DECOR

ASHLEY’S ROOM

My daughter Ashley who’s 13 has been ready for a room update for a few months now.   Actually she’s been ready since early spring.  I didn’t want to stress her out with a chaotic room change during the last few months of the school year so we spent this time discussing paint colors and swapping ideas.  We changed our minds a few times but once school was out we went full speed ahead.  We agreed to update her room into something she could grow with for years but still keeping it age appropriate.  She’s still a mix of sweet little girl but ready for a little more young adult mixed in.

If you like this yellow color its Little Dipper by Benjamin Moore.  It’s a pretty yellow color but she was getting tired of it and you know I love any excuse to redecorate a room!

One thing I was sure of is I was going to be very budget conscious.  I was not going to max out my Pottery Barn credit card.  Nope.  Not happening.  We spent a good couple weeks bargain hunting and pricing around getting ideas for her room.

Do you remember that decor show where 2 couples would switch rooms with a designer and makeover 1 room with a budget of $500?  Was it on Lifetime?  I can’t even remember what it was called or what network it was on but I was thinking about that show the other day.  $500 to redecorate a room you say?  It sounds like a lot but in reality sadly it’s not.  Especially when you factor in high quality paint, bedding, furniture, window treatments, and miscellaneous decor.  Put all this together and it’s a challenge.  So I thought I would give myself a $500 budget and see how I did.  I had no idea what would happen but I had a goal and I hoped I would meet it.

The first challenge I had with Ashley was convincing her she didn’t need a tv in her room anymore.  She hardly ever turned it on and when she did it was just to play an occasional video game.   Seriously the upstairs tv loft is steps outside her room.  She finally agreed the tv in her room was unnecessary (especially when she can watch shows on her iPad anyway).  So away the TV went.  Yay!

We decided on Aloe by Sherwin Williams.  I was formerly a hardcore Benjamin Moore paint lover but I’m starting to be pulled in to Sherwin Williams now.  They have fantastic sales and coupons available and remember I’ve got a budget to follow.  Luckily while I was picking up paint samples the manager told me they would be having a 40% percent off sale the next week!  So I waited and I was able to score an incredibly high quality paint at an incredibly low price.  We went with Duration in matte.  I love matte paint, I’m not into shiny walls but I want a durable scrubbable finish and this fit the bill.

The pink princess canopy bed was so adorable I hated to see it go, but we agreed it was time.  We passed it on to my sweet little niece Lilly who’s almost 2.  I love my Lilly so much!!!  She’s not quite ready for it but I hope she loves it when the times comes!

Keeping with the white and pops of turquoise Ashley and I agreed to add some gray and coral tones.  I found this gray tufted headboard for under $100 at Amazon.  It’s really pretty and seems quality, and it arrived in like 2 days!  Gotta love Amazon Prime.  It’s the Modway Annabel Twin Headboard in Gray.  I love the girly curve at the top!

Next up we added shelves from Ikea.  These are the VITTSJO shelf units.  We were able to eliminate her nightstand and do shelves on both sides of the bed.  It fills the wall space nicely and she has much more room to space her items out now.   In the back of my mind I thought we might spray paint these shelves silver or a different color but we were so happy with how the white looked so we happily left them alone.

All 3 of my kids have always loved to sleep in a huge puff of blankets.  Seriously it drives me crazy.  They want to sleep in a mountain of 5 or 6 blankets.  Sometimes they will pull every blanket out of my linen closet.  It’s gotten so bad I’ve been tempted to put a lock on my linen closet.  Out of sheer frustration one solution I’ve found it to keep 2 comforters on their bed at all times.  Ashley’s original comforter was white and we’re still using that, but I found this patterned comforter at Target that worked with her color scheme.  So we compromised.  She sleeps with 2 comforters, she’s still sleeping in a puff ball just a slighty smaller puff ball, and in the mornings she can fold the 2nd comforter back down at the end of the bed.  Hey….I’ll take it!  I’m still considering the linen closet lock though…haha.

We found this pretty coral accent pillow to match from At Home with Foofie happily resting along the pillow.  My baby is growing up but she still loves her Foofie!

No the carpet isn’t dirty and gross, I think it’s your computer monitor.  Your computer must be defective. You should probably get that checked out.

When we took away Ashley’s nightstand we also took away her nightstand junk drawer.  These container store boxes were just so cute I couldn’t pass them up.  They serve to hold her clutter items and fill in space on the shelves.

The ugly tv was replaced with a pretty mirror, remember this mirror was originally hanging in our guest bathroom before the remodel.  I love shopping my own house.  Mixing up stuff from one room to the other is fun!  If you like it it’s from Pier 1.  When  the tv left luckily the video game console clutter left and the fish…well…he unfortunately took a swim into the ceramic sea.

White task lamps from Target were added to each of the shelves.  She loves being able to pick which lamp to turn on and to adjust the light just right to read.

Hey Foofie….wassup??

When it comes to home decorating never underestimate what a difference eliminating clutter makes.  You can have the most gorgeous room ruined simply by clutter and having a room too full of stuff.  Clearing out the previous clutter on the bookshelf, desk and clearing out the dresser top itself alone made a huge impact.

I really love using trays in our decor.  It protects furniture surfaces, but these perfume bottles would look lost without this tray to anchor them.

Her room faces north, so it can be a hard room to photograph.  The light doesn’t always work with me, so in this blog post you see variations of the Aloe paint shade, I think this photo below is a pretty accurate photo of the true paint color.   The ceiling is still White Dove by Benjamin Moore.  Look at that straight ceiling line!  No tape!  My talent from years and years of painting is I can get a straight line just by hand, I hardly ever use tape when I paint.

Luckily we were able to reuse all her wall decor into her new room.  This dream colorfully wall art is from Pottery Barn Teen.  Previously we removed her closet door, the door was never closed and the open door took up lots of wall space.  We love the curtain method….that is as long as the closet stays clean.

13 is a sweet age, its a mix of little girl and young adult.  While updating her room to more of a young adult look we made sure to keep her little girl favorites that she’s not ready to part with.  Her shelves are filled with special items full of memories.

My little girl is a dreamer who loves to create art, play violin, and all things fish and ocean related.  I think this room fits her perfectly.

She likes having shelves in place of a nightstand.  In fact her words were “you took away my nightstand and now it feels like I have 10 nightstands.”  Haha….I guess so.

If you remember in the before room picture we had blinds that were pulled up.  They were always pulled up.  She loves to sit in bed and day dream staring out the window into the neighbors beautiful yard.  So we went with this white roman shade from JC Penney that fits perfectly.  Of course it was on sale.

Well here is the finished “after” photo.  I do wish I had straightened the bed skirt better for the finished photo….oopsie.  Hey speaking of that bedskirt I got it for $1 at Dirt Cheap.  If you’ve never been into a Dirt Cheap before you’re in for a crazy ride!  Take lots of hand sanitizer, and have fun.  You never know what you’ll find there.

We kept the same light fixture from Pottery Barn Kids.  It has a dimmer switch on it which she loves.  Ok…your computer screen isn’t broken the carpet really is 10 years old, stained and gross.  I’m looking into new carpet options right now.

So how did I do on my $500 budget goal?

2 gallons of Sherwin Williams paint on sale $70

2 Ikea VITTSJO shelf units @$79 each $160

2 white task lamps from Target $16

Coral pillow from At Home $10

White bed skirt $1 from Dirt Cheap (score!)

Roman shade from JC Penny $59 (on sale)

New comforter from Target $28

Gray tufted headboard from Amazon $94

6 decorative boxes from The Container Store $75 (ok that was bad)

Grand total excluding tax because I’m to lazy to add that up is…. $514.  FAIL.  Well I almost made it.  Those boxes from The Container Store really messed up the budget but they were just so cute we couldn’t pass them up!  We loved the gray pattern.

Ashley’s super happy with her new room…and so is Foofie.  It has a fresh updated mature look that can continue to grow with her!  Her room feels so much bigger now.  What do you think?   Thanks for reading!

Laura

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One thought on “ASHLEY’S ROOM

  1. I really LOVE the change. The room looks lighter, bigger and just more relaxing. The color is my new favorite wall. I can’t believe the headboard was such a great deal! Well done.