Photos of Cottage Childrens' / Guest Bedroom Makeover

I put the the girls room back together today, all except the dresser. It's heavy and hubs will have to help me with that later. I so wish I had the time this week to redo it before we moved it back in! I bought it off Craigslist...it's old(ish) and solid wood. There is a matching nightstand, too, but the previous owners really did a number on it's finish( Gold paint!!!) Btw, the photo of the dresser isn't one I took..it was the sellers pic...I'm just embarrassed for them over that...er...interesting wall behind it, lol! Not my wall, folks! Not my wall! But I digress...

I took tons of photos of the girls' improved bedroom and what will also be our guestroom. As I believe cottage decorating should be, decorative elements will be added over time as I collect things. I just don't have that much now as most of our resources are going into the remodel as opposed to the decor. But, boy, I can't wait until I can truly decorate this house!

As for this bedroom, I know that I need shelves or art or something on the walls and curtains will also be added. I'm still trying to decide between long, flowy crisp white linen or a white drape shade type treatment. And wouldn't it be neat to have some Wonderful Graffiti above the bed? I also need to repaint their closet door and bedroom door.

In time, those doors will be replaced with solid pine doors, but the current ones need all the help they can get right now. Additional future remodeling plans for this room include: resurfacing the walls (with a pitted texture effect) hardwood flooring, pine plank ceiling (painted white), crown moulding, new window sill and trim, and new baseboards and door trim.

Now on to the photos! Like I said, I took a lot and hope I don't bore you silly with them. I tried to take photos of every angle so you can get a feel for the layout of the room. I won't post them all here, but you can see photos of everything we've done to the room in our photo gallery. I want to mention that the "rugs" in the photos aren't rugs at all. I wanted to get an idea of what size and type of rugs to put in there and I'd love to find something sweet in the style and size of these scalloped matelisse king size shams. I'm still throwing around the idea of making a floorcloth though I think with all the colors and patterns going on in the room now, it would have to be really simple. Also, my ivy that's on the bedside table won't stay in the room. A five and six year old would have it toppled in no time! I just needed something to fill in the table space for the photos. The room is so bare... The tiger lilies on the chair replaced the ivy after my little photo shoot:)

If you're new here, just click the photos to enlarge:)

First, the before photo. I wish that I had remembered to take a picture of the room before we ripped out the carpet. It was greyish berber.



I picked this quilt set up at the flea market last year. I had already bought the girls this set at Linens-N-Things and planned on keeping it packaged up and in my closet until we could do a real makeover on their room. The LNT set was a bit pricey and very delicate in some ways (had ribbons and beads on it)...so I decided that I would rather err on the side of durability and buy the quilt set you see in the photos. So far, it has held up well under several washings.









I know...I've gone over the top with all these pillows and shams, but what can I say? I just love all the colors and patterns and fluff! Who wouldn't be happy in a room filled with flowers and checks and polka dots? I bought the green checked sham a while back at a yard sale (I'm sure there is another one around here somewhere) and the old red polka dotted pillowcase at Goodwill. I wanted that pillowcase the first time I saw it but decided not to buy it in attempt to save a few pennies...but the next time I visited the store and it was still there, it was mine!



A flea market chair, Goodwill vase, Pier 1 woven bag and blankets...Tiger lilies from my yard:)



The slipcover and basket are from Goodwill. How I do love baskets!



I may put the girls' dresser on this wall, but then again, I may put it back where I had it (parallel to the bed on the wall across from the window) to give them a bit more room to play. In case you are wondering, we do have a playroom where all of their toys are kept - in big but portable baskets!



I picked this dust ruffle up while I was at Wal-Mart today. It does the job but I think it might be a little too bright compared to the white in the quilt. Maybe even a red dust ruffle would work???


Honestly, I threw this mirror into the room to fill in a little space for the photos. I didn't bother to hang it because I don't think it will stay in there. The girls' dresser mirror will provide just enough reflective goodness in this small room, I think. It screams cottage, though! I got it at Goodwill.



You may remember this sweet little scalloped edged table when I posted about it back in March. I got it at a yard sale for $1. It was in terrible shape but hubs got to work on it and now it's as solid as a rock! He replaced the top and bottom panels and secured the entire table. In the photos, it's only primed because I can't figure out what color to paint it! Still, not too shabby (or I should say, just shabby enough!) for one dollar!



And finally, a clear shot of that bare window! Actually, it does have a woven blind on it, but it doesn't look that great in there. Thoughts about window treatments would be appreciated!



I hope you enjoyed these. You can see that the room is pretty simple but the girls really seem to be enjoying it so far. I'll try to remember to take a couple of shots once we get the dresser back in place.

I'm going to take a break now and will actually be out of town for a couple of days, so until I "see" you next week, you all take care!