Winner of Stencil Giveaway and What I've Been Up To

Drumroll please...
The winner of the Royal Design Studio Stencil giveaway is...


#33 - Mary from Because I Like To Decorate
Congratulations Mary!
Thank you all for entering.
(for the life of me I can't get the numbers to print out on the random.org)
I will be sending out an e-mail to you this morning.

Now...onto what I have been up to...

My daughter is 11 and started Middle School this year.  Middle School is changing her, not in a bad way, but she is definitely growing up.  If you remember, less than a year ago, I gave her room a mini-update.  I updated it from a young child's room to a more elegant room.  At that time I asked her if she wanted a full size bed and she insisted that she wanted to keep her daybed (which is why the update remained mini).  I LOVE her current room.  I love the floor plan, I love the bedding I made, and I just love how the whole thing came together.  However, I knew very soon she would want a bigger bed.

Well, it turns out it was sooner rather than later.  For the past few months she has been telling me that she is now ready for a full size bed.  I ignored her comments at first, but she is persistent, so eventually I had to listen.  She is a girl who knows what she wants... as well as what she doesn't want.   I understood that she wanted a bigger bed, and it would be fine to just swap out the daybed for the full size bed.  However, she had bigger ideas than just changing the bed.

For starters, apparently the aqua I painted on the walls was not aqua enough for her.  I love the current color and the shabby chic feel it gives to the room.  She loves the color aqua and after seeing one of my friend's daughter's room, she was hooked on repainting the room a brighter aqua.  Did I mention how persistent my little sweetie can be?  Day in and day out I heard about this aqua color.

After going back and forth, we finally agreed up Benjamin Moore's San Clemente Teal (the lighter one on the left in the photo).  I told myself...it's just paint.

So while Sydney was at school the other day, I painted her room the new color (that's normal, right?  every mom is painting her kid's room when she has two hours to spare)

However, if I was going to paint again, then I was definitely going to use this opportunity to do crown moulding (see how these things happen).  You know I am all about DIY, however, crown moulding is not one of the skills I have.  So I called my carpenter, who has done all of the crown moulding in our home, to come and install new crown moulding and base moulding.  I literally decided this on Tuesday after I painted the walls in the new color.  I called him up, we agreed on the materials we would use, and I went to the lumber store and had them load up my car.

Then having 45 minutes before the kids came home from school...

I painted all of the crown and base moulding Benjamin Moore Atrium White in semi gloss (that's normal too, right?)  I painted it all in advance because I needed him to be super careful so that all I had to do was touch up the paint a little bit.  I didn't want to paint anything again.  

However...if there was going to be new crown and base moulding...maybe it was time to tear up the carpet.  We have hardwood floors throughout the house that we covered up with carpet when we first built our home.  My daughter really wanted hardwood in her room with an area rug.  

 My life reads very much like the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie".

Here's where we are at so far...and here is where we are headed...

She picked out a new full size bed and area rug from RH Baby and Child.  

Image from RH Baby and Child

We waited until last week when they had their friends and family 20% off sale to 

order the bed and area rug.  

Image from RH Baby and Child

The rug arrived a few days ago (although we have not put it in the room yet).  Notice how the rug picks up on the stenciled wall she has in her room as the focal wall (that wall stayed...there was no way I spent as many hours on that wall as I did only to have it painted over ).   

The bed is being delivered tomorrow.  Hopefully by Monday I have her room all ready to reveal.

What do you think so far?  

Hope you have a great weekend!!

-Judy