Not Neutral

Over this last month, I've been playing around with the idea of "big girling" E's room downstairs. I've had this Rachel Ashwell shabby chic blue roses thing going in it for the last two years, and it looked sooooo cute in her old painted bedroom. But now we have lovely suburbian taupe walls throughout, and the pale color palette against it looks so blah.

I'm keeping the whole ensemble in hopes of using it again when we get a house and can paint and decorate the walls ... but until then, I wanted to play around with something a little more ... colorful. (very very very very very difficult a task for this color-phobe to do).

My first idea was to do a pink, blue and green princessy room. I saw this cute wall decal that said "My King is coming for me, and until then I am content to be His princess" ... I found this cinderella toile comforter at Pottery Barn Kids on clearance for $32, and a quick etsy search revealed lots of cute accessories. I collaged all the pictures together, and just about gagged at the overload of pastels. A whole roomful of bubblegum pink? Pink was sooooo 0-3 months. So I ditched the Pastel Plan, and moved onto bolder things ... And the best part is, the Ebay sale/profit (currently selling for $80+) of the PBK duvet will cover the whole color-overhaul costs!

That's when I spotted this comforter/sham set at JCP for $30-some bucks. A little Marimekko-ish, but definitely the splash of fun color I was looking for. AND with the added bonus of being able to throw in some renegade bohemian touches! Like a gypsy chandelier, amy butler pillows, and blowing up some art from my fave Esty artist, Sarah Jane Studios. Elaina got a little blabla backpack for Christmas that I'm hanging on the wall, and I'm having her watercolor some art for a project to match.

So I'll be busy with a can of spray paint giving new life to a roomful of white.

But ... moving away from all things Design*Sponge inspired, and first things first :) The dishes are screaming at me for a good long hot bubble bath, and I have to pack us for New Years ... AJ and I are singing and ringing in 2010 in Portland along with other Phil Wickham fan friends :) After the concert, we hope to get in some good midnight sledding before a warm-up in our room's hot tub! Yes, both nannies are home from college, and we are enjoying a dating frenzy while they're here :) Happy last few moments of 2009!