Redone

My spunky friend, Jessica B, yields a superpower particularly useful in our world gone clutter: she's a professional organizer. Her recent FB post proclaimed, "I love me a good, hot mess!" And God bless her for it! But I got to thinking: if I finished that sentence, how would it read?

I love a good, hot __________. (Wait, wasn't I in this fix last post, too?)

Project. My answer is project.

When Craig or one of the kids starts a sentence with, "You know, we should..." and end it with, "...you could totally do that", my inner project designer sits up and barks. In honor of the double sticks birthday, Grace decided she wanted most a bedroom makeover that was, as she put it, "bigger girl. But not too big."
     She wanted a room.
          Redone.

Now, any shopping fiend carrying a 54-by-86 mm IOU can redesign a room in an afternoon. But can you do it for less than $50? How creative can you be and still proudly wave your frugal flag? Now that's the real project.

Her color picks and patterns + a quest for the perfect fabric = Girl Date. Here's what she settled on.

Polka dots. In orange, pink, and brown. Best part of redoing a tween's room? No rules!

Which is good because we crafted these felt pillows to accent.

They're so easy to make, and each one cost mere cents. Buy the felt by the yard from a fabric store at about $1.50/yard. Use a coupon! We varied the sizes based on Grace's whim and cut the pillow forms from orange and brown. We also scooped up a couple of the 10 cent felt squares in neon green and fuschia for accent. You can hem inside around the perimeter or use an accent thread in a zig-zag on the outside for extra pop. Leave a few inches at a base side to stuff with Poly-Fil, and then stitch it up when the pillow's full. Grace decorated the outside using beads, circles, and flat glass marbles. Voila!

Strangely, our biggest brain teaser was this:

No, it's not a dead orange ostrich? Or, not quite. The shade used to be purple-trimmed, and how hard (dreamed I) could it be to find an orange shade? Well, if I was looking now, none at all - for they adorn the endcap of every blasted aisle in Target. But when I needed one? Nope. It was like water in the Sahara: a mirage of possibility, at best. Lest we be beat, the girl and I snagged a bag of orange feathers at Hobby Lobby which I used promptly to re-frock the lamp.

Remember: no rules.

A quick repaint of her name...

and a re-striping and decal-ing of her dresser ...

(We pulled out the drawers and painted her new colors just at the white areas between the drawer tops and bottoms. Then I free-handed some detail at the top and sides.)

along with a "craft-line" (aka hemp rope with painted clothespins in her new colors) to showcase her current treasures, and she was set! This way, she can change out her pieces without hanging them all over her room.

To further that idea, we used the narrow and wretched-to-paint wall area between her closet and bedroom doors to mount a corkboard wall. You can grab a package at a craft supply store for about $12 for 6 of the 8x8 size. Then hang 'em up in any configuration you want and let your kiddo go mad showcasing ribbons, notes, medals, drawings, snapshots...whatever. And NO HOLES in the wall!

I like!

 

Yes, I love me a good, hot project.

On a budget (yep, less than $50).

But I learned a little some'in, some'in along the way this time.

Our girl is growing up.

Today's "bigger girl but not too big" will fast become "bigger yet" and "bigger still" until she's decorating a house of her own.

If time is going to fly the way it insists on doing, these are the collaborations I'll love best.

Sure, there will be lots of hot projects. 

But the ones happening in a 10x12 cube with a Daddy, a Mommy, and a leggy Tween brainstorming on a budget....well, I suspect those are the ones that'll be remembered for quite some time. 

By every heart involved.

So, I s'pose I don't love me a good, hot project so much as I love me a good, hot family remodel, fixed and fiddled and flagged for display.

Us and her.

 

Redone.