I’m thrilled to report that Miss Seven’s obsession with all things pink has run its course. She doesn’t hate pink, but these days she’s more likely to choose blue or purple as her favorite color, and–get this!–her favorite sweater is charcoal gray. So a bedroom makeover is on the horizon. If you know Miss Seven, you know that although she’s incredibly quiet, she is not without opinions. Very Firm Opinions. I knew I couldn’t get away with redesigning her room myself and springing it on her. Instead, I’ve been using Pinterest to collect ideas to run by her. If she doesn’t like it, I remove it from the board, and slowly we’re narrowing down a vision of her new room.

Here’s the before picture!

The palette we’ve chosen has pale aqua walls, with pops of bright pink and yellow and plenty of white in the furniture and linens. Other changes include:

• a bigger dresser (she’s inherited my old one, and we’re going to strip it and stain it a dark pink)
• a reading nook (yellow wicker chair with bright cushions and maybe her canopy around it)
• a sturdier nightstand with storage
• a different headboard (probably white)
• a larger area rug (I found a large rag rug in multicolored pastels on Craigslist)
• a bigger book case and a large pin board for her art
• declutter and rearrange

As usual, our budget = As Cheap as Possible. I like sturdy furniture for kid’s rooms, but I don’t like investing a lot in pieces that are sure to take abuse. As an example, Miss Seven has a desk that came from my grandparents’ house that I painted white. As these things happen, some nail polish remover soaked onto the desk top recently and peeled away some of the paint. If I had paid good money for a new desk, I would have been upset. But since I only invested some time and spray paint in it, I’m not concerned. One of these days I’ll touch it up and all will be well. Until the next accident!