Lydia's FINISHED Big Girl Room

Remember this fabric? It was the first thing that I bought for creating Lydia's Big Girl Room. I bought it SO long ago and it has caused as much frustration as it has inspiration. Here's the story.I often begin various designs with a piece of fabric (my wedding was inspired by a design on a pillow at Target) because the fabric usually has several colors put together in an interesting way. I can find a fabric quickly that has the "feeling" I want a project to have and the fabric designer has already done the work of finding the right co-ordinating colors. I am often lost on a project until I find something made out of fabric to base my design on.
So I fell in love with this piece and they only had a little bit left on the roll AND it was on sale so I bought all they had. And then I bought a coordinating fabric in an amount that I thought would be enough to make anything I wanted. And then I came home and regretted everything I just bought.
I loved the patterns but I really should have measured a few things, like how big IS a bedspread, and then come back to the store. I ended up with 2 coordinating fabrics, that I LOVED and NO idea what they would become. Both were too small for a bedspread and if I couldn't use them to make accent pieces until I knew what the bedspread (the largest visual piece in the room) would be.

I searched and searched and bought and bought (a total of 4 bedspreads at the same time) and am SO glad I kept looking. This was the last one I tried. (isn't it always? You tend to stop when you find what you want!) I was ready to give up and work with one of the 3 I already tried and wasn't sure of and then I decided this might work. It looked so different in the store and so RIGHT in the room. I love how the blue in the background is a match for the cheerful blue sky painted on the wall. And I love that it is fun enough for a little girl but not something she will outgrow in a few years. It has the purple from the inspiration piece, but the pattern was so different that I didn't think it would work. I just had to use the fabric on something other than the bed, which was fine because I had plenty of areas that needed fabric, like this table and chair. The chairs were in my room as a kid. My sister kept them and was kind enough to donate them to Lydia's room. They were apparently my dad's when HE was a kid! The table is just something old that we had in our garage. Pretty ugly but a good size for the chair.

Did I say ugly? I meant waiting to become fabulous! The table is covered in the entire piece of the inspiration fabric. I could have used some other random fabric, but it fit and not cutting it means I have the whole piece and can easily use it to make something else later. I am SO proud of those chairs. They are fully upholstered with every bit of upholstery detail that I would have included on a normal sized chair. They are padded and tufted and used WAY too much fabric, but there are two of them and they match perfectly and I LOVE them.

Here is a random shot of the furniture arrangement. I ended up blocking the window to get the bookshelf up where it belongs, but I think it fits the space and like that it is now really dark for mid-day naps. Can you see the clouds in the sky? They are subtle, but I like them that way. Real clouds are thin in places, too.

Here is the finished owl pillow, sitting on the bed. The pillow behind him was bought years ago on vacation, but the color and pattern are a match for this room.

Another view of the bed. Notice the bed skirt. I found that fabric at Walmart. It is EXACTLY the colors in the room and they only had exactly the amount I needed to make the bed skirt. All for the bargain price of $2 a yard. So lucky! I have owned this bed for decades now and have always wanted to make a bed skirt for it because it is SO tall and I store stuff in those giant plastic bins under it. Regular bed skirts only fill half the space. I am SO happy to have Lydia's toys and out of season clothing NOT visible under the bed.

The wall painting are the only element I might call a work in progress. I ran out of time to add more details, but I have also put the paints away for now. I think they are so charming, that I want to add more charming details.... like a tree... and pendants.... and more deer.. and a row boat in that lake.. and a hot air balloon!

For now, there are hills and clouds and deer and a house with a kitchen. And a comb and a brush and a bull full of mush. And a tired mama who is whispering hush.

Good Night Room!