Washi Tape House

Poor Gianna.  Her mother has never devoted her time and energy into making her space “her space”.  Her older three siblings all had those spaces though.  This was the twins’ room when they were just wee babes… 
and here it was when they moved into a “big girl” room after baby bro came along.
And that little bro?  Here was his space:

But all Gianna got were seconds in the decorating arena.  Her big bro moved in with her two older sisters and she got his room just as it was…a “boy” room.

I did have plans to feminize her room, I really did, but then we decided to work towards putting our house on the market and other things came first with that in mind. 

So then we sold our house and moved and in she went to the smallest room in the rental house. 


She was perfectly happy and I really had no plans to do anything to change her room since this is a really temporary rental situation but then…I found some cute stuff and things just kinda snowballed.  I mean, kids’ rooms are so fun to decorate, aren’t they?  How could I resist?!

Here’s what her space looks like now:

I couldn’t change the wall color but thankfully, the yellow isn’t a crazy, over-the-top, bright yellow so it was easy to make do with it.  The curtains and that big painting above her bed are those two snowballs that started the whole thing.

 
I found the curtains at Dirt Cheap (they’re actually these) for $12 for the pair.  (They do have some faded spots but I feel like they’re barely noticeable…either that or I don’t really care that they’re not “perfect”.)  I wish they were a smidge longer (I like my curtains hung high and wide) but gosh, they’re cute.  Stripes get me every time.  Before there were those cheap mini-blinds hanging and we had a black curtain that we’d clothespin to the top of the blinds at night to make her room nice and dark.  But whoever installed all of the (cheap) miniblinds in the house, decided not to use drywall plugs or correct measurements and so half of them are either about to come out of the wall or have…these in Gianna’s room twice.  So, I found a curtain rod on clearance for a couple of bucks at Bed, Bath, & Beyond last week and away went the mini-blinds + black curtain duo.


On my Instagram stories last week, I debuted the painting.
It’s a real, canvas painting and it was just sitting along the wall at one of my favorite local thrift stores.  When I asked how much they wanted for it, I couldn’t believe my ears when they threw out “ten dollars.”  My mind went straight to Gianna’s room and I grabbed it as quick as I could.  I’d love to add some rose gold or copper leaf detail in the future maybe but for now, it’s just perfect and adds a great punch of lots of pretty color to her room.

Over the kitchen area we have a little, removable house. This big, boring wall needed something and when I saw this pin while casually scrolling through Pinterest last week, I knew what it had to be though I wasn’t sure how I was going to get there.  I needed something that I could easily take down when we moved and my mind first went to removable wall paper.  Holy moly though, that stuff is expensive!  Expensive when you’re only going to need it up for three more months and aren’t sure if it’ll be usable again once removed.  So after some recommendation digging, I settled for washi tape.  I found these two on clearance at Hobby Lobby: 
First I “built” the sides of the house.  Next, I marked the center point a couple of feet above where the sides stopped and made that my roof point.  Then I added a little chimney.  Last, I went very carefully and very lightly over some overlapping spots and under the chimney with my xacto knife and removed some tape to clean up my lines.
Don’t let anybody ever tell you you can’t build a house in five minutes.  ;)
Gianna LOVES her room.
Ok, ok.  She could probably care less except waking up to pretty colors might make her camping a little happier.  Colors are supposed to affect moods, right?  So yes, decorating, even if it’s only for a mere three months…JUSTIFIED.  :D

***UPDATE:  When we moved, the little washi tape house came off like a breeze!  No marks, no paint ripped off…it was like it was never there!  Two thumbs up!***

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Tell me I’m not the only short-term decorator here.  Calling all dorm room decorators maybe?  Guilty.  What else have you decorated for the short-term?  Oh wait, it’s the CHRISTMAS season!  :D 

Sources:
Twins’ Nursery:
round mirror diy
long mirror diy
cribs:  Babi Italia from Babies ‘R Us (similar)
lamp diy
curtains diy
wall stripes diy
Twins’ Big Girl Room:
wall stencil
ceiling fan shades diy
rug:  old from Urban Outfitters (thank you Jesse!)
paper mache letters
play kitchen diy
teepee
Seb’s Boy Room:
stenciled curtain diy
rug:  Old Time Pottery (similar)
crib:  my old crib!!  :D
painting diy
ceiling fan shade diy
string light lamp diy
refurbished frames
painted trophies diy

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