Well, I made all of Florence’s dreams come true – she now has a pink bedroom. It’s something I didn’t think I would ever give into, but I decided to let her have a win. And believe it or not, I don’t hate the results. Read on to learn more about how I achieved this affordable and easy look.
To start, I tested out about 10 different variations of pink. I finally landed on Behr Vintage Tea Rose, which is a slightly purple, very muted version of pink. It seemed to be the best fit for all the other pink accessories she has going on in the room (pink rug, quilt, pillows, etc.). But I knew that having the whole room pink would be a bit overwhelming, so I decided to do a board and batten DIY and just paint the lower half. Because I didn’t want to use power tools, and I didn’t want to remove our baseboards, I went with 1 inch lattice strips. They are super inexpensive, easy to cut with a hand saw, and are thin enough to work with our existing baseboards.
I started by installing the top board using a nail gun. I did a height of 32 inches, which is about 1/3 of the room’s height. Then I installed each vertical strip and spaced them out about 1 foot apart. I was careful to measure everything out so that when I got to a corner, it wouldn’t end wonky. So that meant that some of my spacing was slightly different, but not enough that you would notice it. I also was very careful to make sure that my top strip was totally level. Because no room is perfectly even, that meant I had to measure out each vertical bar as I went, instead of making them all 32 inches. After I had everything nailed in, I filled in my holes using wood filler, sanded it down, and caulked all the edges. Then it was painting time. I did about 3 coats to get everything totally covered.
I took the opportunity to do some rearranging in her room because I wasn’t really feeling the flow. I ended up putting her play kitchen at the end of her bed, which created a fun little nook next to her bookshelf. And you might recognize the fabric wall hanging above her bed. That’s made an appearance in 3 of our homes. It’s pretty versatile.
Because I’m a bit of a weirdo, I decided that I had to paint her princess tent a better coordinating color. I’ll do a full post with the details on that project soon. I’m also planning on replacing the gray covers on her window seat cushions, but that’s a project for another day.
One of my favorite details in the room is the curtain ties. They are super ornate, which is very on brand for Florence.
When I was finally done with the room, Florence’s reaction was perfect. She said “I love it, but it could use some more unicorns.” So I think one of my next missions is to find some unicorn artwork to replace the bird and flower pictures, which are actually just pages from a Rifle Paper Co calendar that I framed.
