Whimsical Unicorn Bedroom Makeover!

She may be a tomboy at heart (she loves to play in the mud and climb all the things but she’ll wear a tutu and look cute doing it) but my BooBoo Girl is just as obsessed with unicorns as any other girl her age (or not, I love unicorns too!). For her 5th birthday I decided to surprise her with the mother of all photo shoots, a unicorn photo shoot that was quite simply the most magical thing we’ve ever done.

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BooBoo Girl’s crown, earrings, dress and shoes, and Love Bug’s flower headband, earrings, dress and shoes were all purchased on Zulily.

After seeing the prints from our magical unicorn photo shoot I did what any other unicorn-loving mother would do and asked BooBoo Girl if she wanted a bedroom makeover starring her three favorite things: Pink (duh!), Gold and or glitter (this kid loves anything that sparkles), and unicorns (obviously!) to which she replied “Yes!!! With rainbows and butterflies and fluffy clouds and a tree (uh wait a minute, how good of a crafter does she think I am?) oh and can I get a bunk bed, puhlease mommy!” (Sure and while I’m at it I’ll install a sky light and paint Starry Night on your ceiling.) *eye roll* Agreeing to this bedroom makeover was both exciting and bittersweet, a lot of blood (quite literally; carpet nails hurt like hell!), sweat (oh yeah!) and tears (out of frustration and ultimately joy) went into designing and decorating her Alice in Wonderland/Betsey Johnson inspired bedroom. I could tell this makeover was coming at a good time though, she was no longer in love with her room and she really wanted to have a room to share with Love Bug so they could have sleepovers together (is that not the most heart melting thing?). Additionally with all the stress from the divorce and adjusting to the new living arrangement it was time for a change and seeing her excitement for having a say in her new room was all the motivation I needed to spring into action.

Before: Pale blue walls and a pink ceiling (please ignore the mess, she’s 5 and I’m tired).

Before: She originally had a tiffany blue comforter with pink roses and white polka dots all over it and hot pink zebra sheets.

In case you were wondering, this was the original inspiration behind her Alice in Wonderland/Betsey Johnson bedroom.

Before: Cheap wood die-cuts found at my local Michaels Crafts spruced up with spray paint made up her gallery wall.

 

Now let the fun begin!…

To start I let BooBoo Girl and Love Bug pick the paint colors, they choose pink and green with a special request for gold and glitter (which I then narrowed down the overwhelming color choices to two complimentary color palettes and let them choose from there).

The winning combo was Sherwin Williams Charming Pink and Mint Condition with that little extra something using Gold Dust by Devine Color.

Next, while the girls were away at their dad’s for the weekend I took it upon myself to begin painting. While I’d like to be able to say I know all the best ways to paint a room (I’ve painted a lot of rooms) the truth is I don’t, I tend to just wing it (my mom and I can bust out a room in less than an hour, she does all the edging and I roll like a mofo). However, I recently read a post on Pinterest (don’t ask which one, I forgot to pin it and I honestly can’t remember) that said to roll the walls first and then edge with a brush and repeat (this is the technique I used).

Is this Mint Condition not the most refreshing color you’ve ever seen?

I love how light and refreshing the mint green is compared to the blue (FYI – I usually don’t tape anything other than my baseboards, because I’m dumb or lazy or both).

If you think that mint wall looks good just you wait, the best is yet to come!

That Charming Pink is just that, simply charming! I added 2 packets of Devine Color’s Gold Dust to really bring this color to life and the results are amazing!

 

BooBoo Girl asked to move her bed to this side just until I’m able to get her a bunk bed (I’m gonna be a little sad getting rid of her antique bed).

If you can believe it her room looks even larger with the pink walls (Does anyone else get immense gratification from vacuum lines on the carpet or is that just me?)

 

This wall actually got painted 2 weeks later because like a dummy I forgot that having 10ft ceilings means I need double the paint (this also means I had to order an additional 2 packets of Gold Dust).

So that’s as far as I’ve gotten to date. Currently I’m giving the window sills a little pop of color and revamping her dresser, nightstand and bookshelf. Keep checking back for updates on all my progress. Hope you enjoyed reading along and learning from my mistakes.

XO,

Ris