Alyssa's Bedroom

When I was little, I always asked my parents for a little sister. It was always on my Christmas list. Lucky me, they felt as if we needed another member in our little family and when I was 16, we adopted Alyssa, a nine year old cutie. After a couple years of sharing a room with her, she finally got her own room. A dark green, use-to-be guest room. It worked for the guests and it worked for my brother who had previously owned the room, but it just didn't seem to fit for her.

Just like she has always been, she didn't complain. She LOVED having her own room. She never asked for new paint or a bookshelf. I couldn't believe it. I'd grown up changing my room once a month. I'd learned how to move my bed and dresser at a very young age and I painted my bedroom at LEAST 3 times. No, she was not going to get a green room, not if I was concerned.

I asked my parents if I could have a budget to redo her room. I wanted it to be on the DL and I didn't want much. I just wanted color and personality. They said YES! And I started my plans on a $200 budget.

After 3 month of planning, color scheming, price checking and ordering stuff and hiding it in my closet, along with stuff I made such as pillows and bookshelves, she went to girls camp and I got busy!!     

Forgive me for the poor quality pictures and for not taking more "during" photos. I'm still learning.
After a long process of painting, taping, painting, untaping, taping again, painting again (I know, it seemed endless!) I painted a two-shelf bookshelf, painted the frame on top and bought a basket for even MORE books. (This girl LOVES to read) I made a few pillows and two quilts, the bottom was a turning twenty quilt and the top was from all of her old favorite shirts to comfy up her bunk bed. We used Shan's handy dandy Silhouette to make a saying for over the closet in a color that matched the focus wall and closet. My talented brother, Josh ({S}han's husband) painted the tree on the wall. Last, and my favorite part, I cut up some jeans and an old shirt and made a place for her hair ties, ribbons, bobby pins and earrings for inside her closet.

 We had tricked her into a photo shoot before she left for camp and stuck some of those photos in some matching black frames and put them on her walls above a nice comfy pink bean bag for her to relax and read in.

We had SO much fun, but we were excited to see how she'd react! Guess what? She LOVED it! Her exact words: "Oh my GOSH!" It wasn't fancy and it wasn't expensive but it was her and it was probably the most fun project I have yet to do! Let's see what this blog brings me to do next...

                                     {A}ubry