Home Tour: Big Girl's Room

When the twins were born, Big Girl was 7 years old. We decided to keep her in her bedroom, even though it seems larger than the twins' room. The square footage of the floorplan is actually the same but the twins ceiling is slanted from the roof on one side, making it feel slightly smaller.

Giving the twins the spare room in our house made sense to us. The closet was actually bigger (a plus for two children!) and I wanted to spare disruption to our former only child. I wanted her to not feel displaced, because the arrival of not just one, but two babies, to our home and family was going to be a challenge as well as a blessing. The arrangement has worked well for us.

As we got ready for our new arrivals, painting and fixing up their room, I realized that Big Girl could likely use a little remodel in her room too. We hadn't painted her room in since she was born. The only real changes in her room included switching out her crib for a twin bed with twin bedding, and swapping a small bookcase for a bigger one. Most everything else remained the same, and it was clearly time for a change.

I knew she would embrace it, since she loved watching home decorating shows on TV with me. She saw the twins room come together. So we told her the next year, for her eighth birthday, she would get a "new room." She could help pick out the paint, etc. She chose blue, her favorite color, and we compromised on a shade of blue that resembled the sky.

She poured over catalogs and fell in love with a rather pricey Pottery Barn Kids quilt, so I watched for discount codes to get it and the matching sham. (We reused her simple eyelet lace bedskirt and a curtain valance on the window since they matched.)

And we also found a really cute wall decal that went with the "theme" of quilt: The Scroll Tree. It had owls, and Big Girl loves owls. It was super easy to put up, won't harm the paint if we take it down.

We rearranged the furniture, and added an IKEA Expedit shelving up on its side to hold American Girl things and LEGOs. A green "shag" throw rug from Target was her "grass" to match her blue sky walls.

Big Girl loved her new room, and two years later, it still suits her. We haven't changed much about it -- we added a new lamp on her bureau, and she has a bigger desk for homework/crafts/drawing, but that's pretty much it.

I know in a few years we will update it again for her teen years. Right now, however, I love the peaceful feeling from her room -- it's one of my favorite places in my house -- when it's neat and clean!

The twins room will need an update when we swap out the cribs for beds. I'll take you on a tour of their "nursery" sometime soon! Here's a tiny peek with a funny photo of Big Girl -- when we worked on her room we had her sleep in the twins' room with her mattress on the floor. She loved the big slumber party with her then-infant siblings. (And you can see her old quilt here -- a $20 Marshalls find! I haven't been so lucky to find something like that in a while.)

Crazy sibling slumber party! (2010)