Piper spent an unexpected by us, planned by her, week at the farm after our visit for harvest dinner. In her absence I made a plan to clean her room, wash everything, vacuum really well, do a bit of organizing. In the process of that I got the urge to just finish up her room - at long last, as a surprise.
At three and a half, I find it important to have a space her own, in which she's made some of the choices. Choices about the things she cares about; wall color, fabric for her bed, having a blanket on the end of her bed to make it 'fancy', maybe an accessory here or there.
Before the room was actually our's (her's), Piper had request a striped room. Mostly the result of paint chip love. Too many beautiful colors to settle on just one. Eventually, with a bit of persuasion she agreed on one color. Picking two shades of pink for one wall of stripes.
Piper has this amazing antique bed that was in the farm that her Gigi grew up in. When I was little that was where we, as a family, went on vacation. It wasn't a functioning farm any longer, rather a get-away for the family. As a graduation present Gigi gave the bed to me. A tall painted white ages ago iron bed with flowers on the head and foot boards and worn brass knobs. It was one of the best presents I've ever received. Living in a half story house for six years meant that use of the bed was temporarily handed over to one of my sisters at my parents farm. My dream, after having Piper, was to hand over the use of that bed to her. A bed for a princess. Our purchase of this home made that reality. And she loves it.
To make the bed a major focal point of her room we choose the wall behind her bed for the stripes.
I painted her old bedside table a dark teal for a fresh look. Which wouldn't be complete with out her stack of currently reading chapter books. One,
On the Banks of Plum Creek, Piper and I are reading together a bed and rest time. What a special treat for us both. Piper is a book lover if I've ever met one. It's absolutely charming to hear her reading these books to herself.
Upon her request I found more art for her walls. A free printable from
Feed Your Soul: the Free Art Project in an old frame I found in the basement.
A couple of weeks back she broke her piggy bank when she set her heart on buying herself an ice cream. She took the saying, 'break the bank' seriously. I grabbed a blue Mason jar from the kitchen and embroidered a bit of linen from a discarded pair of Zac's pants turning it into a new bank for her change.
A girl after my own heart! Granny chic. We found this doily at the thrift store for $.50 and thought we'd use it as a dresser scarf. Perhaps covering a bit of the wear on the top.
The sewer in me loves fabric. The scraps of fabric (or vintage tea towel in the large hoop) in thrifted embroidery hoops have been remade for each room Piper's had. The charm of embroidery has been a favorite of mine for some time now. I'm fairly new to it. But I was inspired by a few images I found while helping gather ideas for a girlfriend's daughter's room led me to making this little piece of embroidery for Piper. A simple dandelion blowing and her name. I did it at the same time as I did her piggy bank.
A shelf left with the house holds a few pictures/prints, vintage blocks we're gathering to spell out her name, and a small vase filled with a collection of discarded guinea feathers (one Americauna feather too) she and I found at the farm this fall.
A project Piper and I worked on a couple of weekends ago was this cradle Zac's mom had given Piper for her 'kids'. It was in need a of a paint job. In some spare moments alone while Calder napped, she and I painted it with left over paint from our atelier. The whole time we worked Piper told me how OoOo and Chloe love teal and how they had wanted their bed to be painted. It's not a perfect paint job, but there is beauty in that imperfection. The next morning up before the boys, we made those girls a blanket to match their mama's with left over scraps from Piper's duvet and an old sheet.
So it's finished...for now. Decorating is always an evolution, as Piper has already reminded me of, saying she wants to add more pretty stuff to her room. Indeed, always more pretty stuff.
