Grace’s Bedroom: Nursery To ‘Big Girl’s Room’ Makeover

I am so excited to finally be able to share Grace’s bedroom makeover with you all today.  It’s been a long time coming, pretty much since she went from her cot to a bed (remember the ‘big girl bed disaster’?) but I wanted to wait until most things were complete rather than show you bits and pieces along the way… although, I think this will be a room I’ll find myself always adding to.  For those who are new to my blog, you can see Grace’s old nursery here so you can picture how it’s changed.  The bedrooms in our house are all pretty small so my focus was on keeping things as spacious as possible.  Nothing I’ve used is overly expensive as I’ve made a lot of things myself or used items we already owned.  So… here’s Gracie girl’s special space…



The first thing you see when you enter the room is Grace’s bed.  She is happy in her low ensemble set up and I’m happy at how easy it is to make each day being on castors.  For her bedding, I’ve used a simple Indira bedspread from Ikea and the patchwork quilt I made her sits on top of that.  I also made the coordinating pillowcase which is at the top of the bed and she has a few others that she alternates between.  The small pillow is actually an embroidered vintage tea towel I bought off Etsy seller Granny Hanna’s Cottage and repurposed.  The wrought iron bedhead is a recent find on Gumtree.

    

A few weeks back, Paul returned home from his brother’s house with a cute little wooden cupboard that he was getting rid of.  It once belonged to my father-in-law so Paul rescued it with the intention of using it in his shed.  When I spotted it in his car however, I knew it would be perfect for Grace’s room.  I had been hunting for a cute little ‘something’ to use as a bedside table for Grace for some time and this find was perfect. I just freshened it up with some primer and a few coats of pale blue paint.  The lamp on top is from Kmart - I just glued some ribbon from my stash along the bottom. 

The artwork displayed above Grace’s bed includes an owl cross stitch I made (I bought the pattern off Etsy from Sewing Seed), a vintage children’s book illustration from My Sunshine Vintage which I framed and a gorgeous alphabet print from One Little Dicky Bird which is such a lovely piece of art for a nursery (it's also available with a pink background).  The ‘Grace’ letters were a gift when she was born.  Hanging from the ceiling above Grace’s bed is the paper doily mobile I made her a few weeks back. 

The previous Ikea Hemnes drawers in Grace’s room have been moved into Sophie’s nursery for use as a change table and have been replaced by the chest of drawers above.  They’re slightly less deep and give more floor space.   I kept the bird decals from Grace’s nursery as I didn’t want to completely alter her room.  They’re from Elephannie on Etsy.  I’ve also displayed a few bits and pieces underneath like a cute blue and white gingham suitcase which stores hair elastics and clips, a framed photo, a wooden box which I painted and covered with some cute scrapbooking paper, Grace's Toy Story figurines and a tissue-box which I covered using the a few tutorials I found via Janette.  

The window nook is Grace’s play corner.  The wooden kitchen in the corner was a combined birthday and Christmas present and has been one of the best things we’ve bought for Grace.  “Mummy, can you sit and play ovens please?” is a common phrase heard around here and she is often found having tea parties with her stuffed toys when she wakes in the morning.  Her play food is kept in a little wicker basket next to it.  Also in the corner is the curio display box I transformed for her (see the before shot here).  Grace displays all her trinkets here.  I love seeing what she classifies as ‘treasure’ (there is currently a purple sequin in the top right compartment).  Shells, feathers, buttons and small toys all have a place to be on show now.  The white Moroccan leather pouffe with pink embroidery I already posted about a while back when I ordered it online from Kuati.  Grace uses it as a little seat.  Next to her chest of drawers, a cane laundry basket stores all of Grace’s dress-up clothes for easy access.

Under the window sill we strung a line of baker’s twine and I made some little butterfly pegs (using mini-pegs from Kikki K I already had lying around and some butterflies which were off some old hair elastics).  This is where Grace displays her artwork.  The floating shelf above the play kitchen displays the vintage style ’classics’ novels I bought for her, some baby toys, a little framed quote (I spray painted a cute frame from The Reject Shop), a brass swan she has taken a liking to (bought from an antique store in Latrobe on our travels around Tasmania) and a pot of wooden tulips which were in my own bedroom as a little girl. You’ll notice the new roller blind in Grace’s room too.  I’m still debating whether some soft sheer curtains on either side of the blind would soften things up a bit and block out that little bit of light that creeps through on either side.   

Hanging beside her wardrobe is a cute little mushroom mobile I bought off Made It seller The Quirky Bird.  My sister brought back the cute bee hook from a trip to Venice.  On the door handle is the wooden bird previously from Grace’s nursery which is now a pretty shade of blue.

And that’s pretty much all there is to Grace’s room. It’s simply decorated, uncluttered, light, bright and pretty. Best of all, Grace enjoys spending time in there which in my book means ‘a successful decorating job’.

Pop back this time next week for a several giveaways I have planned related to Grace’s bedroom makeover…

Girls’ Bedrooms Inspiration

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you've all had a lovely Easter break with your families and not eaten too many Easter eggs!  Anyway, onto this week...

On Wednesday, I will be FINALLY sharing some photos of Grace’s 'big girl room', something I’ve been promising you all for ages now. However, before I do, I thought I’d share a few images that inspired this little makeover to give you an idea of the vision I have had this whole time. Since the rest of our house has a casual/gender neutral vibe, I wanted Grace’s room to be girly and pretty with lots of handmade touches… On my list was…

…a patchwork quilt, sewn by me – I’ve always loved this gorgeous one above made by Kelly McCaleb with its myriad of patterns and colours and a simple design…

…a vintage style bed…or more recently, an antique bed head…

…a place to display the many trinkets and treasures little girls collect…

...a mix of ‘old’ and ‘new’


I’ve come across some great posts recently on decorating children’s bedrooms which you should read if you are about to embark on such a project. Steph’s article on ‘10 Stylish Children’s Bedroom Ideas’ gives some great tips as does ’10 “Somethings” Every Child’s Room Should Have’ over at Apartment Therapy. I discovered both of these after having completed Grace’s room but am happy to see that I’ve pretty much covered these tips anyway.

Pop back Wednesday to see some photos of Grace’s room…

Sources of image above:

#1 Kelly McCaleb

#2 House To Home - photographer not specified

#3 Tracy Nors shown on Ohdeedoh

#4 Jennifer Johner

Grace’s Quilt Is Finally Finished!

Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to type those words? After literally months, Grace’s patchwork quilt (my first one ever) has finally found its home on top of her bed. It was the one project I’d been desperately hoping to complete before bub arrived. However, the main issue I’ve had has been finding the time to actually sit down and sew without interruptions and consequently I’ve had to work slowly on this project doing it bit by bit. Also, my sewing skills are very basic (I’m pretty much self-taught apart from a term’s worth of high school sewing lessons) and so I’ve become very well acquainted with my ‘unpicker’ tool as well as my sewing machine’s instruction book. Being a perfectionist definitely hasn’t helped either.

Thankfully, my friend Kylie has been very tolerant of my numerous quilting questions and another friend from work, Tracy, was willing to drop everything one weekend to help me. She kindly top-stitched the quilt for me on Saturday night with her special ’walking foot’ and attached the binding on, knowing that I was desperate to get it finished and my due date was looming. I am ever so grateful to her.



I’m really pleased with how it turned out. I love the combination of fabrics and colours and like the girly touch it adds to Grace’s room. It isn’t perfect but it’s been made especially for my darling girl with lots of love and that is what makes it so special. It has also been rewarding personally to work on such a large project and it makes me happy to be able to say ‘I made that’. I can’t count the number of times Paul said, “I’ll give you $50 to just go and buy a quilt” as I sat on our lounge complaining about having to unpick a row of stitching for the hundredth time.



For anyone interested, my finished squares are 3 ½ inch. As well as some existing pieces from my stash, I literally bought my fabrics from a whole range of places including Spotlight, Etsy seller This And That From Japan and online store Sunshine and Hunny Quilts. For anyone local to Perth, I also used Calico and Ivy, Patchwork At Homespun, Carol’s of Midland and Southlands Fabric and Sewing Centre. I also included one type of fabric which I cut from an old cotton dress of Grace’s.

So that’s my first ever quilt completed! I’ve really enjoyed getting back into sewing but I think I’ll stick to smaller projects for the next little while. Although, with a newborn due to arrive literally any day, I think my sewing machine will be guaranteed of a rest for the next few months at least…

Where To Hide A Guest Bed

Image from Country Style found via Brabourne Farm

Having a four bedroom house and with one being our study, turning our current spare room into the new baby’s nursery means that we no longer have the space for a spare bed. My Mum and mother-in-law both suggested we hang onto the bed for a bit longer, especially as we’re planning on our baby sleeping in a bassinette in our bedroom for the first six months. However, our bedrooms are tiny and keeping the bed means that the cot would need to be dismantled and stored and I plan on using it for day sleeps with bub so this is not possible. Also, our spare bed is very rarely used. I can count on one hand the number of times it has been slept in since Grace was born when whoever was babysitting stayed the night (if we were going to be out late at function like a wedding).

So, what to do without a spare room any more? I’m considering buying a fold up bed as the ones I saw at a bed shop recently looked considerably more comfortable and larger than the one I remember us having when I was growing up. I’m not all that keen on blow up mattresses and a sofa bed is not an option as we will not need a new lounge any time soon. At least with a fold up bed, I can store it somewhere in a corner easily and drape a nice quilt or something over it to camouflage it a bit.

What do those of you without a spare room do when someone stays over? I’d love to hear your ideas…

Image from Tumblr

My Vision For Grace's Room

Happy Monday! I hope you have all had a lovely weekend. I feel especially good this morning as I finally feel as though I've made a small start on the weekend on the organising projects which have been bothering me. I've almost finished tidying our linen cupboard, I've taken photos of the furniture we need to sell and listed it on Gumtree and Grace's room is slowly coming along as I hunt for / work on various pieces.

On Friday, the Moroccan leather pouffe I ordered from the UK arrived and it is even prettier than I was expecting. To begin with it will have a place next to the bed in Grace's room and then later on go in the living room where it can add a tiny hint of the pale pink I'm after. I stuffed it with rags which I have found to be a good filling and a sturdy weight.

In recent weeks, my ideas for decorating Grace's room have changed slightly. I'm leaning towards slightly more colourful fabrics for the patchwork quilt I'm making with patterns comprising of pink, cornflour blue, white, green, yellow and red. My idea is to provide an eclectic room with different colours as well as modern and older pieces that create a space Grace will enjoy spending time in.



My vision so far includes:

• a pretty patchwork quilt / bed throw made by me in a combination of fabrics
• an older style bed head (either a wrought iron or a cane one)
• a Moroccan leather pouffe to add a pretty touch
• a display shelf of some sort to display trinkets and treasures Grace collects
• a small string of bunting in cute fabrics
• a hanging mobile of either paper cranes or butterflies or a dream catcher
• a magazine rack or wall rack of some sort for book storage
• a play corner for Grace’s ‘teddy tub’ and new wooden kitchen
• a combination of artwork made by Grace and me, including the cross stitch owl above that I have embroidered (remember this sneak peek?)



Any other suggestions for Grace’s room? I have most of the fabrics for Grace’s quilt now and will begin working on it in a fortnight when my friend Kylie is on holidays and able to get me started on the right track. I will give you an update once Grace’s room is looking more complete.

Hope you all have a wonderful start to the week.

Take Two: The New Bed

Photograph by Bob Smith via House to Home

You’re all going to think I’m totally crazy, but I’ve decided to sell the bed frame we bought for Grace. On Thursday night, we bought another ensemble base instead (lower than the one currently in our spare room) to go with our existing virtually new mattress. In hindsight, I think I was sucked in by the prettiness of the bed we recently bought and didn’t think about the practicalities of it or its design.

There were a few reasons for my change of heart. From a practical point of view, I decided that having a bed frame against the wall was going to make it very difficult for me to make the bed. I know many people have such beds against walls, but anything that makes my pregnant life easier these days is a positive in my books and the new ensemble base on wheels makes it super easy to tuck in blankets and sheets. The new base also has no hard edges so I have no fear of Grace hurting herself on the bed either when she sleeps or is running around in her room playing and being a good ten centimetres lower, if Grace does fall out of bed at night, it’s not of concern, especially with a few pillows placed on the floor.

From an aesthetical point of view, the ensemble bed option suits Grace’s room better. While I’ve always preferred the look of a bed base, our bedrooms are super small which means visually, it is important to minimise how imposing the furniture feels. I won’t have the effect of the carpet continuing under the bed, however the extra space we’ve gained is beneficial and most noticeably, the lack of a footboard makes the bedroom feel less ‘closed in’. When we got the pretty bed frame home, I also didn’t like the way the mattress wouldn’t sit nicely within the frame and kept sliding around. The visible slats under the mattress really bothered me.

So, those are the reasons I used to explain to Paul why I had completely changed my mind and gone down the ensemble bed path and why we now have not only our old ensemble base to sell, but also the pretty bed frame. Most importantly however, I feel at peace with my latest decision and Grace has been sleeping pretty well in her new bed since Friday night. Thank you all for the advice you gave me over my bed debacle.

Now it's time to decorate Grace's 'big girls room' and add some pretty touches like those in the image above. To satisfy my wish for a pretty bed, I am going to be on the lookout on Gumtree and Ebay for a nice headboard. For now that’s not a necessity but it will definitely finish off this corner of the room better. I am also in the planning stages of the patchwork quilt I am about to make which I will share with you as I make some progress.

Have you ever made a furniture purchase you later regretted?

The New Bed Disaster

Last night was Grace's transition from cot to bed and it was a monumental disaster that I feel terrible about this morning. On Saturday, we had my cousin's wedding to attend and my mother-in-law was to babysit Grace while we were at the reception. We decided to wait until Sunday for the 'great bed change' so that my mother-in-law would still be able to use the mattress to sleep over. When we arrived home, Grace was sleeping soundly in her cot and I thought to myself how that would be her last time doing so and when she woke in the early hours of the morning (I presumed with teething pain), I actually enjoyed being able to sit in the nursing chair with her for one last time as I comforted her.

On Sunday, I was very eager to set up Grace's new bed so I could begin planning her quilt and the next stages of decorating her room. However, we decided to wait until after her afternoon nap. Paul put it together and it looked perfect once I'd put sheets and a blanket on it. "Like this bed," remarked Grace.


Last night as I tucked Grace under the covers, she appeared content and when we checked on her as we headed off to bed ourselves, she was in a deep sleep. Mission accomplished... or so I thought. Overnight, we had a lot of heavy rain and when I woke to the sound of it around ten thirty, I thought I'd sneak a peek at Grace. As soon as I quietly opened the door, she woke and this is where it all went pear-shaped.

Grace work crying uncontrollably. I tried everything I could to settle her to no avail. Paul was not impressed. He had an early start and a super busy day ahead at work. Why had we chosen tonight for this? Eventually, thinking Grace's pesky two-year old molars must be bothering her, I gave her some Bonjela and Panadol and with a combination of distraction and soothing techniques, she drifted off to sleep and I headed back to our bed around midnight.

Around two in the morning, I was woken by a loud bang and so was Grace. "Something just landed on our roof and has woken her," I grumbled to Paul as he headed down the hallway to Grace's room. Turns out, the loud bang was Grace falling out of bed and whacking her head on the metal frame. She was not a happy camper and as I switched places with Paul, I made the decision that I was wrong. Wrong to have tried out the great bed swap on a night when Paul had an early start and perhaps wrong even in my choice of bed. I dragged the cot back into Grace's room, made it up again (once Paul had moved the bed aside) and tucked Grace in. "Like the cot better," Grace said to me through her tears. She was asleep within minutes and didn't make a sound for the rest of the night.

I lay in bed until three this morning comforted by the rain and the fact that my little girl was sound asleep and that Paul too had drifted off, but I felt terrible and lay awake doubting all the decisions I had made regarding this fiasco. Maybe I should have taken my Mum's advice and started with the single bed mattress on the floor. Maybe I should have checked out the toddler rails my mother-in-law had pointed out in the Target catalogue. Maybe I should have converted Grace's cot into a toddler bed first. Maybe Paul was right and I've chosen a bed that is pretty but not practical for Grace when she is an absolute wriggler and squirmer in bed at night. Maybe I would now have to try and sell not only our super-high ensemble base but also the new bed frame and start again. Maybe a lower ensemble bed is the way to go after all. Maybe I'm rushing these changes considering our new baby will most likely sleep in a bassinette alongside our bed for several months.

Today I'm in a state of disarray and I felt so sorry this morning when Paul headed off to work having had little sleep. I know this change is going to have to happen sooner or later but I think I've stuffed up big time. With my growing belly though, getting Grace in and out of the cot is becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

I hope you all have a better start to your week than the one in our house this morning...

Time For A Big Bed

Image above via House of Turquoise

On Saturday, we went hunting for a 'big girl's bed' for Grace. We feel that she will be ready soon for this change and then I won't have so much trouble lifting her into bed with my growing belly. I'd also like her out of her cot well before our next baby is due so she doesn't feel like she's been ousted from her cot.

We have a single bed in our spare room, but its ensemble base is far too high for our liking to be Grace's first time bed. We've been hunting for something lower, something not too imposing as her bedroom is quite small but something hopefully that will last her for some years to come. We looked at a few options from white wooden bed frames, to pretty wrought-iron look frames and lower ensemble bases. We saw a wooden one we like but it was still too high and the price was a bit steep.

So far, the main contender is a white wrought-iron style bed we've seen. I do like the look of these for a young girl's bedroom, especially when paired with other wooden furniture and room accessories as it helps avoid the 'matchy-matchy' look. Part of me also thinks that a closed in ensemble base might make the room appear smaller than a bed base where the carpet continuing underneath would be visible.

Any advice for choosing first-time beds or for decorating small bedrooms?

Bedroom Colour

A little while back, my sister and I went for morning tea with my Mum. On our way home, we stopped at the flower sellers along Beaufort Street where Mum bought each of us a bunch. The yellow blooms I chose added a nice bright pop of colour to our bedroom where I placed them. I'd never considered using yellow in our bedroom but having these flowers beside my bed made me rather like the sunny touch it added, especially when teemed with the aqua hints already in our room.





I have also been thinking of ideas for something to hang from the ceiling hook in our room to fill in that corner and provide some visual interest. One afternoon, I was playing around with options and strung up the polka dot bunting from Grace's party to get the idea of the possible length I could work with. While the polka dots are the wrong colour for our room, I've decided to try making a new polka dot garland in more suitable colours or perhaps from something like old maps of meaningful places we've visited.



After the busy Christmas season, I'd like to look for two new wall lamps for above our bed and to decide on some new curtains. I have no idea what colour to go with to complement the white, stony greys and dark wood in our room, all I know is we need something fresh. I'm looking forward to adding the finishing touches on this room in the New Year... makeovers in our home seem to take forever!


P.S Thank you all for your comments and recommendations on my kitchen mixer post - I will read them again carefully before I decide to make a purchase...

New Quilt Cover

Monday again! Hope everyone's weekends were lovely. Here in our little household, I'm looking forward to a healthy week with Paul and I over our colds and Grace doing much better too.

As I was flicking through some photos on the weekend, I realised I hadn't shared my new quilt cover with you all. Our main bedroom has remained virtually the same way since we bought our house and is long overdue for a fresh look (you can see a 'before' shot on the right in my sidebar and on an old post here). After months of talking about wanting a white quilt cover, I finally bought one from Ikea a few weeks ago along with a lovely new doona insert from Target which is so much cosier than our old one. Our new carpets and white skirtings have also made a huge difference to this room.

As with all my homely 'to-do' projects, this bedroom update won't be an overnight transformation, but gradually I'd like to do the following:

replace the wall lamps and main light fitting

sew a runner for our dressing table

add some small pieces of artwork

decide on some new softer looking curtains

find some lovely bits and pieces to display

As for my little stools I blogged about here, I'm much happier with the shade of aqua paint now that we have our new carpet and skirtings so I've decided to leave them for now.

I'm on the hunt for some inspiration so I'd love to know what is your favourite piece of furniture or decorative item in your own bedroom? ...

Ikea Stools Finally Painted

Hope everyone is having a lovely week. Our days of sunshine have continued although I just heard on the radio that from tomorrow onwards, cloudy skies are forecast.

I finally got around to painting those Ikea stools I had bought a little while back (see here for the before shots). Thanks to all your advice, I gave them a light sand, a coat of primer and then two coats of paint (a Taubmans colour called Aqua Chintz).

I was happy with them when I was painting away in the shed, but once they were in our bedroom, I thought they may have been a little too bright and that perhaps I should have gone with the Turquoise Frost sample I had looked at. The photo above makes them look blue but in real life they're actually more of an icy green / aqua shade. However, the colour is really starting to grow on me so I think I'll leave them for a little while and see what they're like once we get our new white skirting boards and replace the carpet.

At least I can finally cross an item off my long list of decorating projects!

Disappearing Act

Image source unknown

Sorry for being a terrible blogger and announcing an upcoming giveaway, only to disappear from my blog for a few days. Grace has had a really unsettled week as she is teething and to top it off, came down with a cold last night. So although I haven’t hit the point of exhaustion yet, all these broken nights’ sleep have left me in no way to write coherent, inspiring posts.

So today lovely ladies, I’m leaving you with one of my all time favourite images of a bed I dream to be relaxing in today and catching up on some much needed slumber. I’ve always loved this photo – complete with its incredibly comfortable looking bed, pot of coffee and reading material, it looks like the perfect place to rest.

My next post is #100 so I promise I will reveal my little giveaway then…

Homely One House Tour – Bedrooms and Study

Thank you for all your kind birthday wishes on Friday. I had a lovely relaxing day, received some really beautiful gifts and had a nice time celebrating at night.

To avoid boring you and drawing out my Homely One House Tour too much longer, I’ve decided to group together several rooms. Today I thought I’d share a few photos of our bedrooms.

Our house has four bedrooms – our room, Grace’s, a spare room and one which we’ve made into a study. New carpet and new white skirtings are on our future list of plans for these rooms (we thought we’d hold off until Grace gets a bit bigger). In our study, we are going to paint the windowsill and built-in wardrobe door white as we did in the other bedrooms to brighten it up a bit. Here’s some photos of these rooms - I’ll post some shots of Grace’s room later on in the week in a separate post to show you the changes I’ve made in the nursery lately and I won’t show you our spare room yet because at the moment, it looks as though a bomb has gone off in there (it’s become my dumping room lately).