Extreme Makeover: Emily’s Room
Date: Sunday March 16, 2008Posted in: Emily, Faith, Family, Graham, Nathan, domestic bliss, renovating
Those of you who have been around for awhile know that we have been renovating this house since we moved into this house. Seven years ago.
Our house is 95% done. What that means in English is that each room is 95% done. It looks good, and is livable, but is missing that final 5%. You know, light switch covers, the occasional baseboard or light fixture.
Sigh.
There are TWO rooms that are 100% complete. My craft room (I love it) and our ensuite bathroom (I love it, as well). Oh yeah! We also redid the siding (Flickr set here) on our house two summers ago.
I have gotten tired of feeling almost complete in our home. Our house did not looked like anyone actually lived here, save for the toys scattered everywhere and the Goldfish crackers strewn about the floor.
I have started doing things in order to make our home looked lived in. I have bought picture frames, developed photos (Gasp!) and actually HUNG THEM ON THE WALL. Go me.
I posted a little while ago about the bedding that I ordered for Emily.
It came shortly thereafter and was even better that the photos. The sheets were completely worth ordering the second set of bedding. Woot! My sister Mel is buying the extra quilt and sham for her daughter. The cousins will be matchy-poo.
Before we left for Mexico, we spent a couple of days getting the kidlets settled in at Grandma and Grandpa’s.We headed with the kids to IKEA in the hopes of finding a dresser for Emily. Her room was in dire need of a makeover.
Do you like the navy blue towel hung over her window as a black-out blind? We are all class over here. At least it is a step up from the summer I put aluminum foil on Graham’s window to keep out the sun. I think the neighbours assumed we had a grow-op going on.
We found the Hemnes dresser and I fell in LOVE. It went into the cart, as did some really pretty sheer curtains. We wandered through the As Is department, and the Hemnes side table was in there for 50 PERCENT OFF. Honey said it was up to me to decide whether or not we should buy it.
It went into the cart.
Last week, amidst the kids’ sickness, I managed to assemble the dresser. This weekend, Honey was kind enough to install some blinds I had bought as well as the IKEA curtains.
(Please excuse the lighting in these photos. The weather was not cooperating, but I was excited about the progress.)
The cradle will likely have to go into storage in the attic once we put her into a Big Girl bed. The move to the Big Girl bed will likely happen the earliest of: 1. She can crawl out of her crib and 2. She is FIVE.
What?
Here is the dresser all set up.
The side table will go beside her future bed.
Her Big Girl bed will be the Hemnes bed, because I am ALL ABOUT the matchy-poo.
Picture it with the above Pottery Barn bedding. Mmmmm…
Honey wants to build her a bed, but I want him (Master Craftsman that he is) to build OUR bed first. We have a King-sized mattress, complete with a sweet pillow-top. It is GLORIOUS. It is also ON THE FLOOR.
We are buying Emily’s bed. I am putting my foot down (softly).
Here is the rest of the room.
Did you see the pillow sham? SO CUTE.
Her room is not finished, but I have a dream…
1. I have more white frames and plan on filling them with more of my favourite photos of Miss Emily. Like this one.
The colours match her room perfectly to boot.
2. The current light fixture is a BULB hanging from a ceiling. I suggested a chandelier. Matthew told me that he had already purchased a “Boob light” (dome light). I told him that I thought a chandelier was feminine. He told me that boobs were feminine. Touche.
3. I plan on painting the wall above the wainscoting a VERY pale pink. Like the “Pink Swirl” (bottom left). I had originally thought I would maybe paint the wainscoting white, but if all of the furniture is white, that might be a bit much.
4. I made that little “Emily” sign out of chip board. I was pretty proud of my bad self. Since then, I have seen what Ali has for Isabella, and have seen the work of Chelsea in her etsy shop. Should I get a bigger set of letters done?
I am an accountant, NOT an interior decorator. I would still like the chandelier, and am debating on painting the wainscoting. And also the letters. Here is where YOU come in.
Thoughts?
For those who could care less about interior decorating, and only come here to see photos of the kids (HI MOM!), today is your lucky day!
With the Mexico trip and then the infestation of sick bugs, it has been a month since we have been to church. We got all gussied up this morning and I yelled at asked the kids to line up on the couch for me. This was the best I could do.
I really need to stop torturing myself. And them.
When we got home, I took Emily out on the (brown, dead) lawn to take some photos of her in one of her new dresses.
After searching high and low for weeks now, I finally found her some brown shoes yesterday. At Zellers of all places!
She likes them, as well as her dress. Here she is workin’ it.
Poser.
Here it is from the back.
Look at that hair coming in!
I told her it was time for lunch, and she was off and running.
She prefers running to walking these days.
I honestly thought I would have a house full of boys (Those were the odds), and now that I have a girl I want to embrace our joint girly-ness and make her room as cute and as cozy as it can be. Please help me do this, oh wise Internet friends.
Or just comment on the photos. That never fails to make me smile.
Peace.
45 Comments
I LOVE everything you’ve done in all your rooms. Come decorate for me tooooooo! : )
Hope you’re feeling better..ish.
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Comment by Victoria on March 16th, 2008 @ 12:39 pmWe moved into our house over two years ago and not only are there no baseboards, we haven’t even hung the pictures. All pictures are still sitting on the floor leaning against the chosen wall. FOR TWO YEARS. Perhaps I need to ask the internet for help too. 
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You’re doing just fine in the decorating department. The matching bed is very cute, but I think it would be a pain to make up. I like a bed I can walk all around. You can also place it more flexibly if it isn’t configured like a daybed.
That dress? Adorable!
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Comment by witchypoo on March 16th, 2008 @ 12:48 pmAwww!!
About the wainscoting (or however you spell that), I’d leave it the wood color. I love it, and it matches the “theme” I seem to see in your house! (Which, by the way, is SO beautiful!)
I love your idea of painting the top of the wall light pink though. Beautiful.
I love love love the bed (and dresser and night stand) that you picked out for her, but if you paint the wainscoting white, I think you’ll be a little whited out. But that’s just me.
I really like the letters you have for Emily! I got some from Chelsey’s etsy shop, and she did a great job!
And I’ll say it again, I LOVE that bedding that you bought her. SO nice!
A question for you - how do you like having hardwood in the bedrooms? I had it in my old house (but it was old and cracked and separating) in the bedrooms and hated it, but that’s just me. I’d love to hear from someone who likes it!
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Comment by Mrs. Wilson on March 16th, 2008 @ 1:04 pmLove love love the Pottery Barn bedding.
And, I vote for the wainscoting to be painted white My hubby is, at this very moment, at our new house painting Eva’s wainscoting white, and the upper wall a light pink. I have no decorating/design sense whatsoever, I can only copy what I see in my beloved Pottery Barn magazines. But, that combo is what’s in most of the Pottery Barn girl rooms Oh, and a chandelier would be adorable!
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Comment by Teresa on March 16th, 2008 @ 1:07 pmEverything looks amazing! I think the pale pink wall with the wainscotting as is will be very nice with the white furniture. But? I am also an accountant 
Love the dress!
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Comment by Kami on March 16th, 2008 @ 1:08 pmI don’t have any input because I don’t really have that decorator’s touch but it looks really pretty so far! I get excited about decorating a big girl room for Camille but I never get around to actually doing all of the work. Oh yeah…and spending the $$$.
Comment by Tamara on March 16th, 2008 @ 1:13 pmA chandalier would be lovely! I’d keep an eye out at local flea markets for a great vintage one you could paint - I see them all the time at our flea market. As for the letters, I’d keep the ones you have since you’ made them for her. They mean more than a new set ever will…and I say this as a person who makes baby name wall hangings regularly as gifts:) I agree with those above who said to leave the wainscoting. True, the style won’t be found in pottery barn kids, but it’s got more character, plus it’d be way too much white with everything else! You’ve got an excellent start!
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Comment by Erin on March 16th, 2008 @ 1:19 pmOne thing we did in both girls’ bedrooms… we took the closet doors off. Then we hung Pottery Barn curtains over the opening, pulled to the side. Looks SO cute! And, it gives the rooms a feeling of being a bit bigger while adding a little pizazz to the wall. I can email you a picture, if you’d like
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I think Emily’s room is so cute!! You’ve done a great job. I personally love the look of wood (we have wooden floors in our house, which we painstakingly scraped GLUED-ON carpet & underlay from using trowels and FISH SLICES … hmm, that was before kids, we would not have time these days) so I would leave the wainscoating unpainted. But white would look great too. Whatever you choose!
Big letters would be SO COOL. But being a scrapbooker, I would say that
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That room is CUTE! And I love the Hemnes furniture as well. My favorite part of that room, I think, are the shelves above the dresser. Just fun to have all those great pictures up on display.
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Comment by Janssen on March 16th, 2008 @ 2:07 pmLOVE the big girl room. We did similar colors and furniture for my daughter’s room a few years ago. She is now 5 and still loves it!
Target makes some very cute table lamps with very girly shades– one of those would look super sweet on that awesome new dresser! Overhead lighting works best for playtime of course but I like the softer light and the decorating possibilities of a table lamp
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I LOVE the natural wood, so I wouldn’t paint it out–it will at richness to the room and the light pink paint will be so cute. To add a little bit of color, I would get some pale green ribbons to tie back the sheers during the day. And that dresser is so cute and just the right amount of girly. Something that you might want to do is get some cute pink (or green) drawer pulls for the IKEA dressers. Kind of “girly-them” up a bit and they can be changed out later. And I agree with Erin–seek out a vintage chandelier and gussy it up Much more cute than a boob light!! That gave me a huge laugh…just as little Emily is drifting off to dreamland, she gazes up and sees the great boob in the sky
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I think a rug would look really nice in there, too. Especially one of those cute PBK ones! I also like the idea of a chandelier. We’ve bought all of ours second hand I think they are 100% prettier than the flashy crystal new ones.
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Comment by 180/360 on March 16th, 2008 @ 4:20 pmI agree wholeheartedly with the chandelier. There is a really cute white one at Canadian Tire (http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524443255268&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=1408474396672795&bmUID=1205713295263&deptid=1408474396672676&ctgrid=1408474396672688&subctgrid=1408474396672795) That I think would go with the bedding. Every time I see it I wish I had a little girls’ room to put it in. Maybe in the future, perhaps? And I’m torn on the wainscoting… Good points either way, wood or white. I think I would go a little off-white myself (cloud white), but the wood will definately be nice too.
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Comment by becky on March 16th, 2008 @ 4:24 pmOh and I agree with adding a rug in there too! A fluffy white one or pink one:)
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Comment by becky on March 16th, 2008 @ 4:25 pmHoly hanna, the girls got hair! Yay! Totally cute dress. I wish I’d had a girly room when I was little!! Its gonna be so cute!! I love her little kissy face. She is her momma’s girl, thats for sure!
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I know how you feel about the 95% done thing. Every room in our houses just needs a little bit more. Baseboard, a light switch, one more coat of paint, blinds, a picture hung up, SOMETHING. It drives me a little crazy. People visiting our house likely wouldn’t notice but it’s all these little things we need to make time to do.
Her room looks adorable. Love the big girl bed!
Comment by Jen on March 16th, 2008 @ 5:12 pmLove the beautiful wood look, and the bedding is gorgeous! I so wish we had Ikea here - that dresser and side table are awesome. If it was me, I’d leave the painting till I saw what the room looked like with the white of the bed in there. And of course the scrapbooker in me says go for bigger letters! But maybe keep her name as you’ve got in small letters and do a word to go with it in larger letters. ‘Sweet’ maybe? Here’s some I made up http://fiskarscraft.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/02/straight-from-t.html
and then you can even use some of your beautiful photos on them!
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Comment by Beverley Warwick on March 16th, 2008 @ 5:14 pmWow - Emily’s room looks so fantastic! I can’t wait until I have a place of my own that I can decorate how I want, instead of putting up with whatever the landlords decide. Until that day, I’ll just live vicariously through you.
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Comment by Sharon on March 16th, 2008 @ 5:38 pmlove the bedding! very cute:)
i say, go for the bigger letters for miss emily’s name. it would make a nice statement on the wall. i have contemplated those myself for my daughters room. i think they look fantastic!
how about a nice little rug on the hardwood for beside the big girl bed…when you get to that point?
guess that’s my 2 cents. i think you have done a great job already, so you are almost there.
I think the wooden letters you made for Emily are great, and they add a really personal touch of you to the room.
I think the room looks awesome! with the wainscoting not painted, but I’m sure it would look adorable in the pink color you chose, too.
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That is one of my favorite photos of Miss Emily, too.
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That bedding is beautiful. I saw you absolutely need a chandelier in the room. As for the wood I saw leave it. It isn’t a huge room and the furniture is going to eat up a lot of the wall space. Personally I would go a couple of shades darker on the colour.
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Comment by Shan on March 16th, 2008 @ 7:58 pmThings are looking good so far, it is always fun to make things the way you want them.
I think the chandelier would look good, and I think painting the wall above the wainscoting pink along with the white furniture would look really good. I would leave the wainscoting the way it is.
Oh and the bed you have picked out, is the same one we like for Marin, I have asked my dad though if he will build one for her, but we are wanting to build it so that it has a built in nightstand in the headboard that is interchangeable between the 2 ends of the bed.
Oh and… as usual I love the pics of your wonderfully cute kids.
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I would probably paint the wainscoting, but I wouldn’t go with white. If you’re going girly, go all out and paint it the green that is in the bedding. It’s pretty, but it’s a solid enough color to anchor the room and make all the white furniture and pink touches pop. It’s also across the color wheel from pink to you have the contrast that will make the room seem really pulled together. I would also do the chandelier. I’m still trying to convince my husband on that one!
Comment by Cindi on March 16th, 2008 @ 8:06 pmOH, everything is loverly. I LOVE all the wood you have in (AND out!)of your house. Absolutely adorable. That bedding is even cuter than I remember.
I do agree with 180, I think a rug would totally finish the look off.
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Comment by Loralee on March 16th, 2008 @ 9:05 pmYou’re so creative!!! I LOVE Emily’s room and all the ideas you have for it…Definately a place for a princess! I love how the boys are in matching outfits, so cute! (For as long as it lasts, right?) And the dress, is ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!
Comment by Michele on March 16th, 2008 @ 9:44 pmI love big letters! I bought the unfinished ones and painted and decorated them. The chandelier is a must!
I reclaimed my parents old dining room one, painted it white and hung fun beads from it, now i see every home store carry’s them and they are all so cute…… I just love chandeliers in a girls room….way over a boob light, though i must admit that really cracked me up.
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Comment by Anna on March 16th, 2008 @ 10:04 pmWowdiddywowwowwow!
First off, LOVE your finished ensuite bathroom. It’s so rustic and beautiful.
Second, LOVE LOVE LOVE your craft room. I’m so jealous. Listen to me chant: Scrapbook! Scrapbook! Scrapbook! Come on… you know you want to.
Third, I love the bedding for your daughter’s room and we are about two weeks away from heading to Ikea to buy the same Hemnes bed for our daughter. She picked it out herself online. Kid’s got good taste (in the right price range that is)!
Finally, our daughter has a chandalier in her room. I consider it a must for any self-respecting girlie-girl room. People always ouuuu and ahhhh when they see it. We bought it for $40 at the Habitat for Humanity re-claim shop. It was brand new and gorgeous, but cheap! Go for it. You won’t regret it.
Oh and this time really finally… love the idea of the pink wainscoting and love the adorable pics of Emily. Thanks for sharing!
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Comment by Carolyn on March 16th, 2008 @ 10:47 pmYour house makes me want to curl up next to a fire with some hot cocoa with marshmallows. I would then only look at the snow outside but never actually go out there because it would be so warm and inviting inside. I should probably stop talking like this before snow dumps out of the sky.
Very lovely work.
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Comment by Heather B. on March 17th, 2008 @ 1:50 amI love that photo you took of her in her purple suit. Her lips looking all kissy-like is just so adorable! It will look fantastic in a white frame
Your room dreams are fab! I can picture the final product and it’s great! I’m sure your other fellow bloggers will give you some great tips! As for me, I don’t have any - except for I think with the name letters - go big or go home!
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I like becky’s idea and go for a bit of an off white to counter balance the white. But, as everyone else said already the wood will be nice too. I just love the clean, fresh look of white wainscotting…obviously as our house is covered in it.
And obviously I love the furniture as we talked about on the phone. So cute.
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Comment by christy on March 17th, 2008 @ 9:22 amI vote YES for the chandelier, YES for white wainscotting, and YES for the bigger letters! Sorry…I guess that all means more money to dish out, eh?
p.s. I want my next child to be a girl…just for that exact bedding you bought!!!
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Comment by joyce on March 17th, 2008 @ 9:31 amhahaha. more ways we are alike. josh has white hemnes furniture in his room. AND my Emily has almost the exact. same. pottery barn bedding.
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Comment by ali on March 17th, 2008 @ 9:37 amI say go for the chandelier! You can get super cute girly ones these days at places like home depot! So fun!
I think bigger letters would look cute too!
I love when people actually have style in their home! Not that I should talk, cause this place looks more like a pig pen/toy store then having style. But we have run out of room to have style. Next house, we have plans, lots of ‘em! Yay!
I also thought Em’s hair is coming in when I saw that picture, so cute!
I wouldn’t paint the wainscoting if they are unpainted in the rest of the house. If I did paint it, I would go cream or pale yellow rather than white. What if you just painted just the chair rail at the top of the wainscoting in a pretty colour that matches the bedding? That bedding is the cutest ever! Its already a pretty room - I don’t think you can go far wrong.
Comment by Heidi F on March 17th, 2008 @ 3:39 pmCan you photoshop the picture of the room with white wood and decide if the natural wood or white looks best? I know they have programs that will do that but maybe you can do it with photoshop and eliminate the guess work on whether or not to paint the wood. Paint stripping is really a pain if you decide you don’t like it.
Comment by Anne Marie on March 17th, 2008 @ 4:48 pmI had big sheets of packing paper taped over the windows for MONTHS. I even cut scalloped edges so it wouldn’t look like paper! ha ha ha.
Her room is so cute and I love the shelves and photos above her dresser. Every single wall in my home is bare - time to start PRINTING!!! (photos that is….)…
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Comment by Holly on March 17th, 2008 @ 4:53 pmCan you come over and help me redecorate? I’ll make you cookies. And pie.
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Comment by metalia on March 17th, 2008 @ 6:31 pm1. We just bought a TON of Hemnes furniture for our bedroom! Matchy-poo!
2. Definitely go for the chandelier. Don’t think twice about it.
Comment by Leah on March 18th, 2008 @ 11:03 amThat is an adorable dress! Must have it for E! 
I love the wooden block letters like Isabella’s. I wanted that for E except #1. Her name is too long. or #2 Her wall is too short.
I am absolutely in love with the bedding though. It will look adorable on her new big girl bed. Feminine, yet not overly girly. Able to grow with her for a while. Perfect.
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Comment by Lisa on March 18th, 2008 @ 6:01 pmI had another thought on the painting of the wainscoting, I haven’t read the other comments so other may have already suggested this.
You could paint the wainscoting a darker shade of pink than the pink above the wainscoting.
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Comment by Kristin on March 18th, 2008 @ 8:54 pm[...] complete are the exterior of the house (Flickr set here), my craft room and our ensuite bathroom. Emily’s room is done except for the big girl bed and the light bulb hanging from the ceiling. I’m still [...]
Comment by Dutch Blitz » Extreme Makeover: Laundry Room Edition on August 19th, 2008 @ 12:37 am
We had tinfoil on our window for the black out effect. You are classy!
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Comment by kirida on March 16th, 2008 @ 12:32 pm