Since shopping while temporarily the size of a whale isn't really that fun, I told Dan that for my birthday this year I wanted him to help me paint Anda's room.
I'm really good at starting projects and not very good at finishing them, so not only am I proud that Anda's room looks totally awesome now, but I am really happy that I actually brought several things from my brain all the way to completion.
Over the summer, we picked up this little toddler bed from a yard sale, complete with mattress still in the plastic. Score. I didn't like the wood color, though, so I sanded it down and refinished it. It's not perfect, but it looks good enough and I learned a lot about using an air compressor, sanding, and staining.
We painted three walls and the ceiling in (what was supposed to be gray, but ended up being a nice) lavender, then made the window seat wall a real feature by painting it true purple. It was time consuming and tiring, but Dan was great, Anda entertained herself and stayed out of the way, and we knocked it all out in one day.
You can see part of my half-a attempts to convert Anda's room to her favorite color in the "before" pictures. I had already painted the flowers hanging on the wall (they were pink before) and even stuck some purple flowers in the vase with her original pink ones. I didn't bother to trim the stems or even take the pink ones out, but I felt pretty accomplished in having at least purchased some purple acrylic paint and silk flowers. That's a lot farther than most of my plans get.
In the end, having Dan home for two whole weeks was the push I needed to really get everything done. And I think it looks great.
I also painted a cheap white bookshelf we found on craigslist years ago. I used the purple paint we used on the feature wall and stenciled a flower pattern on the sides and back in gold. It looks really pretty, but unfortunately I was painting acrylic over laminate, which doesn't work without some sanding or other prep-work. So now, every time we slide books on and off, a little paint comes too. I may go back and redo it later, but it's good enough for now.
Our last big project was the window seat bench. Dan got me a pneumatic stapler for Christmas, and I was really excited to put it to use right away. We got some particle board, foam padding, and fabric, and took care of that entire job in probably less than an hour total. I even used a sewing machine...and it worked. It was an interior-decorating miracle.
Finally, a big shout out to my mom for the beautiful quilt she made Anda for Christmas. I picked out fabric with her when we visited VA in September, and she seriously delivered. It really pulls the whole room together and it is the perfect size.
Now I feel inspired with the confidence to do the rest of the house! Anyone want to donate some funds?
