Riley’s Big Girl Room

My daughter Riley turned three years old on April 30th. As her gift, I decided to redo her nursery into a sweet, fun, “big girl” room, complete with a FULL SIZE BED! This girl has the life. I slept in a twin bed until I was 20 years old. But as I was saying…

Riley is our only child at this time, and she is sweet, spunky, and she LOVES the color pink.   Not being a huge fan of pink myself, I could not bring myself to paint her entire room pink, like she asked for many, many times. But I did try to incorporate pink in fun and surprising ways, which, when she’s older, and has a new favorite color, I think she will appreciate.

 

Her dresser, which is from IKEA, is the same dresser from her nursery. I painted the frame pink to appease Riley, and I love the way it pops against her new white wall (“Snowbound” by Sherwin Williams).  The “Bashful Zebra” by Jellycat is named “Zoe” and she is one of three Zoe’s we’ve had in our family because Riley has loved that stuffed animal like no other. Any smart parent knows to have back-ups of your child’s favorite lovey- right?

We do still like to rock in this hand-me-down rocking chair before bed sometimes. My parents had it reupholstered before Riley was born in this fun yellow, gray and white pattern, and it still works pretty well in this new room, especially with this fun pink throw from Target.

You will find books all throughout Riley’s room. This kid loves to read and be read to. Her favorite go-to’s are right by her bedside but the majority are found in her bookcase. I snagged this scalloped bookshelf outside one of my favorite little stores in Linwood, NJ, Reclaimed at 208. They always have a  rotating assortment of great finds. The shadow boxes from Michaels and the elephant bookends from Hobby Lobby are just some of my favorite details of this space.

Another favorite area of the room is this corner featuring a homemade gallery wall, princess closet, and bookshelf.  Riley, like many three-year olds, is all about dress-up and Disney princesses right now. She loves that she can now grab any dress she wants on her own rather than have mommy and daddy search for them. I also repainted the shelves in this built-in “Tame Teal” by Sherwin Williams to match the wall color. The gallery wall was so fun to create. The one frame that always makes me smile is the “Oh what a happy day” quote from Mickey and the Beanstalk. We would hear Riley singing this song while she was playing by herself before we even knew what the song was from. So funny how kids pick up things grown-ups glaze over.

 So that’s my sweet girl’s room. Don’t you wish you had one when you were a little girl? Sometimes I lay in her bed at night to read her a story and find myself wishing I were three-years old and living in this sweet land of fun and color. Her bedding and curtains, by the way, are from Land of Nod and I cannot say enough good things about it. The intricate details and the feel of the fabrics are so great and has kept Riley sleeping like a teenager, literally. I have to wake her up like 3 times in the morning because she just wants to keep sleeping. It’s awesome! Anyway, hope you enjoyed her room like we do! I think this whimsical yet cool room will last her for several years to come.