Last week’s décor post featured Taylor’s room at grandma’s house (link here), and the first picture had a peek into Ella’s special space. I thought it would be good to pair these posts back to back, to get the full impact of just how lucky these kiddos have it while visiting my parents. I asked my mom to send me a description of some of the things she had in mind when decorating this room, and instead of pretending like I had a hand in the thought process by incorporating into my “voice,” I thought it would be nice to include her sweet description in full – included below.

When it was time to give Ella her big girl bed in her own room at my house, some room shifting took place. Taylor moved into his new space and Ella took over what was once Taylor’s room when he was a baby. First thought…must the paint color change or could it work for her as well? I made the decision to choose items that would work with the existing paint job. The giant rick rack border and two toned walls were just too cute to bid farewell. So the challenge was to “girl it up” without going down the usual pink path.  Except for the bed and the child-size slipper chair, all other items were in the house somewhere and just needed to be brought together. Hanging a colorful quilt was probably the most important unifying element. It had so many colors in it that coordinated with the wall colors and gave the room a bright, cheerful vibe. The large blackboard (achieved with blackboard paint and molding) needed a touch to make it more feminine.  A small shelf with fun brackets lent itself nicely for housing teapots, flowers, a small ballerina, etc. It was safe to assume it would be a long time before she would need blackboard space that high for her chalk artwork. Since she is still too small for drawing pictures, the chalk shelf is used for book display. It’s so much easier for her to select books when she can see the covers rather than just the spine of the book. The little slipper chair (not shown) was slip covered in the same fabric as was used for a curtain doorway that leads into a little nook in the room that makes a perfect playhouse and houses an antique child’s cupboard.  Many items used in Ella’s room were once in Kerry’s room when she was a little girl. Handmade artwork hangs throughout the room, including favorite, oversized paper dolls from the forties. I loved playing with paper dolls as a child and collected these little charmers over the years. Thank goodness they finally found their way out of storage to adorn the wall above the dollhouse from about the same era. Ella loves her room and is very proud of it and likes to keep it pretty. She was a little put out when she first walked into the room and immediately noticed a Star War’s light saber casually left on the floor by her brother. She promptly put it outside her bedroom door.
Reality Check. Another reason to have this post follow the one about Taylor’s room? I’d like a fair amount of time to pass between this post and when I finish Ella’s room at our own house, which will not be nearly as spectacular.