What Ana Does

Closets are are in and I'm IN LOVE!  I've been stalking the ELFA closet systems from The Container Store for years. And when we decided to convert the room attached to our bedroom to a closet, formerly used as an office, I knew I wanted to custom build an ELFA closet for us.  Here's what I was told: They're super-easy to build. And they are customizable even after installation; you're not stuck with a certain layout. So if I get a job at an office where I need to be dressed up, I can reconfigure my closet to include more hanging space. Or a pants hanger. Other closet systems were cheaper, but you were committed to that layout.  I got the room measurements during the inspection, went on the website and did all the work to create two walls of closets. And we did one for Alice's closet, since a) she didn't want her closet doors and b) her existing closet system was a disaster.  And, lucky us, we got 25% off all three closet systems ... during their annual sale...

Alice's bedroom in our house is a work in progress. Mainly due to her growing up so much in the last eight years of living here. She was a preschooler when we moved in, to now being almost a preteen. And her bedroom has grown up along with her. When we first moved in, I painted Alice's walls yellow and pink. ( 2012 post here .) Two colors she helped me pick out, though it was mostly me. She had two dressers, a play table and there were toys everywhere. We even had bunk beds in here for a while. At 3-years-old through 6, she spent a lot of time in there. She still does. Then, we decided to "grow up" a little and paint her room a lovely lavender. A color she wanted nothing to do with -- but I insisted because the walls looked dirty and needed a more tranquil palette. ( Here's that 2016 post. ) We found her a pretty white daybed on Wayfair ( similar bed ) and I DIY'ed a little canopy to hang above it. Her play table changed into a normal-sized Ikea desk fo...

While upgrading the girls' bedroom with paint and a few furniture swaps, we fixed up their walk-in closets, too. How? We changed the bifold doors to French doors!  Why? The bifold mechanism kept falling off the track and it was incredibly frustrating. In fact, I pulled off Alice's doors after several failed attempts to get it back on the track. And not too gently, if you know what I mean. 😡 No Mortise Hinge To change them into French doors, I read a few DIYs on Pinterest and tried two different hinge solutions. Spoiler: The no-mortise hinge worked the best. The Bifold to French Door How-To: Before taking the doors down, I made pencil marks on the door frame and the door at the same height. This was so when the door went back on, it would be at the right spot. I detached the door from the frame and track then removed all the hardware, including separating the doors. (Bye-bye bifold!) I did a quick paint job and added a second hole for the other door pull. While t...

In Paris, Alice got the smallest room. But it has the best view ... of the park and the Eiffel Tower (until Spring comes and trees obstruct her view). She also got a closet and an *on-suite shower/sink room.  It's a pretty sweet room! When we moved in, she took hours to set everything up perfectly. She had to arrange her photos, clothes and stuffed animals. And she badgered us until we hung up her dry-erase board and curtains. I recently "helped her" clean it, and took a picture to document the adorableness of this space. Alice's Bedroom in Pars * This apartment has two on-suite shower/sink rooms. What is that even called in real estate terms? Anyone know? 

Today we added overhead lights to the girls' bedrooms. And by "we" I mean I called our handyman Rick (who can do just about everything) over to take care of it. Before we had little lamps that provided very poor light at night in the bedrooms. Not to mention they took up the limited space on dressers and shelves. Since we moved in I've wanted an overhead light to really brighten up the rooms. So, I bought these hot little numbers from Amazon  almost a year ago with a gift certificate. They looked least like the common overhead "boob" light I was trying to avoid. You know the ones ... they look like this . Don't be embarrassed, we all have them. Anyway, it's a "semi-flush" so if anything, it looks like a slightly dangly boob light. So there you have it. Here's the final photos of the (not clean) bedrooms. Before pictures seemed unnecessary, as there was just an empty ceiling before. Honestly, the lights look like they'v...

Calling this the 1.0 version of the canopy in Alice's room. It needs a few more layers. And I think to be lowered a bit. The Canopy I didn't follow a set of instructions -- because others were much smarter than I and used two window curtains. In hindsight, that is GENIUS. I bought yards of purple tulle from Jo-Ann's and a hula-hoop for the hoop at the top. It didn't take long to sew all the layers together and hang it from the hook. The other thing is you really need to imagine the daybed below to complete the look. More updates to follow ... 

Two more updates to Alice's bedroom to discuss. The first is her new bed. Let's skip over the part about her current bed being MY childhood bed and all the history there ... and just say we would like her to have a new bed. Of course this was met with opposition, as Alice doesn't like change. But once we started showing her the options, she quickly got on board. Here are the top two choices: Jenny Lind Day Bed From Land of Nod . The Pricey Option The Dorel Living Vivienne Bed From Wayfair.com . The Risky Yet Inexpensive Option Given the large price difference, I think the choice is very clear. And the Wayfair bed is more along the lines of the style I was looking for. And it will transition to being a teenager's bed much better than the Jenny Lind bed, which looks tad juvenile. Because I can't see it and don't know the brand like I do Land of Nod, the Wayfair bed is also a bit of a risk. It's listed as "made of wood" but what if it...

So I guess I'm pretty persuasive because I talked her into painting the walls lavender. I even got her to agree to take down the shelves! Score for Mom! Before: The Yellow and Pink Walls Alice Said Looked Like the Sunset This was Saturday. By Sunday morning, the room looked like this:  After: The Soothing Lavender  Here's the long story about the color lavender: I'd been doing research on lavenders for months, picking up chips and looking through Pinterest. I was pretty sure I knew I wanted a very soft color that wasn't too purple or too pink. All the while, I didn't have her approval to paint anything. Little did she know I was planting the seeds of lavender in her little head (eg. "oh, Alice, look at this lavender bedroom in this catalog picture.") Last week she finally said, "hey, I think I want to paint my room." Green light GO!  On Saturday we picked up the fabric for the bed canopy (details coming soon) and walked into H...

I'm dying to redecorate Alice's room. She was three when we moved in and now at almost-8, I feel it needs a more sophisticated look. I also need to declutter the heck out of it. But she won't let me! "I love it the way it is!" she says. So I did a test. While she was out, I took down all the pictures from her walls -- including all her artwork. I thought that maybe this would kickstart the ideation process. "Yes, this does look better" she'd say. Not so much. In no uncertain terms she'd like it all put back the way it was. "Today, Mommy!" I liked it better when she was too small to care. In Her Room 2013! This might be a long campaign to update/clean-out this room. I'm prepared. Related: Here's what it looked like when we moved in . And  here's what it looked after I finished in 2012 .

An Instagram portrait of a 5-year-old on her bed. On Her Pretty Bed in Her Pink Room She looks like a teenager, on the phone, and annoyed that I would dare come by. Relate posts: More more and more Alice

Pretty Pattern This is my second attempt on curtains in Alice's room. The first were pink, black-out curtains that I'd hoped would help her sleep in a little later (no such luck). They were inexpensive from Amazon and they just didn't do anything for her room. So when I replaced her curtain rod, I bought her new curtains as well. These ones are from Land of Nod and I just love the neat pattern on them. They're neutral but have a bit of a statement to make. And the pink matches the wall color -- Pink! Joy! And Alice likes them! I still may need to sew-in a blackout liner. I'd love it if Alice slept-in once in a while, so it's worth it to me to put the time in on making them darker. But I think that's a project for another day. After