The Decorologist Makes Over a 7-Year-Old’s Bedroom

Happy Friday!  Today I’m sharing a Decorologist makeover of a darling 7-year-old girl’s bedroom.

 

This is where we began – a new house with existing paint and all the things brought over from the former home.

Girl’s Bedroom Before

 

Mom recently bought this painted hutch for her daughter’s room.  It’s super-cute, but the color is a difficult one to tie into the room.  Kind of a melony-hot pink.  It didn’t work at all with the existing light pink bedding.  And there was too much really dark brown furniture.  Side-by-side is the worst.

Melony-Pink Hutch

 

What to do, what to do?  First thing I did was decide on a new furniture arrangement, which resulted in one small piece of furniture leaving the room.  Then I made a short list of what was needed to pull this room together.  New bedding that tied in with the existing wall color.  Then something to tie into the melony-pink hutch (NOT easy).  And wall art.  In terms of new items, that’s all we needed.  As a Nashville decorator, I know that about an hour in HomeGoods would take care of that!  

Girl’s Room Before The Decorologist Makeover

 

It’s easy enough to order complete bedding/furniture/accessories from catalogs.  But here are the drawbacks:  it’s expensive, it’s impersonal, and then your room is simply a photocopy of countless other children’s rooms.  I believe it’s important to use things with meaning and history, then carefully edit what you have and selectively add special items that pull it all together.  So, let’s start at the entry to the room.  Here was the entry before:

 Bedroom Entry Before

 

In addition to a whole new furniture arrangement, I chose bedding that was a darker, grayed-down version of the wall color so that the room would feel a bit more sophisticated.

Bedroom Entry After

 

Notice how the color on the walls looks richer than the before photo?  It’s the same color in the second photo (Benjamin Moore’s Easter Ribbon 1381), but the darker colors added to the room and the new lamp lighting enrich and warm the space bigtime.   So, here’s the bedding before:

Girl’s Bedroom Before

 

We kept the furniture, cute silver lamp, and mirrored stars.  We purchased new bedding, one new lamp, 2 pieces of wall art, and 2 woven toy baskets – all from HomeGoods.  Here’s the after of the new bedding and styling.

Purple and Pink Bedroom by The Decorologist

 

Here’s the other side of the room before, once again:

 Bedroom Before

 

 And here it is after I finished:

 Bedroom After

 

The pillows were the key to tying this room together, in regard to colors.  I found these funky paisley pillows that not only worked with the purple bedding, but brought in a mixture of pinks – including that difficult melony one – to make the whole room feel cohesive.  Then we lucked up and found almost identical sheets (but my another maker!).

 Purple Bedding & Paisley Pillows

 

That and the 2 melony-pink toy baskets were enough to make that hutch feel like it belonged in the room afterall!

Little Girl’s Room by The Decorologist

 

Almost makes me wish I were a little girl again!  Don’t you just want to come over and play?

15 Comments

  1. Radhika

    Lovely bedding! The pillows are beautiful!

    I Love the color on the wall.

    Reply
  2. Kelly

    Wow! What a great job! Looks like a totally different bedroom. I bet she loves her new bedroom and yes, I do want to come over and play! Have a great weekend my friend.

    Reply
  3. stacie stark

    I know that darling little girl!! Her new room is precious! I am so glad I “liked” this FB friend!!

    Reply
  4. Hannah

    Love how you brought in all kinds of pinks, and the wall art is great! This is a room a girl can grow up in.

    Reply
  5. Jami Cordry

    I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your posts Kristie! They are informative and genuine.
    My design business (in San Diego) seems to be very similar to yours.
    Is the color in this room the same in all the photos? It looks different, but I know how that goes!

    Reply
    • Kristie Barnett

      Thank you, Jami! Yes, it is the same color throughout – I talk about that in the post. The difference is mainly the added lamp lighting – it makes the wall color softer and richer when lamps (incandescent bulbs!) are strategically placed. Also, addition of richer, darker colors in the bedding and accessories helps that wall color bloom! I should do a post about that, shouldn’t I? I’m going to go check out your site!

      Reply
  6. Barbara@TheTreasuredHome.com

    What a great change! You really warmed up the space with the new paint color! Now, if you could just keep the 7 year old out of the room, it will always look nice! Just kidding! My daughter’s room was never terribly neat. Maybe one day, when she has her own place!

    Reply
    • Kristie Barnett

      Thanks, Barbara! I just tried to comment on your post today, but after I wrote it there was no place to “enter” it so I don’t think you got it! But I loved the idea of mirroring the windows 🙂

      Reply
  7. Allison

    Totally love this room Kristie! How I wish you were in Huntsville and could do these things for me!!! The accessories make it so beautiful! The best makeover I’ve seen. Love all the extra pics to see the differences!

    Reply
  8. Delaney

    What a dramatic change! Love paisley pillows!

    Reply
  9. Paula

    Hello – I love you taste!  I am disappointed though when you use lighting so much in your transformations.  The "before" photos always have little or no light – so much so that we can't even tell what the wall color is.  Your "after" photos flood the room with light from many different sources.  It seems like a trick and one that is easy to spot.

    Reply
    • Kristie Barnett

      Paula,

      Most of the time, the rooms I’m working on don’t have near enough light sources to start with.  Adding more and varied light sources it much of what warms up a space and makes it look more inviting.  Lighting matters – as you can tell in the befores and afters.  And that’s no trick!   

      Reply

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