Laura's Renovation Adventure

Before
After

We also made her a doll house for her American Girl dolls with an IKEA Pax shelving unit:
Her doll furniture is from a number of sources. The bed was a family project. The pink wardrobe is a Build-a-Bear product that we found at a thrift store. The dresser is a couple of unpainted wood pieces from Hobby Lobby that I stacked. The bench is from Salvation Army, as is the table. The hutch in the "kitchen" began life as a couple of jewelry boxes that I primed and painted white. The horse and the baking set are from Target.

I love American Girl accessories as much as the next mom, but my little darling is not terribly careful about her toys, so I don't want to always spend the kind of money AG requires. So we improvise. :)


Speaking of "improvise" you can see a "during" photo of the jewelry boxs' transformations.

We've hit a bit of a slow spot on the renovation. This summer, I've ended up working, which slows progress. Then there is the dissertation that demands attention.

We are determined, though, to do a few projects before summer is over. All involve a mad desperate trip that we made to IKEA last week. We now how a load of flat-pack shelving sitting around in the way.

Highest priority is painting my daughter's room. Her walls currently have the inexplicable wall treatment that you can see to the right. The lighter green goes about 3/4 of the way up the wall. Part of the wall paper border was gone by the time we bought the house (probably courtesy of the male college-aged renters who occupied the house before we moved in.)

 We'll be painting her room Benjamin Moore's Montgomery White. The color looks pinkish online, but is much more creamy yellow in real life. Miss O is not thrilled about such a plain color, but I am looking for a neutral that I won't need to re-do in a few years as her tastes change. She is, after all, nine years old, which is heading toward that "tween" age, and no matter what she likes now, she won't like it in 3-4 years.

The previous owners were older, and I am sure that contributes to some of the odd color choices. And I remember some of this cottage-y stuff being popular 20 years ago. But I cannot imagine why someone who intended to sell their home in this decade would have such stuff on their walls. Oh, and the border is nasty vinyl wallpaper. I am thinking it was intended for a bathroom originally? It really is awful. The top layer will just peel off, leaving the backing on the wall that has to be carefully scraped off.

After we get her wall painted, we are going to install the Pax wardrobe that we bought at IKEA as a house for her American Girl dolls, similar to this one. When she gets older, if she tires of the doll house, we can buy doors and she can just use it for storage. *IF* we ever finish, I'll post pictures. :)
Edited to add: I found another picture of the color we intend to paint Miss O's room on Apartment Therapy.