Lydia’s Room // Week 1

I really don’t like starting another project before we have finished the last but…this is kind of a situation of “if you give a mouse a cookie…”.

We started Sarah’s room refresh last March and we really went for it for a couple weeks and then we stopped. Truly, nothing done, until this last week. Sarah’s room update is for another post. BUT…a big part of Sarah’s room refresh was getting a queen sized bed – this is so we have a nice place for family and friends should they come to visit us 😉

We knew we wanted to give Sarah’s old bed to Lydie – but we also knew that we would need to make some adjustments to it to make it safe for her. So…where has Sarah’s old bed been since last March? In our hallway. It’s been driving me crazy, but also one of those situations where you just get used it, and it has remained there for FAR too long.

Operation: Get Bed Out of Hallway

So New Year and I was ready to get the bed out of the hallway!

We knew we wanted to paint Lydie’s room and her room DEFINITELY needed a refresh – so why put together a really heavy bed if we were just going to have to move it around to paint. So thus started a new project.

Before

I love a good before and after. This was Lydie’s room before. Overall…I am feeling blah.

Oh goodness, I do NOT want to post these pictures of her closet. Yikes. I feel like the pictures make it worse than it is but maybe I am just in denial. The floor is where I have had to pile up Lydie’s pants, tights, handkerchiefs, hats, socks – all those things you can’t hang up. Then there is shoes, boxes of toys, her hamper, and then a whole bunch of medical supplies. It’s been working and I actually know where everything is, but there could definitely be a BETTER way 😳

Closet Ceiling

To start off, Mark painted the ceiling of both girls closets. One amazing thing about our home is that both girls have a walk in closet. It is so nice. But it is not the most organized space. We knew we wanted/needed to add some shelving to make the space work better for us. But first step, was to get rid of the paint. The closets have the same brown paint that we have throughout our entire home – including the ceilings. So Mark painted the ceiling white in both closets. The rest will be painted after Mark finishes the shelving.

Faux Lime Wash

Then on to Lydie’s room!

I knew we weren’t going to add any wall moldings in Lydia’s room but I wanted to do something fun with the paint. I love paint so much – it can change a room! I found an idea to do a faux lime wash effect and we went for it!

We went back and forth on paint colors. My parents got Lydie some darling bedding for Christmas. It has these floral hearts on it and there are quite a few colors going on. I didn’t want to do pink since Sarah’s room is pink – but we went back and forth about greens, blues, or purples.

Ultimately, we decided on blue and I love it SO MUCH.

The painting was a little dicey to start. Mark decided to paint the ceiling first. The ceiling was already white but…the paint job in our house is rough. It drives both Mark and I bonkers. The line for the paint color on the wall probably goes about 1/4 centimeter up onto the ceiling. WHY?!!!! I don’t feel like you even notice it in Sarah’s room but Mark notices it so he opted to paint Lydie’s ceiling so we didn’t have that same problem.

A great thing about Mark – he really is the saying: if you’re going to do a job, do it right! He does it right.

Then onto the limewash. I picked two colors in the same color palette but a lighter and darker shade. Basically we made “x”‘s with a thick paintbrush – half of the paintbrush in one color – half in the other.

Enter frustration.

Another thing that drives us crazy – our highly textured walls. It makes painting so hard. It was not going on great. And doing multiple coats when you are going for a desired effect – we just weren’t sure how that was going to look.

So…we decided to just paint the whole thing one of the colors first – just to cover the brown! So I did that and then Mark came behind me and did the lime wash effect. It worked beautifully!

We love how it turned out!

Lydia’s Bed

Next, Mark got some wood and made another “wall” onto Lydie’s daybed which can be folded down when she isn’t in there – or when we are there helping her – and can be locked into place to keep her safe while she is sleeping. It’s nothing fancy – but it works! And I love it!

Mark also added these snazzy lights around her bed. They can change color and have various brightness levels and the kids all think it is the coolest thing. It is nice for when I need to help Lydie at night so that I can see – and Lydie just thinks they’re fun!

I realized I didn’t get a great picture of the bed with the railing up – I will make sure and get one later.

An added part of the fun was Lydie finally got to move into a big girl bed. I wasn’t sure how she would adjust. The pillow is not for her – she prefers to be flat. But she has done really well with the bedding. We still swaddle her up in her weighted blanket and then just bring the other blankets up – and it has worked wonderfully!

The Fun – DECORATING!

The fun is just continuing in her room. Now we get to add some decor and really just make it sweet and feminine and Lydie. The bonus is there is SO MUCH that I have already have from Sarah’s old room – that will work so well in Lydie’s new room – and other things that we have just accumulated. I think it will feel fresh and new in Lydie’s room – but also isn’t going to cost us a lot! WIN!

Odds and Ends

A couple other things. We got her this floor lamp but I am not sure if I am going to keep it in here. I really like it but I think I want a little something more feminine for Lydia. I think we will add it to one of the boy’s rooms instead. Still deciding.

The final step Mark did this week was to add a new light fixture. It’s been so nice and is such a better light compared to what was in there before.

Lastly, I had a “lightbulb moment” and had the thought of getting a cart for Lydie’s supplies. That way everything stays organized but we can roll it into the closet when we don’t need it and roll it up and have it alongside the bed when we do. It has worked out so well! Still needs some more organizing but we are getting there!

Already adding Lydie’s daybed (which has three large drawers underneath – has given us so much needed storage for Lydie. I have more ideas for once the closet gets done, but storage was very much needed for Lydia’s clothing and toys, but also for all of her supplies.

I can’t wait to see this room continue to come together. And it sounds silly – and I know there are far more important things – but it makes me happy to do it for Lydie. I don’t know why, but we never gave her a unique room when she was born. I made fresh bedding for each of the other kiddos (even when we were in school with NO money!) when they were all born but Lydie just got all of the hand me down things so I am happy to finally give her something that is just HER.