Saturday 23 November 2013

Owl's you all doing??

It seems like a lifetime ago that our third bedroom looked like this...

 Then it looked a lot like this,

 and this..

While it went through its transition from spare 'dumping ground' room to new bedroom for a four year old.

So why did it take us so long to get Poppy's room done?  Way back when we moved in we worked day and night to get the main rooms ready for our move-in date and get two of the three bedrooms done. Our bedroom and Sasha's both had air con, the third bedroom didn't, (and still doesn't) remember we moved from a freezing cold Pennsylvanian winter to North Queensland in the midst of summer and although we often capture nice breezes in this raised old Queenslander, we weren't going to put our youngest through her first ever tropical summer in a room with no air con.  So we used that to our advantage and held off on finishing her room so that we could a) concentrate on other more important areas and b) use her room as a holding area for all the 'stuff' we had yet to find homes for. I was convinced I had a photograph of her room packed to the rafters with removal boxes but try as I might I cannot find it.  So for the first 5 months she slept in Sasha's Paris-themed room, you can see what it was like back then, here.  (I will do another post next week on what changes were made to Sasha's room once her house guest had moved out!) 

Once the hot, hot summer had calmed itself and our little Poppy Mae had acclimatised we began sorting all the rubbish in her room and started making it her own.  Much like the rest of the house, we kept it all neutral with the bright white walls and ceiling.  We used the same venetian blinds as the other rooms, and added cute black and white tree print curtains from Ikea.  She shares her built-ins with her sister, so we fitted them out with a modular wire framed shelving system.  As for the theme, while we were still in a hotel back in Feb, my sister had sent Poppy a cute little wooden jigsaw jewelry box in the shape of an owl, she also received 3 owl cards and an owl soft toy.
She loved them all, so it was a no-brainer when we asked her what theme she wanted her bedroom to be...OWLS!!  So without further ado, here is Poppy's bedroom in all its owl and 'where-there-is-space-I-will-put-a-toy-or-book' glory...

Oh and by the way, today as I was taking pictures, Poppy asked 'why are you taking photos of my room?"  I told her it was for the blog, and she said, "but I have already done a blog post on my room and things, they will have seen it all already!"  Of course she was talking about her own blog post back here, when I let her loose with my phone and nexus, so yes sorry you may have seen some similar shots of her room already!

The pink circle on the top left of the curtain rail is a tent light.  Once Poppy started to read, we wanted her to have a light she could turn on and off by herself, both safely and easily.  It is controlled by remote and is perfect for night time reading. It has three settings so she can have it as bright or as dim as she likes...perfect!

She used to have a chair in her reading corner but it has been replaced with the dolls house that Sasha used to own but has since outgrown.


An owl made from Welsh coal that Sasha fell in love with on a trip to the UK when she was a baby, now belongs to Poppy who loves it even more!


The flooring in this house is adorable, I love it!

The built-in robe doors are the only thing that's not finished in here, they are on my list to paint this week

Both girls have this awesome Ikea storage unit, we love them, perfect for all their nick nacks


I photographed the owls on her bed sheets and printed them onto canvas printer paper...

...then tacked them onto her curtains so that it all tied in.  When/if she changes her mind about her rooms theme we can snip off the owls and still use these fabulous neutral Ikea curtains.

She chose her own light fitting, not knowing it would create this glorious pattern on the ceiling


She can display her ridiculous amount wonderfully creative amount of artwork by rotating it weekly on her string hanger.  Simple ric-rac held up by tiny command hooks, then her artwork and photos are attached with paper clips
And there is always space on her bedroom door to display her larger pieces, this one is from her last day at Reef School, 'a leopard shark, sea star and jellyfish dancing amongst the coral'


The little miss insisted on having a photo of her sitting regally on her bed as the last picture on the blog post!! 

Can't believe this little cheeky thing starts school in 2 months time!  She had her prep open day this week and on the way home I asked "Are you sure you want to go to school next year?  Don't you wanna stay home with Mummy?"  "No way" she said "I can't wait to go to big school, it's gonna be so much fun"  "But what will I do all day without you?" I asked. "Well", she said, "you can do anything you want to, but in complete peace".   I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!

Kxx

2 comments:

  1. Bless her - I still have another 3 years to wait before I can do anything I want to in complete peace! Perfect room for a little girl - I think everyone has one of those Ikea storage units and I love the string hanger for quick artwork rotation. xx

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    1. Everyone has a little bit of Ikea somewhere in their house Caroline - even those modern minimalist types with designer furniture have some hidden somewhere! We love Ikea - shame our nearest one is in Brisbane :-(

      Cheers, Col

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