A Room With A View

I know a lot of people with little girls. I came across these great photos and decided I'd share some more room ideas for decorating a little girl's space. I tried not to focus on only pink rooms, but there sure are a lot of pink rooms out there! I was thinking back to the rooms of my girlhood and I think I have always gravitated towards pink. I know I certainly had my share of seventies decor, but once I found my feet, I think I had pretty nice rooms. Of course, in those days, wallpaper... the busier the better, was all the rage. I remember some of my rooms being more of a kaleidoscope of colour than anything...

I often marvel how times have certainly changed since I was a girl. The overall attention we pay to our children is unbelievable. Even with regards to decorating, when did it become the norm to give so much thought to our kid's rooms? All of a sudden it has become very important to give our kids these beautiful, stimulating personal spaces...play rooms, swing sets that have grown in size to monumental proportions, playhouses (hey...there's nothing wrong with those!!!), and even personal "home gyms" geared up to our little monkeys with mini rock walls, gymnastics mats, etc., etc.

Is there anything wrong with any of it?? Are we just pampering our kids or are we indulging our own childhood fantasies? It seems like the more money we have, the more we spend on creating this fantasy land in our homes and backyards for our little angels...

My final word is ( and I'm no expert), it is all o.k. as long as we are doing it for the right reasons, we can afford it, and we aren't doing it to make up for the times we are too busy to just enjoy our kids and what they have to "offer". I have been guilty of trying to create these "perfect" play spaces for my kids to enjoy, when all they really wanted to do was to lay at my feet in the kitchen with a toy car or play with their toy kitchen, which by the way, always entertained them better if it was in the kitchen alongside Mummy and/or Daddy. I've tripped over many a small child playing at my feet...

The times, "they are a changin'..." and we roll with them and adapt and decorate!! It is definitely lots of fun to create these beautiful spaces for our kids, and we really do enter into it with the best of intentions. Have fun decorating these fanciful rooms...but be aware... in some cases they just might never actually play or sleep (right Wendy?!!) too often in these magical settings. To kids, home is where the heart is...and you are the heart, or center, of their little worlds...!!

**Tomorrow, I'll continue this talk about playrooms and outdoor play spaces...and show you some great boy's rooms. **

A pretty pink playroom!

I was asked to decorate a playroom for clients who wanted to surprise their little girls (all four of them) for Christmas. The room was formerly being used as a holding room with a futon, some toys and miscellaneous items...we all can relate! The clients wanted the room to be pretty, represent their daughters' interests, and be different from the typical playroom for kids. Their eldest girl loves horses and was not interested in having too fluffy a room. Horses can present a challenge... they are often brown, big, conjure up cowboy hats and spurs, and do make for a great boys room. Since we were dealing with very pretty, feminine little girls- we had to bend this image and make it work!!

Embracing the brown, we added pink to the mix to pretty things up. The client really wanted to incorporate the girls' tire swing in the shape of a horse so I suggested painting it from black to brown, adding pink crystal knobs for eyes, adding a pink mane and tail and the client found pink tape to hide the rope it was suspended from the ceiling by. The carpenter hung it securely from the ceiling joists and giddy up!! Speaking of Giddy Up, I have a great resource I use for those stick on words/images that are so popular today. They do custom work so we decided on "giddy up" in a rope style font with two horses on each end . We applied this above the chalkboard that the homeowner carefully painted and had the carpenter frame in. A little shelf with a bucket for chalk and we had a great place for the girls to unleash their inner artists!

The two other focal walls were addressed: one wall had shelves hung to display horsey paraphernalia and silhouette pictures that I made for the client. A ballet dress was hung in honour of one of the girls' passion for dance. In the corner, the girls' Dad installed a mini plasma t.v. for them to enjoy with their friends. On the opposite wall I wanted to showcase each girl's hobby: horses, dance, and figure skating. The goal was to hang within their own frames a pair of skates, a pretty cowgirl hat, and a pair of ballet slippers. We had no problem finding a pretty hat or slippers, but the skates weren't pretty enough. I suggested they should be painted pink and relaced with pink ribbon, which the client carefully did ( the things we mothers will do for our children). The result was beautiful even though we were unsuccessful finding the shabby chic frames we wanted. We ended up using the moulding Walmart sells to "make your own wainscotting" - it did the trick! Below this display, we set up a pretty reading nook. This particular client is a great shopper with wonderful taste and searched until she found the perfect chair (pink and white toile) at HomeSense. A leather cube from Superstore to hold toys, a mini apple ladder to hold books and a little reading lamp all added up to a spot where the girls could cozy up and enjoy a good book. The crowning glory to the room was a chandelier with pink crystals. So pretty and the girls were thrilled with their new playroom that reflected all of their tastes!!