Monday, April 20, 2009

A Butterfly Bedroom for our Social Butterfly

Taylor's bedroom has been a work in progress. Her nursery was a safari theme, and I've known for awhile I wanted a butterfly theme for her "Big Girl" room. I just love the colors of pink, purple and turqoise. And I love the whimsical air of butterflies. We turned her crib into a bed last week. The crib is a Baby's Dream crib (Generation Next). It's a 3-in-1 so it's a crib, then a toddler bed, then a full size bed. When we took off the side to make it a bed, we added the canopy. Do NOT expect a tutorial on how to make the canopy. Yes, I made the canopy. Well, to be truthful, my hubby and I made the canopy and it would not have turned out half as beautiful as it is, if it wasn't for his logic to bring my vision to life. I used an oval quilting hoop (24", I think) as the base of the canopy. These can be very expensive (I saw some that were over $20), but the one I got was from JoAnn's and it was around $6. I used a 50% off coupon when I bought my 13 yards of tulle from JoAnn's, but the regular price is $1.89/yd. I stapled the tulle to the outside of the inner hoop, and that became the bottom part of the canopy. For the top part that goes from the hoop to the cieling, I cut more strips of tulle and stapled it to the inside of the outer ring of the hoop, with the tulle hanging down toward the floor. I then pulled the tulle up around the outside of the hoop, covering the outside of the hoop with tulle. We then used fishing line to tie the hoop to a hook that we mounted to the ceiling. Here's the tricky part, the hoop wasn't balanced because the weight of the clamp at the back caused it to tilt when it was hung. Of course we tested it all out before I attached the tulle, so we decided to glue a paper pouch full of pennies to the inside front part of the hoop. It did the trick! Once I had all the tulle attached, I hot glued the ribbon around the edge of the hoop, and hot glued a couple of butterflies to the front center of the hoop and along the sides of the canopy. I used a small piece of cardstock on the back side of the tulle so that the butterflies would have something to stick to.

How 'bout that, I think I just gave you a tutorial! :) But seriously, this project was a lot of effort and took a lot of thinking through and it's definitely a 2 person project, the hanging of the hoop got to be pretty tricky. If you have any questions and want to make one of your own, just leave me a comment and I'll try to clarify the process for you!

I love how the canopy turned out and it ended up being 1/2 the price (or less) of the canopy I saw for sale that was my inspiration. I just LOVE being crafty! It's fun and thrifty!

OK, so on with the rest of the room...

I found this fabric at JoAnn's a couple of months ago. I love the patchwork look without all the work! It comes already sewn like a patchwork quilt. I just backed it with part of a pink sheet that I bought on sale for next to nothing after Thanksgiving.

I made this pillow the other day, inspired by a butterfly pillow I saw at Target. The one from Target is waaay prettier, but this one was waaaay cheaper!

I hot glued another butterfly to the same ribbon I used on the canopy and tied it to the side of the bed to contain the flowing canopy.

I love these! These are from the Dollar Tree. Yes, they were a dollar for the whole set! They're removable wall stickers and I stuck them above the long side of her bed so they are behind the canopy but can be easily seen. They say "Dream" "Fly with the Angels" and "Dance with the Stars". Simply adorable.

I absolutely love the picture above the bookshelf. I doodle those flowers All. The. Time. Seriously, if you gave me those paint colors and a blank canvas that is what I would paint! My mom bought it for me at Target about a year ago and I've seen it there recently.

Sorry this pic is a little cock-eyed! I got a few of these butterfly baskets at the Dollar Tree awhile ago. I have them in purple, too.

A few of her favorite books and a personalized bear from one of my aunts.

A step stool from Target ($15) that we're using as a bedside table for her water, books and tissue box. The rug is also from Target ($30). It's soooo soft and cozy. In fact, she's been sleeping on the rug! So much for all the effort that we put into the bed!

I love this little corner of her room. The flowers were a gift from good friends of ours who own a baby furniture store. They moved their store and I helped a little with the move. Seriously, I just had fun setting up the adorable merchandise one afternoon and she gave me these flowers that she knew I was in love with. The little shelf was practically a steal. It's from HomeGoods and the center part originally had some monkeys playing baseball painted on it with the words "All Stars" I wanted a shelf just like this one, so when I saw the price tag of $2 (for real, $2), I had a vision. I knew the monkey's game was over and butterflies would soon dance in their place. I covered chipboard letters with scrapbook paper and stuck 'em on with hot glue (love my glue gun!)

I love this frame. Hard to get a good pic of it, but it says Dance, Sing, Play.

I made this hair bow holder with just strips of ribbon and a wood plaque I bought from the Dollar Tree,

The butterflies on the walls really make the whole room. They're from the dollar store and I tried a few different adhesives to get them to stay on the wall, but I ended up resorting to...my glue gun. Please don't tell our landlord!

Well...there ya have it. I hope you enjoyed the tour of Taylor's room. There's still some details I want to add but I'll post about them as I add them. It's always going to be a work in progress...but it's so much fun!



1 comments:

Unknown said...

Love Taylor's room! Funny- my 6 year old has a butterfly room, too!