girl

Wow! It’s been a crazy start to the school year with two teenagers in the house. Two years ago my youngest daughter moved into her own bedroom. Her older sister decided at 11 years old, she needed her space and her little sis was cramping her style. Well, come to find out, her little sister knew her style better than she did. After agonizing over paint, bedding and accessories, I had designed a cute room. I was never quite satisfied with it though. She kept telling me she wanted an aqua room but I was convinced that she was just saying that because her sister had the cutest aqua, lime green and tan stripes in her room.

Well, two years later and I just painted this girl’s room aqua. Yep, you heard it right! I figured, while I was already painting the rest of the house and now the basement floor, why not?! She chose the paint, which is Behr Iconic Sky. Very ironic since her middle name is Skye. It was meant to be.

This is a great neutral blue that will match any color you put with it. Orange, red, dark teal, black and white, bubble gum pink, the list goes on. I decided to go very neutral and cheap on the bedding and curtains, so I let her go crazy on IKEA.com stashing all her picks on her list that the website offers for customers. We chose simple white bedding that I can Clorox the crap out of and it will still look and smell clean. For $40 this beats the previous duvet I bought from Pottery Barn, even on clearance.

She chose some super cute curtains and pillows to add to the room. Her room is full of angles and small nooks so we are giving her bed a built-in look by using several pairs of curtains and a piece of wood that runs along the ceiling. I’m hoping the real life display will look the way it does in my head. This is what I have so far.

I still have a bit to do, like create a long, narrow head board with a large black and white stripe fabric. I was able to talk her into letting me print her 1D picture in black and white and frame them. Thank goodness!

Lessons learned: Listen to your daughter. Let her have a say and go with it. Go neutral on the big things. Add splashes of color with inexpensive accessories. Let her create art for the room. Know that in a few years she can take all of this stuff with her and you didn’t break the bank.

Here’s leaving you with some other beautiful rooms using the same paint color.