Big Girl Room - also known as "The Longest Post in Quite Some Time"

We moved Morgan Kate to a toddler bed back in December. The first few nights proved to be successful. We were so relieved. The transition had been easy and simple. A piece of cake. By about the fourth or fifth night all of that changed. The next two months proved to be very trying and most difficult. Our success went down the drain. Fast. There was crying, screaming, throwing, you name it - it happened. We were all sleep deprived and overall just miserable. After countless interventions and a night where I had to use my firm voice and firm hand, things began to get better. However, we knew that ultimately the toddler bed just wasn't going to work. Our big girl needed a real big girl bed. 

We knew what we wanted but finding it was another ordeal. We looked and looked and came close two or three times to ordering something online. Then after a weekend of "picking" with my mom, I found it. The bed for our girl. And so began the makeover of our baby girl's nursery to our baby girl's big girl room. It has been a very slow process which has been awesome for all of us. I don't typically do well with things that change quickly. I like things to be more gradual. There are still a few things we want to do or add, but for the most part it's complete.

I have a thing for old and rustic and I wanted to incorporate that into her room. I started by hanging this old window frame above her dresser. I love her furniture so we didn't change or do anything with that. The lamp on her dresser went with her baby bedding, but it works in her big girl room as well. Thank goodness because I heart that lamp.

Last summer Morgan Kate did some finger painting so I added that above her "old" changing table. I also have a thing for her artwork. There's still another canvas for her to work on, but we are saving that for a rainy day. Her changing table has now become a storage unit for toys. The top holds books, frames and a lamp, but underneath are baskets of toys. Perfect for the gazillion toys she has.

When Morgan Kate was about a year old I ventured through her preemie box. It was a box I had tucked away that held items from her NICU days. I poured those items into a huge cookie jar and for the next two years it sat on her dresser. Occasionally I would go through the items and share them with MK or with family and friends. I decided that the cookie jar was a little too big and not what I really wanted anymore so I found this adorable shadow box at AC Moore and presto, it's MK's preemie shadow box. Probably one of the most special shadowboxes I have ever had. A good friend from my old school smocked MK two preemie dresses during her NICU stay. I want to have those framed and put on either side of the shadowbox. Like I said, work in progress.

I'm really proud of so many things in MK's room, but the item I am probably the most proud of is her bed. I'm not a very patient person. When I want something or have something in mind, I want in then and now. I don't like to wait. It's a lifelong problem I have. However, with her bed, I waited. And waited. Like I said before, we almost ordered three different ones off of the internet just because I was getting tired of waiting. I had what I wanted in my mind but I just couldn't find it. And then I did. It was at this awesome little antique place and it was resting against a column. The minute I saw it, I knew I had to have it. We brought it home and cleaned it up. Travis had it sandblasted and powder coated a color to match MK's furniture. The day he brought it home I had the biggest smile on my face. It was perfect. Good things did come to the mommy who waited.

After we found the bed and decided out the perfect color for it, we then had to decide on bedding. Bedding proved to be a bit tricky. I wanted something light, but it couldn't be white. And it really couldn't be anything that didn't include pink and/or green. It's so funny because prior to having Morgan Kate I was never really girly. I wasn't huge on pink or frills or ruffles. In high school my room was bright purple and teal. Fast forward to the day I found out she was going to be a girl - I wanted anything and everything pink, frills and ruffles for her. And I still do. 

I found a quilt I thought I really liked at TJ Maxx. It had some pink and green in it, but it also had other colors and they were much bolder than most things in her room. I got it home, put it on her bed and hated every part of it. I went back to TJ Maxx that very afternoon and returned it. I then ventured down to Target and found the pinkest, lightest, most ruffly thing they had. I brought it home and fell in love.

I'll be the first to admit - it's a lot of pink and I'm still trying to think of ways to break it up, but I love it. In my opinion it's perfect. I loved her room as a nursery and I love it as her "big girl room".

Besides, I better use the pink and frills while I can because I'm sure in a few years she's not going to go for any of that. 


I had to throw this last picture in just to show what real life is like. We haven't bought any rails for her bed. I didn't think of it the afternoon I was out getting things for her room and I still have gotten any yet. The first night I wasn't sure what to do to keep MK from rolling out and Trenholm suggested using our kitchen chairs. So, since then that's what we've been doing. Clearly we can't keep moving the chairs in and out, but for now it works great.