A Vintage Eclectic Room for London
London's room update actually started before Quinn's, but because it involved a bigger commitment of time (hel-loooooo sewing), it took me longer to wrap up the details. This weekend, I received a fabulous gift...a long time friend from Seattle spent three days with us, helping with the kids and the everyday stuff, allowing me to nap. I mean tackle London's room. Ok...I napped. AND tackled London's room.
Here are a few before pictures of London's room:
True story about her wall color. When we closed on the house, my plan was to paint All The Walls before move-in day. I tested some samples, settled on a color and painted Eli's nursery, but for the girls, I knew. I mean I knew the color I wanted to use. Everyone has That One Color, right? Oh. Maybe that's just me. I fell in love with "Celery Green" back when Martha Stewart had a paint line. It's the perfect blue. Just enough green, just enough of a muddy undertone, to me it's almost a neutral. Water on a windy day, when the bottom gets stirred up. I used it throughout our home in Bremerton, most memorably in our first nursery, and again when we separated the twins into separate bedrooms. To me, the color is Home. Are you feeling it, yet? Imagine my enthusiasm as I started painting London's new room in our new home the color that (I hoped) provoked memories and comfort for her.
After the first coat on the first wall, I took a step back to drink in the impact.
Ummm............aqua walls. Teal carpet. Aqua walls and teal carpet? Who does that?!
Since I'd already bought the paint, and I do love the color, I forged ahead. But needless to say, decorating and accessorizing London's room involved very intentional choices following that moment. And we decided to move in and live in the rest of the house before making any more ridiculous moves...I mean painting any more walls.
This update involved three big elements.
For a long time I've been wanting to get curtains hung (the room had the same sheers as Quinn's, which I impulsively tore down on painting day). The extra curtains I had on hand were...wait for it...aqua. Clearly not going to work. Since London loved the Marimekko Melooni print that ended up in Quinn's room, we went through some of the other fabric I had on hand and she selected some yardage for new curtains. The Marimekko "Puro" from 1971. The purple and orange print is simple, fresh, and linear, bringing the eye up and down. And, conveniently, the print works with the orange details she's had in her room since her nursery. (The orange borders are "Kebab".
Laying out and pinning the fabric. For interest and texture, I opted to topstitch the raw edge instead of making a traditional seam between the contrasting patterns. Orchid thread for the vertical seam and bright orange on the horizontal stitching.
Measure twice!
Installing the tie-back bars.
Up they go!
The printed selvage edge instead of hems on the inside/center of the curtains.
My parents brought a full bed over from their house, which became London's when the existing twin bed was moved into Eli's room. New bed=new bedding=shopping. Dang. I hate when that happens. I really wanted to create a bed that had a "collected-over-time" feel, rather than a "bed-in-a-bag" feel....and worked with orange and purple. And teal. Always the teal. I played around with mixing prints. Bringing in orange in a BIG way. Introducing hot pink. And then one day I stumbled on some Serena and Lily twin sheets in the Kid's section at Home Goods. I'd never heard of the brand, but the print was fresh and the cotton felt AH-MAY-zing. Once a tactile girl, always a tactile girl. I scooped them up for Eli's room and googled the brand from home. So cute. So deluxe. So out of my price range. And naturally they had the perfect quilt. Orchid on one side, lavender on the other. Orange whip-stitching. Orange on purple! Are you following along? I watched that quilt for weeks. Ok, months. Ok, far too long. And it finally went on clearance. Yesssss!
I completed the look with a mix of pillow cases we already had, a vintage wool blanket, and sheets from Target's new Pillowfort line. Their prints are adorable, and affordable, but I wish the sheets were 100% cotton. They are a bit satin-y for my taste, especially for a child.
And finally (my favorite), over Mother's Day weekend Jason built a whimsical child-sized wardrobe to store their dress-up clothes. My original request was something like this rack from Etsy:
Jason dragged his feet on it for at least a month, until I showed him this reading nook from Pinja Colada:
Far more inspiring. In fact, he had a lot of fun with this concept. And the wardrobe has been a big hit with the kids. (As a collateral benefit, the twins can finally dress themselves. Yay!
Once the curtains were hung, the rest was just fluffing. I love the way her metal monogram looks next to the new curtains.
The kids each have one, made by our talented friends Ted and Celeste.
The mirror (from a garage sale ten years ago) got a new (fifth!) paint job.
The print of vintage shoes is something I made for their first nursery, repurposed from Quinn's room.
The Shakespeare quote in the gold frame is from Quinn's room, too. The purple metal heart is from Paint in My Hair Boutique in Spokane. I reframed London's "glamour shot" (taken by Rachel Thornton in Moses Lake).
My little animal lover picked a Forest Service poster with fuzzy baby mammals. As promised, here are a few closer shots of the poster "frame" made by Jason.
Someday I know my baby girl will want to give up her furry friends and princess dresses for (gasp!) boy band posters and a closet full of her own clothes (right now the twins share all their clothes, stored in Quinn's room). But for now, she's requesting bedtime stories in her room so she can "look at her new curtains." I'll savor this while I can.
