Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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The Slow Journey From Junk Room To Playroom

About a month ago we were walking around the park and Clara pointed to a dogwood tree and said “wow, that’s a big big tree in a big big world.” John and I cracked up. So now when I think of Clara’s playroom/big girl room, I also think of the big big tree and the big big world of ours. Hilarious. Anyway, back to the room that we have affectionately (and ironically) called the playroom. Remember that it looked like this when we moved in?

NewEmpty Playroom

And then it got all cluttered up with junk and looked like this?

Playroom Messy Before

And then we organized it with the help of my mom and it looked like this?

Playroom Playing With C

And then in a Groundhog-Day-esque turn of events a year later it looked like this again (thanks to months of book insanity)?

Cleaning Playroom1

So we cleaned it one last time and had a big yard sale and auctioned a bunch of book projects off for charity and finally we were left with this:

Painting Room1

I may or may not have done a victory dance around the daybed that included some very painful-to-watch moonwalking. Gaining any actual use of this room will be ten times better than the junked up storage room that it has been for the past three Christmases (how are we on year three of living here without reclaiming this room sooner?!). So as we’ve mentioned a few times, it will serve as a nice little playroom for Clara and eventually will be her big girl room once she graduates from sleeping in her crib.

Why switch rooms? Well, the nursery is so small that adding a daybed basically sucks up all the floor space, so moving her into the larger spare room and keeping the nursery for a possible future kiddo makes the most sense for us). Of course we can always update the nursery for a boy bean if one should come our way someday (heck, kids rooms are our favorite things, so we’d jump at the chance). In fact here’s an old mood board we did a while back to show how Clara’s room could be adapted for a little dude:

Baby P Boy Board

Once all the extra stuff was cleared out and remaining items were pushed to the center of the room, it was time to paint (we had used the room as a secret-book-project backdrop so it was a hot mess). We’d repainted sections of the walls around ten times in there to create different colored backdrops for shooting – and had even painted the trim around one window a moody gray color and stenciled a good portion of another wall. Nothing was safe from the madness of book shots.

Painting Room2

Here are a few other oddly-painted angles:

Painting Room4

Painting Room6

So yes, paint was definitely necessary. First I painted the book-project-window-shade from gray back to glossy white:

Painting Room8

Before we pick a wall color we like to think about the other things that’ll be going on in the room. So we thought about that for a hot second or two. We actually wanted Clara to have some input, so we asked her what colors she wanted to see in her big girl room. Not surprisingly, she said “pink and red!” (her faves used to be pink and orange, but she moved to pink and red about a month ago).

It’ll be nice to have another room in the house with warmer touches in those red and pink tones (you know we love us some green & blue, so that’s prevalent in a lot of other areas). It was even cool with John since, in his words “as long as we’re not going hot pink all over the living room, I’m down with Clara getting to pick the colors that we use in her big girl room.” Mah man. He can build a deck and he’s cool with pink.

DeckTwo 15 John Face 1

So just to give you an idea where we’re thinking of bringing in those pinks and reds (along with other hits of colors/textures that make a room feel layered and not-too-matchy-matchy) here’s a quick picture of some items we’ve been saving for Clara’s big girl room in a little floor-pile together. Floor-piles are the new mood board. Just kidding.

Clara Room Moodboard

We don’t want the room to be red/pink overkill, so using tones like white and navy – along with hits of other colors like yellow and teal – to break things up is definitely on the agenda. And since we wanted the items in the photo above to stand out (instead of being the same color as the walls) we opted for a soft and pretty neutral that we know will be just as workable with any other accent colors down the line. Let’s face it, kids can change their favorite colors on a dime, so we don’t want our walls to be forever dependent on a red & pink scheme, ya know?

And this time instead of going with a gray-ish neutral (which we’ve done in a few other rooms) we dipped back into the warmer neutral palette and went for a super soft tan tone. Sort of like tea when you put in too much milk. Mmmm. It definitely still works within our whole house palette, but it’s a slightly warmer than some of the other grays.

Painting Room11

We were between two extremely similar colors, so naturally, we picked the one with the better name. Totally reasonable tie-breaker move, right? The winner: Alaskan Skies by Benjamin Moore (we bought a gallon of their no-VOC Natura paint in an eggshell finish). The reason it won: we honeymooned in Alaska and took approximately 650,367 photos of the sky while we were there. The sweet little coincidence is that the paint in Clara’s nursery is Proposal (also by BM), so I guess we’re subconsciously drawn towards wedding/honeymoon related names.

Since I’m the cutter-inner and John’s the roller in this relationship (those sound like weird euphemisms) I was totally jealous about John’s big erase-the-past roller moves. Meanwhile I’m sitting on the floor painting above the baseboards. Look at me go! Just kidding. And now for a montage of John rolling over all of the randomly painted portions of the room (I wish it was a montage, it’s just this picture and the one above).

Painting Room12

Not gonna lie, it felt pretty good to watch him go over all of those random colors and stencils on the walls and finally move towards a room that’s all one color again. Meanwhile I was inching my way around the room cutting in around the windows, doors and the ceiling. Speaking of which, we didn’t paint the ceiling (just left it white) but we’re debating adding some soft tone up there someday down the line after the room comes together more. Stay tuned…

Painting Room13

I think we’re in love with the wall color though. Not too pink, gray, or tan. And not too white, so the window trim, molding (and future crown molding that we’d love to install) pop nicely against it. Just like extra milky tea against a clean white mug. Yum.

Painting Room14

So we’re currently waiting for the paint to dry so we can move all of the furniture back into semi-normal spots.

Painting Room19

Then we’ll share more photos along with planning/details/projects as we go! Back in 2010 Clara’s first nursery evolved over the course of about 20 posts and two or three months. Can’t wait to watch this bare little room take shape…

So that’s what we’ve been up to. What did you guys do this weekend?

Comments

  1. Kristi - SimplePrettyThings says

    We’ve been planning our daughters big girl room too (it’s for her second birthday in April)! This weekend my mom found an antique spindle bed (like the Jenny Lind but fancier) for our daughter’s future big girl room and I’m narrowing down paint colors and bedding. Our daughter just turned 21 months and we have her crib converted to a toddler bed and so far we have had great success with it! When she wakes up she doesn’t even get out and wander around she just waits for us. I was worried that it wouldn’t work out but so far it’s going great. Good luck with Clara’s transition! I love the paint color!!!

    Reply

  2. siobhan says

    I was thinking of painting our guest room in a similar color, but I’ve got a problem–the room has SEVEN doors in it. Any suggestions for paint colors that won’t make it seem like a game show? The doors are currently white, and I don’t think I want to paint them in a hue.

    Reply

  3. Megan says

    I just painted my living room just about the same color! I used Behr’s Sandstone Cove. I’m still in the process of styling that room so I’m excited to see how Clara’s playroom/big girl room comes together!

    Reply

  4. Michelle says

    Can’t wait to see how this room turns out!

    I spent my weekend packing to prepare for a move. My boyfriend and I are moving into our first townhouse the weekend of the first. I’m excited to use some of your DIY tutorials in our new place! :)

    Reply

  5. Carolyn says

    Do you have any tips for cutting in the edges? (maybe you’ve covered this before?) I notice you don’t seem to tape off everything–how on earth do you paint a straight line without getting paint on all the trim?I have to start painting trim throughout my whole house and I’d love any pointers-it will take double the time to tape everything off. Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I’ve just been cutting in a long time (around seven years! ahh!) so I have gotten a nice steady hand. I also have a video about how I do it on our Videos page if that helps. Oh and I use a short-handled brush for more control. Hope it helps!

      xo
      s

  7. Leah says

    Hello! Love your blog and the book! Just one question…did you have difficulty covering the stencil so that the outline of it doesn’t show through the new paint? I have stripes that I want to paint over, but there’s a little ridge where the paint changed color and I’m worried the new paint will still show the outline of the stripe.

    Thanks so much!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We didn’t have any ridges or bumps so the paint went right over where we had stenciled. Perhaps with the stripes your paint built up on the painter’s tape and then it had a small lip? I would try sanding it so it’s smoother and then painting over it. Hope it helps!

      xo
      s

  8. CohoesMom5 says

    I love the idea of letting Clara help pick the colors in her room. We mostly let our kids pick the colors for their rooms – I vetoed the orange that my younger son wanted. We compromised on grey walls/ceiling (2 different shades) with an orange horizontal stripe for accent.

    For my 12 year old daughter, she finally picked her room color (after 2 years of living in the house) and we let her go completely with her choice – a VERY bright yellowish green (think glowstick green). She loves it and we can always paint over it when she gets sick of it. Until then, I will just have to live with the glow from her room (it reflects into the hall/loft area)

    Reply

  9. Christina says

    We just moved our little lady into her new “big girl room” two weeks ago. All of her stuff is pink, green, orange and so her walls ended up a similar “watered down tea” color as well. The bright colors really pop against a more neutral background. I was hoping to keep her in her nursery/crib for a little longer (she will be two next month) but we have a second bundle coming in June so preparations for a remodeled nursery have to begin soon.

    I love to read your blog! It’s nice to see that my uneducated design decisions aren’t too far off. Can’t wait to see how the play room turns out!

    Reply

  10. Paige @ Little Nostalgia says

    I really like it! I forgot how crazytown the walls were in there, so this is a nice break for your eyeballs, I bet.

    Is she any closer to moving out of the crib, or are you just trying to give yourselves plenty of time?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      She’s not jumping out yet and still sleeping like a baby but a lot of our friends and family members with kiddos in her age range are transitioning so we just want to be prepared in case it sneaks up on us :)

      xo
      s

  11. Ally says

    Love the new wall color! Clara’s quote in your opening paragraph totally made me think of this Renee and Jeremy song/lullaby:

    Reply

  12. lizkayl says

    Loving the room.

    I just got a new fridge and 2 storage shelves from my sister. So, now I have the old fridge in the basement with organized storage in my laundry room.

    I swear, every time the new fridge’s ice maker makes the ‘chu-chunk’ noise of making new ice, I squee. Really high pitch. The old fridge had a leak, instead of an ice maker.

    Totally off topic, saw this article on a couple paving their bedroom in pennies and thought of you two! http://todaynews.today.com/_news/2013/01/21/16623719-couple-glues-60000-pennies-to-bedroom-floor?lite=

    Reply

  14. Alison says

    So I’ve noticed how Clara will double her adjectives or say that is so so pretty which is beyond adorbs. Now I tell Amelia who is 14 months old that isn’t that so so pretty!

    Reply

  15. Sabrina says

    Love the milky tea color. Off topic but my soon to be 2 year old is talking a lot lately, partly to the fact that every morning he watches a Clara video on youtube. He blows her kisses and looks around the house for “Clawa”. Adorable and helpful in development! lol You guys should come out with Clara DVD’s for kids!

    Reply

  16. Karrie Kaneda says

    Hi Young House Love—

    Thanks so much for including my Ikat Throw and Letter Pillow that you scored from Joss & Main. Can’t wait to see to see the room come together! I’m sure it’ll be fabulous!

    -Karrie

    Reply

  18. Rebecca says

    In love with the fabric that is pink, red and gray. Can you share what its from or who makes it? It looks to me like it may be a pillow sham.

    Thanks Sherry!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It’s actually a blanket from Joss & Main. It’s one of my favorite things for the room. Can’t wait to spread it out on the bed and pair it with pillows, etc.

      xo
      s

  19. lisa says

    Will be interesting to see how the room comes together…
    on a different subject….
    did you see this about how a person tiled their floor with PENNIES? haha. but, actually, i think it looks really good. Whata great idea. Imagine if you did this in your kitchen. haha.

    Reply

  21. nancy says

    I’ve always wondered if you could see the “raised” paint of a stencil once you paint over it. I’m guessing not.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Nope, we’ve painted over them a few times for various projects with furniture/walls and we never have seen it, so I would just say that thin and even coats while stenciling are key (don’t glob it on there).

      xo
      s

  22. Meagan {Green Motherhood} says

    Yay Big girl room!! I’ve been waiting for this :)
    I’ve been brainstorming ideas for Isla June’s big girl room once we’re in the new house (hopefully March!) but I’m getting a little stuck on colors/patterns that will coordinate with her rocker that is cream/green Damask. I love the chair but don’t know how to create a room around it!! I’ve got a month, right?!?!
    http://www.thegreenmother.com/2010/05/new-and-imporved-rocker.html?m=0

    P.S. Isla June is still in her crib too. We give her the option of big bed or crib and she ultimately decides on the crib every day. It’s a comfort thing I guess. But, she can climb out of it (and back in!) oh well!

    P.P.S. thoughts on changing out the mattress of the daybed to an organic one????

    Reply

  23. Nevin says

    Just had a random thought – have you thought about rotating the closet doors (slats are the opposite direction) so that one can hang cards, paintings on them with a clothespin??? It would a cute way to display her beautiful art work!

    Reply

  24. Kathleen @ Home Wasn't Built In A Day says

    I love the analogy of the milky tea against the white mug. And I also love the pink fabric, I am such a nerd I have to ask, how do you pronounce Ikat? Eye-cat, eee-cat, ay-cat, or some other way? Ha! This weekend was spent working in the laundry room, hanging trim, puttying holes, and prepping walls for paint :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I learned a while back that it’s eeee-cat. How? I said eye-cat in front of a designer at a fabric outlet and she said “oh no darling it’s pronounced eee-cat” – very embarrassing but helpful. Haha!

      xo
      s

    • Lindsay says

      You have just completely blown my mind! I’ve been saying ikat wrong wrong wrong since I knew what ikat was? And yes, I just googled to verify because OF COURSE you say it “eye-cat”. Ummm yeah, not so much.

    • Heather Flint says

      To my dismay, I recently just found out as well, that it’s pronounced “eee-kat”, which really throws my world for a loop. LOL. I still say “eye-cat”, because it just makes me feel better. Haha

  25. Jessica @ The Desert Abode says

    So excited to see Clara’s big-girl room take shape! :)

    We’re finishing up our nursery (planning a “Nursery Reveal” on my blog this week!) and doing a BUNCH of other projects around the house. With 3.5 weeks to go, we spent an entire day at IKEA trying to tie up loose ends.

    CAN’T. STOP. NESTING. ;-)

    Reply

  26. melissa hoffman says

    So fun! My son just moved from his nursery to his big boy room! So scary for us since he was sleeping SO GREAT in his crib. He did great though and LOVES his new room! Hope Clara transitions well too.

    Also, I opened this email from Land of Nod and thought it kinda went along with what you are thinking for Clara. Thought you might find some inspiration in it as well. :)
    http://blog.landofnod.com/honest-to-nod/2013/01/a-room-of-her-own-.html?email=melis10hoffman%40hotmail.com

    Reply

  27. Ashley says

    Looks good! I liked that stencil on the wall but this looks way better – haha.

    Have you considered doing a light pink on the ceiling to add a fun pop of color? I can’t wait to see how this room progresses.

    Reply

  28. Jess G says

    Any plans to change the fan? I wouldn’t be shocked to hear that you ORB’d the fixture part, but we have several that are feeling a little dated and could use some help!

    Reply

  29. Catherine says

    Love this post! We’ve been in our house for about seven months now, and I’ve gone through some of the same steps with the room that is supposed to be our office: First it was empty, then it was cluttered, then my mom came and helped me organize it (thank goodness for moms!), and now it’s getting cluttered again. It definitely makes me feel better that you two took your time, too!

    Reply

  30. Libby says

    I’m so excited to see how Clara’s big girl room transforms!

    We spent the weekend getting our house ready for sale. (And I spent a few hours on your blog reading about your house selling adventures with the first house.) Bittersweet.

    Reply

  31. Sarah {20State} says

    I love that someone else describes their paint like wine..!
    It can never just be red or white….or blue/green/taupe. I was looking for turquoise paint for the front door and drove the hardware store guy insane with my descriptions. In fareness he was trying to steer me towards a mistint shade of orange. Um did he not understand my detailed explanation blue/grey/green and a vague referall to a Heidi Klum dress I had seen ;)

    Reply

  33. McKenzie says

    I read this post this morning. I live in Alaska, and as I was driving this afternoon I looked up in the sky and thought, “Yup. that is an appropriate name for that color!” Its the color of the clouds near the mountains on a very sunny day when the rest of the sky is blue. lol.. Now I know they make it in paint! :P

    Reply

  34. Kay says

    It’s so very smart to paint the walls a neutral color! When I was in 3rd grade, my parents painted my walls a pastel pink and put in dusty rose carpet (Hello 90s!) My mom was the one who wanted the pink theme, and I was sick of the pink in about a year. In the next 8+ years, my walls went from pastel pink to splatter paint to clouds (and the darn dusty rose carpet stayed around for each re-paint.)

    Reply

  35. Megan says

    I love Alaskan Skies! That’s the color we painted our living room (and guest room), and it totally changes with the light, it’s warm and beige-y in the sun and greyish as it gets darker. Can’t wait to see Clara’s room come together.

    Reply

  36. Jesi says

    Long time follower of your blog and first time commenter. I’ve been wondering for awhile about the daybed in this room. Is this one you purchased or made yourself? I’ve got plans for an identical looking project from Ana White, and wanted to check if you guys might have a tutorial on building it.

    Love your blog, very inspiring! Keep up the good work!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It’s a wedding gift from John’s God mother from West Elm back when we got married. I love that thing! Ana White has awesome plans though! Hope it helps.

      xo
      s

  37. Kitty says

    Really excited for Clara’s big girl room! You guys are so talented when it comes to making things beautiful for Clara, I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

    Reply

  38. Rachelle says

    Just curious–I know this is a WAAAYY down the road thing–but if Clara’s nursery is too small for a bed, what are you going to do when you have another kid who is ready for a bed?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      As for the nursery eventually evolving, we’ve thought that perhaps a lofted bed waaaay later (for a larger kid) would free up more floor space someday. It’s just a very modestly sized room, so plopping even a twin bed down in there pretty much clogs up the whole room, so we’ll have to get creative :)

      xo,
      s

  40. MamaG says

    No way! We just moved our son into his “big boy” room this weekend. I think he’s a few months older than Clara and we had to move him because we have “bean #2” on the way in 8 weeks. We too asked for input and got, blue with baseballs as our answer. We threw caution to the wind and went with bright blue on the walls that he picked out himself. Heck, you’re only 3 once! Hope Clara loves her new room as much as our son loves his.

    Reply

  42. Ashley says

    I’m so excited to see how her big girl room comes together!
    Today, I started painting my upper kitchen cabinets Navajo White by BM. Hoping it makes the kitchen look more modern from the old boring wood color that was installed prior.

    Reply

  43. Chrissie says

    Woohoo! I’ve been itching for some big girl room progress. We’re in the junk room stage at the moment, but need to clean it out and decorate it at some stage in the next few months, so I’m seeing a big swapmeet stall coming up!
    I love that watered-down tea colour as a nice base for so many different colour options! Plus, milky tea is just about the most warm and comforting drink around, so it has a nice feel to it.

    Reply

  45. Kennecia says

    I would love to know the name of the brown paint over the sunburst? I love all that you guys do. Absolutely wonderful inspiration to us all!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I’m not quite sure which brown you’re asking about because the yellow Sunburst color isn’t actually shown in any of the photos (it used to be where the stencil was). The brown used for the stencil was Ashen Tan, if that’s what you’re looking for. The other wall had a lighter brown painted first (Decatur Buff) and then a darker brown over it (Taupe Fedora). All colors by Benjamin Moore. Hope somewhere in there was the answer you were looking for! :)

      -John

  46. Julie says

    Has your favorite trim paint changed now that you are using BM paints? I know it used to be non-tinted off the shelf stuff (Olympic I think). Just wondering if you like something better and what color you use.

    Reply

  47. Leanne says

    I have that bird mobile and I’m not using it. Actually been looking to sell it (for a good price of course). Let me know if you are interested:)

    P.S. love that you went a little warmer.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks Leanne! I think I have more accessories for this room than I have room for! But I’ll let you know down the line if there’s room for a mobile :)

      xo
      s

  48. Hilary says

    That room has definitely come a long way :) I love the moose lamp in the floor-pile mood board! I can’t wait to see how the room comes together.

    Reply

  49. Megan says

    We have two rooms upstairs and two downstairs. We are downstairs along with youngest and my 4 y.o. is upstairs. We are expecting this spring so my daughter is getting kicked out of her room and moved upstairs (to a room we affectionately call the dangerous room) and the new baby boy will be downstairs across from us. 12 weeks until baby comes and so much to do. Saddened to see my daughters room go (http://www.balancinghome.com/2012/06/eleanors-new-and-improved-room.html), but like you we have plans for converting it to a boys room without repainting (http://www.balancinghome.com/2013/01/robot-boy-nursery-mood-board.html). Kids rooms are my favorite! Have fun :)

    Reply

  50. Jas says

    I think I read through all the comments, and didn’t see anybody mention this?!
    I loved loved that song when I was younger, maybe it was only famous in Europe?

    Reply

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