard of Oz Inspired Kid’s Room!

I’ve been meaning to really amp up my numbers of inspiration boards*. With a house that’s pretty much “finished” as far as we’re willing to go (trying to pinch pennies helps stem the urge to constantly redo things or buy new [old] furniture) I’ve started creating imaginary rooms for imaginary people. That was always the most enjoyable part of playing The Sims, right? Or is it just me?

For kids rooms, I love going with a theme but at the same time I see the benefit of not going too themey, that is, not plastering the room with a character’s face. Kids hop from phase to phase (okay, okay, adults do this all the time too) so it’s not good to spend TOO much on particular items that fit within a certain theme. I’m also drawn to “reviving the classics,” that is, stepping away from the pre-packaged Disney bed in a bag (I will admit–in elementary school I was dying for any Disney bed in a bag. My neighbor had the Pocahontas set. So lucky).

Here I’ve taken my inspiration from the Wizard of Oz. A movie that here in Kansas is either met with great enthusiasm or great scorn, depending on who you talk to. Anyway, I digress.

This all started with the yellow rug. I love the idea of a soft “yellow brick road” underfoot and the ombré style is very on-trend. Ideally I wanted a poppy bedspread, since that is where Dorothy & her crew fell asleep, but in my searching I came up empty. Instead, I used the Marimekko poppy shower curtain for a graphic punch of red. Yes, it’s polyester and not cotton, but don’t you think it would clean easily? For the bed, I dressed it in a sweet blue but stayed away from Dorothy’s signature gingham because I felt that its rigid geometric properties (it’s a grid) wouldn’t jive as well with the crazy poppy curtain–I wanted a larger scale print. And this whimsical animal print  just stole my heart.

I like a rich wood bookshelf (this one from Land of Nod) with some concealed storage to wrangle books and toys and everything else that comes with being a kid. The dark wood looks a bit more mature, and will last longer, than white laminate particle board (which is common in kids’ rooms). For the paint, I chose a soft gray as a nod to the black and white beginning & end of the film. It will add dimension to the room while still being light enough to bounce around natural light. I also like to think that gray will camouflage scuffs and bumps on the wall which are inevitable. At least it’ll camouflage them a little bit.  Plus, using a neutral color like this makes it easy peasy to change up the room for the next phase–a few years down the road, hopefully.

For those of you who think this room is a little color-crazy, remember it’s for a child, and remember how color-crazy the movie itself is. In fact, Nicole at Making it Lovely shared an interesting article on techniclolor and the Wizard of Oz last week (after I’d begun working on this room, mind you).

Shopping List:

  • Yellow rug here.
  • Marimekko poppy shower curtain here.
  • Wizard of Oz prints here.
  • Lions, tigers, & bears print here.
  • Bedding here.
  • Lions, tigers & bears pillows here.
  • Paint: Sherwin Williams Spatial White here.

Please comment to let me know what you think! Got any ideas? Got any requests for fun kids rooms?

*I know I’m not the only one who hates the term “mood board.” What does mood have anything to do with it? I prefer inspiration because if one can’t buy the exact pieces listed, elements of the board can “inspire” you to look for similar pieces.

Bedroom.

Truly, I couldn’t come up with something funny and/or non-creepy to title this post about the bedroom.

For many, many months after we moved in, this continued to be my least favorite room in the house. The paint color and the grey comforter we had in the old place clashed, clashed, clashed. Fighting shades of gray are almost as bad as fighting shades of black. So, one temporary comforter and one new West Elm comforter later, things started shaping up. We removed the headboard and made the room feel way bigger. I finally love this room :)

First, a shot right after we moved in. It will make you understand why the room made me so depressed:

Second, in case you were wondering: we did not paint! Natural light works wonders. Unfortunately the room gets natural light pretty much only while we’re at work. Anyway, getting rid of the headboard and hanging cream curtains helped, but the temporary comforter was NOT what the doctor ordered:

Now:

Now, I feel like gray, cream, and white can coexist in a small space, with the blue pattern on the comforter playing referee between the three neutrals. The yellow helps lighten the mood! Across from the foot of the bed is our IKEA dresser. Believe it or not, the dresser was easier to assemble than the wardrobe we bought the same day! Here’s a shot:

Here’s the view of the wardrobe (hanging those doors and making sure they were even was the WORST!). The doorway at the left edge of this photo leads to the hall :) I’d like to get more globes to fill up the top of the wardrobe like you see on home interior blogs sometimes. Haven’t come across any while thrifting lately, though!

And a little source list, since I ended up the guest room tour that way… I like to try to prove that a house can look stylish on the cheap. This room, by FAR, we have put the most money into. The mattress, bedside tables, wardrobe and dresser were all bought new. A mattress is not really something you want to buy used, and it is impossible to find dressers at the limited options of thrift stores we have here. These items are, however, more or less the ONLY furniture items purchased new in our house so far!

  • Bed, rather, mattress and box spring on the floor, from Ashley Furniture
  • Comforter, West Elm organic ironwork duvet cover, snagged on SALE for $65. (Can also be seen on the not-very-funny new show Are You There Chelsea?)
  • Wardrobe, IKEA ENGAN $179
  • Dresser, IKEA TRONDHEIM. I guess it doesn’t come in 6-drawer anymore? I think it was somewhere around $175.
  • Bedside tables, Target (Wedding gift cards! Woo! Don’t remember how much they were.)
  • Yellow pillows, Dwell Studio for Target. I waited years for these to finally go on clearance! $17 ea.
  • Curtains, Target $24 per pair (3 pairs, ordered online to get the extra length)
  • Chair with green cushion, found for F-R-E-E at the re-use shed at the dump, reupholstered with materials from JoAnn.
  • Tennis Racquets, thrifted, $3 for 3.
  • Red lamp & burlap shade, both from target, somewhere around $30 together?
I am not putting the dollar signs in to show off how much we’ve spent/invested (depending on your POV). What I’m trying to show is that, minus the mattress (which rang in somewhere around $600 I think?) the room was well below $1000, which seems to be the approximate amount TV shows budget to redo a room “on the cheap.” Personally, I feel like the room looks great, and I’m not sure putting more money into it would even improve on it. What do you think?

There you have it! Questions? Comments? Favorite part? Mine is (obviously) the duvet cover :)

Welcome to my World

After a marathon session of editing and uploading photos last night, I finally have updated the home tour page with photos of the new place!

Can you call a place new when you’re already in month 6 of inhabiting it?

Anyway, here is a teaser shot. Click here to be taken to the full tour!