Tightwad Toile!

Would you like a tour of another room? I wanted to join Pretty Organized Palace's Toile party, so I thought you'd like to hear the whole story.This room surprises me by being very magical -- at least for decidedly un-magical people like us.

My decorating style tends towards waking up and finding out what yard sale things ended up in the room.The effect here is the result of some happy choices for two different girls and some hard thinking -- not to mention a lot of work undoing -- what else -- bad 70s karma.

Words cannot describe how badly "decorated" this room was when we first moved here. I wish -- O how I wish! -- we had taken a before picture!

We're talking Barbie pink walls. Bright lavender wall to wall carpet. Brown twin poster beds left by the owners. Bad. Very bad.

It was Deirdre who began the transformation, pulling up the carpet and starting her lobbying efforts. With a huge house -- thirteen big rooms!-- to bring up to some sort of livability, it was not high on my list to make the wishes of a twelve-year-old come true. I actually don't remember how old she was. She was young!

She shared this bedroom with Bridget, who was little more than a baby then. Deirdre desperately wanted a day bed with a trundle, but a quick look online made it clear that anything worth spending money on was way out of our budget, which was -- just about nothing.So, Mom had to get thinking while this determined little spitfire got to patching her walls and campaigning for nothing less than --

TOILE!

Now, we are talking quite a bit of wallpaper here, even with the interruptions of doors etc. Fortunately, a chair rail was in place, so we went with the wallpaper below the rail, keeping the effect without the expenditure. The wallpaper was the only thing we spent serious money on, and while I don't remember exactly, it was under $100.

We matched the wall and floor color to the white of the paper, and used a bright version of the green for the chair rail. Don't forget we had to liven up that fireplace!This bulletin board was here when we arrived-- it's very clever, actually, being molding and corkboard attached to the wall -- and Deirdre made it into a giant scrapbook:

I want to tell you that all the "styling" is the girls'. I hardly did anything in this room other than hang the paper, make the pillows and valences (formerly curtains), and figure out the bed (the Chief put it together).


These Calico critters came mostly from one lucky find on Ebay, and have been played with for ever.

I made this quilt for Bridget (each one of my kids got one).


Just about the only place other than the side of the road that has great decorating accents in my price range is Marshall's, and there Deirdre found these little cute toile things.

I figured out that putting together the headboards of the poster bed with hardware from the furniture store would give us a day bed.

The same store (Jordan's) sold trundles, and that worked perfectly for the two girls. (Alas, even the sturdy model we got didn't last more than about six years of hard use, but we still shove a mattress under there! Note that it failed just beyond the warranty period, grrr....)
Remember I told you my rooms all have 4 huge windows and at least 3 doors AND a fireplace? No spot for furniture! Deirdre was right -- a daybed was the only way to go!What I learned along the way is that a very tight budget can produce some really good ideas!

Now that Deirdre is off to college, it's Bridget's room, and we have worked to make it her own. You know, none of the older kids got this kind of treatment! :)The doll is another Ebay find. The wicker is from my favorite local antiques place, although it's not really antiques, it's more a sort of well presented junk shop! JUST my kind of thing! :)
A small amount of fabulous fabric goes far on throw pillows. The Three Little Pigs can make for some sophisticated art! (I did frame this page from an old book Rosie brought back from England --page, not book --, as well as some serendipitous pig greeting cards.)Bridget prefers the bed out in the room rather than against the wall, day bed style, and her pink (oh, but the right pink, which makes all the difference! For the love of all that is holy, get the right pink!) bedding works just right with the cream and green.

Add a little yellow and rescue her from candy-land :)
These valences were curtain panels in Bridget's interim room (the only small room in the house!). This works -- it has to! :)Even the scraps of fabric got a purpose in a patchwork pajama bag.Finding the Chief's old typewriter in Grandma's attic sent Bridget into writer's stratosphere.
This is a girl's haven! I don't know how it even happened!
Thanks also to The Gypsy's Corner Three or More Tuesday for another linky!