Rhy was in Germany for a school trip for 3 weeks in June/July. While she was gone, we worked on giving her room a makeover.
You might remember we asked for help with a contest for her to win $1000? Well, we didn't win, but the room makeover wasn't really optional, so we plowed ahead.
Everything in Rhy's room was basically a hand-me-down, other than her stuff and the shelving unit on her wall. It was time to make it hers, and make it so she can have her German partner come and stay with us this fall.
This is the before shot of her room:
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| so much stuff, so little room... |
First step was getting everything out of there. She had done a great job of decluttering, and threw away a lot before she left for Germany, but holy cow did she have a ton of stuff! Finally the room was empty. Meanwhile, Jeff found and ordered a queen-size loft for her full-size bed (figure the extra room couldn't hurt, right), and once it came in we commenced with the panting and glittering of all the wooden parts. That took 4 evenings after work and dinner of painting in the garage. Then came Building Day.
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| we brought in the pieces as needed. it really did take a whole day, even though the website said it would take a couple of hours. maybe the twin size only takes a couple of hours... |
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| to give you some perspective, the bottom of the loft is more than 5 feet off the ground. ceilings are 11 feet. I can stand on the mattress and my head does not hit the ceiling. That is her full size bed on its side under the loft in this picture. |
The loft really takes up a majority of the room, but since she can walk under the loft with the slightest duck, and stand up underneath it, it really opens up the space. Jeff used zip ties to lift the chandelier up to the ceiling, which has held up so far. Fingers crossed.
You can't really tell in the pictures, but over top of the gray paint is spray glitter. We now have glitter everywhere. There is glitter all over our garage, which is where we did the work, on the shoes Jeff was wearing when he sprayed it, and on any of us if we touch the bed. Really, glitter is everywhere and it will be forever. Good thing glitter is her favorite color...
Rhy had been using an amour that I had purchased 12 years ago from Target, as well as a vanity that my co-worker Lois gave us. We knew that the amour was not the solution for her clothing needs, and the vanity had too big of a footprint to go back into the room, and so she needed a chest of drawers. We bought it in black with silver pulls.
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| this photo was taken right after she got home - see her suitcase? on top of the chest of drawers is a silver picture frame - $2 from IKEA - and I had printed a photo from her trip that I got from the chaperon and framed for her. I thought it was a nice touch, along with the flowers. |
We need a second sleeping area for when her German partner is here, so we bought a black love-seat hide-a-bed from WalMart (it pulls out into a twin-size bed). Jeff had to put it together, and it's not going to last for decades, but it suits our needs, and will make a nice addition to a college apartment someday. :-)
In the next picture you can also see her curtains. Rhy and I bought the fabric before her trip, and my mom sewed them up for her. It's gunmetal fabric with a sheer gray overlay that has all kinds of sparkles on it. It's a nice addition with the sparkles. I also bought curtain backing, but we haven't added that yet.
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| look at all that floor space! |
While Rhy was in Germany, we took a trip to see family, and had the opportunity to stop by IKEA on the way home. I had seen these picture rails on their website, and knew what I wanted to do with them! They are now where Rhy keeps her nail polish and body spray - and adds some nice color to the room. Also, Jeff put in a set of 3 lights underneath the loft that are on a switch so she has good lighting for reading or doing homework under the loft. Eventually we want to figure out how to incorporate a desk under there.
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| Look at the top of that photo, do you see the fabric in between the slats? IKEA had a loft bed with furs on it like that, this was my "we're too poor for that" compromise. It's so soft! |
I had found these drawing of Ariel (the Little Mermaid) on Pinterest, and wanted to make wall decorations for Rhy with them. I'll put a how-to in another blog. I wanted to buy the prints from the artist, who is on DeviantArt.com, but couldn't find a way to do so.
Up above in the picture of the chest of drawers, this mirror (below) is on the wall. However, it was too high for her to use as it was intended - for her to do her hair and makeup. So she attached it underneath her loft. It's been glittered - the entire frame is silver glitter! I already had the mirror, and all I did was paint Mod Podge on it, and sprinkle glitter on the Mod Podge. Once it had dried, I knew there was enough glitter, and I painted 2 coats of Mod Podge over top of the glitter - letting the glue dry in between coats. Once it was all dry, I rubbed the glitter to make sure it was on there, and yes, it's on there! That glitter won't come off unless you really try to take it off!
I don't envy the girl though, even with a brand new room like this, because she's had to move in again. I guess it's good prep for college, when you move all the time. She really likes it though, and we've had some other projects we've worked on to really do it up right. Watch for more on other projects later!
So, what do you think?
