Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Butterflies, birds, bunnies, oh my!

Eleanor’s room is filled with special hand-me-downs. The brass bed that my sister and I shared as kids. The crib that both my brothers slept in. The nursery rocker I used for both my babies. The nightstand that Erik and I picked up beside a dumpster in Princeton. (:

We only needed one additional piece to set up her room – a dresser. In our old house, she and Luke shared one and I was looking forward to finding the perfect roomy girly dresser to add in to her room. It took a lot of browsing, but finally I found one I love at the right price point in a resale shop. At first I intended to paint it, but after a good cleaning the original paint has grown on me and I’m not sure I can bear to cover up the vintage yellow.

We painted the walls a pale cool pink, Magnolia Grandiflora by Martha Stewart for Home Depot. I knew I wanted to add in varying shades of pink (my childhood favorite) but it was hard to pin down the color palette beyond that. So I decided instead to choose a few colors to avoid for cohesiveness. I didn’t use purple or blue, and focused on pinks with touches of green, orange, aqua, and yellow.

The meadow creatures theme was prompted by the feather butterflies (purchased used on ebay) that graced the playroom in our old house. We have a butterfly mobile above the bed, butterflies I mounted and framed (below), a silver bunny bank on the dresser, bird finials on the curtain rod, and a few butterflies and birds on fabrics to round out our meadow friends theme. The floral painting adds to the meadow vibe too. I bought it for my bachelorette apartment in an old Victorian house. Erik never liked it, but I’m pleased that he doesn’t mind it in Eleanor’s room. I painted the cast-off nightstand aqua and added new hardware to give Eleanor a library space like her brother.

I dressed the bed in my beloved white matelassé daybed covers, which gives me lots of motivation to keep the kids’ feet clean. Then I added a mix of pillows, all Ebay steals. The metal wreath over the bed was a gift from my mom ages ago and I tied on bits of ribbon to soften it a bit for a girl’s room.

I also love the pink toile curtains (used on ebay) and the little birds on the curtain rod (Lowe’s).

Eleanor still sleeps in her crib which makes the room a little crowded, so part of me is looking forward to when we can put that away and rearrange the furniture. But at the same time I’ll miss seeing our baby sleeping peacefully in her crib!

Now let’s look back at the room when we first saw it with our realtor.

Eleanor loved it from day one too. Look how little she was a year ago!

You may remember that I called this a meadow friends princess room, and there has yet to be any princess paraphernalia! We think that the Ellabelle herself provides enough princess presence to make that a theme without any additional props. Here she is with a pronouncement to her subjects, spunky girl!

We love you Ella-bug and hope you like your room!

XOXOXO, M & D

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