Designing a Girl's Room: Phase I

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First of all, can I say I can't believe it's March already. How did this happen? I was going to open this post telling you about how a few weeks ago I told showed you the uber cool design that IKEA came up with. Then when I looked at the link I realized it was in December. How did that happen?

Suffice it to say I'm behind schedule. Welcome to my mamihood.

Because I am not rolling in the dough (don't ask me why. Apparently no trophy wife job has opened up yet), I am doing the kid's room in parts. The first part was the hardest to begin: painting.

I bought the paint like 6 weeks ago (or maybe 8). And it has sat there looking at me with accusing eyes as I go about my daily business. A few weeks ago, after hearing "mami, I want to paint my room." for the millionth time I decided to get it done. Of course, I'd do it while she was out of the house because to her, painting is this cool thing that she can do with tons of colors and absolutely no direction. I had a visual of what these walls would look like if she got a hold of them.

After breathing into a paper bag, I got to work. And work I did. The frog princess did come in the room and sat there literally watching paint dry. The only thing that kept me going was her shower of praise (mami, thank you so much for painting my room! Mami it looks so good! Mami, I love you so so much!). I mean really, I could've painted more just to hear her cute voice. Okay, maybe not but, you get the drift.

The color looks great in there though I can't seem to get a good picture of the color in that room since there's little natural light that flows through it.

I waited a second day due to having to do a second coat. The lesson learned: even if I'm using the paint with primer, if you are changing from certain colors just use primer from the beginning.

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The fun part was about to begin. Oh Em Gee! So I've put IKEA furniture together before but never this fast and never this happily. Maybe because I've always had big Billy Bookcases or awesome Expedit desks to work on but seriously, it took me 30 MINUTES to put together. As soon as the linens went on, she jumped right in fully clothed. She's been sleeping in her bed ever since. So, my advice to fellow co-sleeper is: when you're ready to kick the kid out of your bed, go to IKEA!

Better than that were the praises from my child who calls it her princess bed and is astounded at the magic I performed by single-handedly creating her dream with my two hands and a hex wrench.

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The "castle" (canopy) took the amount of time that it took to screw in one of the hooks to hold it. The flower light was super duper easy though I will say the bug light had small screws that didn't fit well. Thankfully, I had a little wall hanging kit that had perfect screws to hold this.

Once everything was up, I decided to put her kitchen to the left of her bed. That was one of the options I'd originally been given. I still don't have the reading chair that goes to the right of the bed but, I think I need to go back to IKEA with a book and just make a day of sitting and reading to see what chair I like best.

More than putting this room together, I loved that I was teaching my daughter that I can do it and by extension, she can too. It's why I'm falling deeper and deeper in love with IKEA.

Not only are they providing me with great products for my home but without realizing it, they're giving me some awesome teaching tools.

Now that half of the room is finished, here's my left brain giving you the numbers. First of all, remember that this is a toddler bed that converts to a twin bed. AND, the mattress does as well which is pretty cool. I opted for a thicker mattress for her but there is a wide range in pricing on the mattresses if you're looking to spend less.

While at first I thought this was a little more than I wanted to spend, the frog princess will be using this bed for at least 5 years. Also, I purchased the leaf but haven't put it up anywhere because I'm not loving how it looks. Rest assured, it will find a good home (I'm thinking in my office). Oh and if you are shopping at IKEA don't forget to check out their as-is section because they have a lot of good furniture there at a very reduced price. Again, a good place to cut down on cost without cutting down on quality.

So, what do you think?

Next up...Phase II

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