LITTLE MINNIE ME...

This is my 5 year old daughter Lyla's room. I did a Minnie Mouse theme since I call her my little Mini me.  When you ask Lyla what she wants to be when she grows up she says, "Teacher, face painter, dog trainer and mother just like my mom." Though I am not a dog trainer we do have two little dogs named Lacey and Conan that she has witnessed and helped me train. Below is a picture of Lyla reading to her Kindergarten class. I wasn't kidding when I said she is a little Mini me.

So for this design I wanted it to look and feel as though you were walking into Minnie Mouse's bedroom. I painted a bold pink color on the walls. I actually took my daughter's Minnie mouse stuffed animal and brought it to Sherwin Williams where they scanned the color of Minnie Mouse's dress and were able to match the paint color perfectly to an authentic color that Minnie Mouse wears.  Whenever I design a room I find a piece of furniture, art work or prominent feature that will be in the room and pull the colors from there. The worst mistake that many people make is when they purchase paint first and try to match the decor to the paint color. It is a lot easier to match the paint to a feature in the room then the reverse. Trust me I have learned the hard way.
The white polka dots on the wall are removable circular decals that I placed by eye in a random pattern on the wall.

The main feature of every bedroom is always the bedding and what is placed over the bed's feature wall. The bedding was an old comforter that I had used in years past for my eldest daughter's room when she was younger. It features a black and white damask pattern that I paired with pink and white polka dot sheets. I used a polka dot sheet as a bed skirt that I tucked under the mattress on top of the box spring so that you don't see under the bed. I ordered a personalized Minnie Mouse bow pillow from Etsy and layered the bedding with a bright pink furry throw blanket at the end of the bed. In all bedrooms that I design I always have a throw blanket that pulls in a different color from the room. In my opinion it breaks up the bedding and completes the look. The look is completed with an upholstered pink headboard where we rest our heads reading a story each night.

 Over the bed is a large Minnie mouse permanent decal that I purchased on Etsy that has my daughter's  name in pink scripted lettering in the center. This is the main feature in the center of the room . It lends itself to the theme of Minnie Mouse without having an actual picture of Minnie Mouse plastered around the room. Just a side note I get many pieces from the site Etsy. I believe it is important to support my fellow artists and creators and Etsy has all handmade personalized finds that you can't find in big named stores.

The windows have black sheer curtains with rhinestones on them to give a little glam to the room. On top of the night stands are two zebra print lights that match to the color of the bedding. PINK accent picture frames and a musical Disney music box that belonged to my late grandmother is by my little ones side each night playing music for her while she sleeps.

In the corners of the room I have a pink chair that holds my daughter's favorite Minnie mouse stuffed animal and a small pullout kids Minnie Mouse couch which has the cat Figuro from the Disney movies resting in the corner. At the foot of the bed you will find a pink beanbag chair complete with my daughter's name embroidered. Everything that you see in the room was once used by my eldest daughter. The good thing about having all girls is that not just clothes can be passed down. In my home decor is passed down as well. In a few years when my 5 year old grows out of this look I will have another little one that can move right in.

The night stands were bought on Craigslist by my husband. He is a huge fan and peruser of Craigslist. Often times he will show up unexpectedly with off the wall purchases from Craigslist including cars, trucks, birds, cages, atvs, work out equipment ...the list goes on and on and on. Many times I lose my cool when he makes these random purchases without me knowing anything about it. He pulls up in his black lifted Ford pickup (which was also purchased on Craigslist btw) beeping the horn with a huge cheesy smile on his face excited to tell me about how "little" he paid for an item.  I usually blow up on him and his response is always the same..."I could be spending our money on drugs, alcohol or strippers but instead I bought a car or tractor so be happy." My response is always alcohol and strippers cost way less. After a day or two I get over my anger and usually have fun with the treasures he brings home. But this time I surprisingly wasn't upset with his purchase at all.

 He pulled up to the house as he always does honking his horn obsessively. I looked out the second floor window and in the back of his pickup stood 2 dark brown wooden night stands and a large tall dresser. They looked worn and beat up a bit but were made out of beautiful hand carved wood. He said "I didn't tell you because you would have made a fuss and said that it probably had bed bugs or something crazy so I just bought it and I am NOT bringing it back." He was right about the thought of bed bugs but I knew our daughter needed new furniture since the furniture she currently had was our old set and it was literally falling apart and being held together by a single nail. He committed to painting it white so it would look cleaned up and new. A few days later he started hinting around to the idea that he would get out of painting it and tried passing on the task to me. He turned to me as he passively aggressively said "well I got it and now you can paint it." Clearly his attempt at passing this task onto me didn't work. I reminded him of the feeling one gets when they transform a piece of furniture from old to new and he half heartily agreed. The next day he bought cans of white spray paint and painted the furniture inside our garage. The end product were these beautiful white pieces.

Afterwords he looked at me and said, "you know you were right it does do something to you when you make something old new again." I jokingly told him, "don't worry I have our night stands that need to be refinished". "Yeah OK" he replied. But honestly I appreciated the fact that he took the time to help my design and his hard work really paid off.

Whenever I am designing a room I always make sure to have my girls see the hard work I put into preparing and painting a room. I teach them how I find special pieces or choose the perfect decor that will complete the look of a room. It is important for me to show them the fruit of one's labor. Once the room was complete I had my daughter close her eyes and when she walked in I said "open your eyes". Her big dark brown eyes lit up in wonder as she ran to me and wrapped her arms around me tightly and said "WOW mom it is so beautiful. Thank you!"  I reminded her that the room didn't just magically appear like this. Mommy's feet were throbbing and my hands were cramping but I did it so that everyday she could wake up and feel good about the room she calls her own. As she lays her head on her pillow each night and looks around the room she will be reminded of the images of her mother painting away making one room in the house special to just her.

 At the end of every project I do I always remind my little ladies that woman can do anything. "If you can picture it you can achieve it" I always say. My hope is that the work that I breath into my designs will some how transfer into my daughters willingness to never give up. To pursue all of their dreams...knowing that hard work and a little creativity could change the template of their lives forever.