Teen's Mod Bedroom

Summer fun is bringing on all sorts of fun decorating ideas here in our house.

 It's hard not to hit a decor store, without seeing a whole palette of color.  Since some of my friends are spending summer days painting and decorating there homes while they have time, I thought Id throw out a few fun ideas. 

I wanted to show you some inspiration for teen's rooms, since they can be so hard to decorate. 

Girls at that age can be so finicky, my daughter is teeter-tottering on the teenage years herself, and she comes up with some new design or decor scheme everyday (she's definitely got my blood). 

At this age, color seems to be a big part in the overall feel of the room, it cant be bland, or boring. Whenever we hit the paint store, my eldest is immediately drawn to the Pantone paint chips, picking every bright color she can. 

First thing I would keep in mind, is the color on the walls, keep it simple, but still  in a color. Soft, warm, blues, pinks, and greens are good in spaces like these. If your teen has some trouble waking up in the morning, maybe consider a super sunny yellow tone.

The things that are easily changeable in a room, like bedding, art, and curtains, are better in the punches of color. 

Here at this model home, the ladies at Dy Lynne Decor made this room into a colorful, mod, teen's room.  The bedding was the main focal point in the room, and I painted these custom art pieces, to match the colors in the bedding. 

Picking art pieces, can be just a daunting as picking the theme of a room. 

These fun pieces are bright, colorful, and obviously speak straight to a girls heart.

What girl doesn't love makeup, shoes, and perfume???

Keeping the big pieces, like the bed, and dresser in white, and with clean lines, helps keep the bedroom modern. Fun glass knobs, glam up the dresser, and simple beveled mirror is the perfect finishing touch to this area. 

Simple pops of color, like in the frames, and in the jewelry case, help pull the color to this side of the room. It's important to carry the color all the way around the room, and not just on something like the bedding. Otherwise the bedding stands alone and can look to busy, and loud in a room like this.

The third mod-painting, the high heel. What every young girl begs to wear....and the when forced to wear them at an older age, curse the day they were ever invented. 

Ahhhhh, life's circles!

This is definitely a theme that will last for many years, from middle school through high school. 

Well that is if you don't have one of those girls who loves change!!

This room was designed and decorated by the ever-fabulous ladies at Dy Lynne Decor.

Alphabet Wall Art

I wanted to share a fun project with you today.... Alphabet Wall Art. 

I made this alphabet set, and my gals over at Dy Lynne Decor put them in this sweet little nursery. Below is a tutorial on how to make some of the letters.

How beautiful is this room? 

This space feels very soft, and gender neutral. 

So if you were waiting to find out the sex, this is the perfect way to go. 

 I also love the high ceilings, it was the perfect space for a "whole-wall" treatment. 

If you don't have as much wall space, you could pull them in closer together, and spell out a name, or a small quote.

To keep a 3-D effect, they added thin strips of wood going vertical down the wall, painted in yellow.

Some of the letters actually mount to the wood.

 There is a little sitting area off to one corner, with an upholstered rocker.

I also painted some simple giraffe silhouettes on round pieces of wood. 

The giraffe grows bigger with each piece. 

 How to decorate your letters? 

The possibilities are endless. Here is how to make a few that are on the wall.

To start you will need a spray adhesive, 3M makes a good one, you want a permanent bond. You will also need a glue gun, and decorative papers (wrapping paper or scrap book paper), and paints in your color scheme. You can also use stickers, ribbon and any other embellishment depending on the style of your room. 

For a paper covered letter, these are the directions on how to cover it. 

First, lay your letter on the paper, and trace around.

Next, cut around the letter you traced, leaving 1/2" extra for wrapping. If your letter is thick, you wont want to wrap it this way, see the next letter. 

Then taking scissors, clip around the extra space, making little notches, being careful not to clip into your letter. 

In the curved areas you'll need the clippings to be closer together, or have more of them (see first picture). On straight areas you only need a couple notches, if any.

At the sharp corners, cut away the excess in the middle (see the second picture).

Adding some spray adhesive to both surfaces, helps them to stick together better. 

Align the letter to the traced area.

To wrap the paper around, apply a small line of glue to the edge, working in small areas at a time (the hot glue drys fast on this material). Then press the cut pieces down. Once dry, you can cut off any excess in the back.

Voila!

For the thicker letters, you can fill in the fatter edges with paper, ribbon, or burlap. 

For this larger letter "t", I covered the top with dictionary pages, cut and attached like with the letter "B" (without the extra 1/2" edging).  I used burlap ribbon for the edges here. It was thicker than I wanted, but I didn't cut off any excess until I was completely done attaching it. I used hot glue to attach it, but you could also use the adhesive spray. 

You could also paint any of the letters, or use stencils like I did on the letter "p", or "e". 

These letters were found at Micheal's, Hobby Lobby, and at the Land of Nod for the big cardboard ones (they had several styles and sizes).

Girls Room Makeover...Finally!

So after much longer than I would like to admit, I finally finished my daughters bedroom makeover. Normally I'm an instant gratification kinda gal. I'll go to great ends to find it, decorate it, and finish it. But not so with this one.... It had to be just right, and with the complete lack of time, it was near impossible. 

It's always so easy to make decisions in other peoples homes, but as it turns out, it's been super hard to get my house "just so". 

Now, when I started redecorating, I wanted a light, eclectic, nature inspired room. Though it all got clouded somehow, with my love of birds. If you don't know already, I have a strange healthy love for anything birds. My craft room, houses my collection, and I know my husband is happy the room has a door....but it has seemed to trickle into other areas of my house. 

I'm working on it :)

 So now,  I'm finally ready to show you her "big girl" room. 

So for the bed, we went with an Ikea, adjustable bed (Minnen). I've told you before how much I despise toddler beds, they are so hard to decorate around. I feel like I'm living in some sort of doll house on steroids...weird. So the adjustable part of this was my compromise. The bed grows into three lengths, and the mattress  comes in three pieces. So you push it out, and add the piece of mattress...until you get to a regular twin size bed. The bed is simple, yet still girly, and in white metal.

 For the bedding, I purchased the quilt at Stienmart. They have some really cute, girly quilts. They didn't have a twin of this one, so I just cut some off, and stitched the edges. I made sure to leave enough so when the bed is made into a twin it still fits. Ahhh, who am I kidding, I'll be redecorating her whole room by then....it's a sickness. 

The quilt is reversible, so using the extra piece I cut off, I made her two little throw pillows, from the reverse side, to go with her pink sham. 

Be sure to check out the super simple,  Grassy Nightstand Makeover, if you missed it. 

 One of my favorite things in the room, is this adorable cloud pillow! Could it be any cuter, look at those eyelashes!! She was on my Holiday Gift Guide, if you missed it.  

Check out her little cloud and star friends, and all of Viola Studio's other amazing creatures, on her Etsy Shop (she even has stuff for boys).

 Above her bed, I was hesitant to put any artwork, my daughter has a habit of messing with everything (what toddler doesn't). I knew I wanted to paint something, but this is what really took me the longest to decide on.  I went with a bird theme, so of course, the verse had to have something to do with birds...I know you are all rolling your eyes right now :) 

Psalms 91:4 says, "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge". I thought that was so beautiful, how God draws us near and protects us. That is just what I want for my children. 

 The fun little kitchen we got her for Christmas, ended up in her room (so not part of the plan, but I'm rolling with the punches). I used the art I originally created for above her crib, over the kitchen. For this, I just used an un-primed canvas, painted a base color, and used an brighter version for the stenciled pattern. I then put it inside of an embroidery hoop (3 sizes), and hand painted the butterflies on afterwards. 

Not a painter? Add a three dimensional butterfly to the art piece instead. 

The kids favorite spot in the room, of course, is the giant bean bag chair. It was left over from a bit of a room makeover,of the oldest child. This thing is so big, me and both the little kids sit here to read books at night. It's the perfect corner filler. Above it, hang a water color bird I painted years ago, and a sweet feather print from Satchel and Sage on Etsy.

This garden trellis piece, I have had for years! Since before I was married....My husband never understood why I carted around this old, crusty metal piece, each time we moved. But it always finds a home! 

A colorful strand of wool-ball garland, is keeping it company now. 

On the dresser, a collection of old books, and vintage jewelry boxes, are on display.

This beautiful porcelain lamp is, of course, from Target. I originally bought it to act as a nightlight, and even with a 25 watt bulb, its' still to much bright. It's such a fun, unexpected design for a lamp, that I couldn't get rid of it. It puts off a neat glow at night, casting shapes all over the wall. 

 This little house, serves absolutely no purpose, except for being unbelievably cute (I think originally made to be a pincushion). From Pink Prairies on Etsy. 

The flower box was a find at Target, but originally in a dull grey color, it did nothing for the space. A quick brush of blue, gave it the pop it needed.

 The grouping of tissue paper pom-poms was easy to make. I used 5 colors, and mixed in some lace lanterns. Hanging them with fishing line from the ceiling. Check out a tutorial via Martha Stewart, cause no body does it better that Martha Stewart!

So there it is! 

I finally walk in the room, and it feels complete...not always clean, but complete.

It's a hodgepodge of my favorite things, and it's still girly. 

Hope you love it!

Check out the grassy nightstand tutorial, here.

Check out the before, of her semi-completed nursery, here.

Make sure and swing by some of my favorite Etsy shops, to get some goodies of your own!

Viola Studio

Pink Prairies 

Satchel and Sage