Birdie thanks you readers for this change, and she’s very grateful (and excited) 🙂 Here’s what’s happening. he and i chose this wallpaper Many years ago (she was five when she first saw it), and we both loved how colourful, whimsical and happy it was (just like her). When we revealed the room (when she was 8 or 9) it was about a year later, when she (hesitantly at first) said it didn’t feel right to her anymore. And while I was disappointed, I also should have known better than to turn a child off style-wise so quickly, especially one who loves fashion and style and expresses herself so clearly through it. My style changed so much as she grew up (still has!!!!), she wants her room to be representative of who she is now – a little girl! And if I were a sensible mom, we wouldn’t be doing fancy wallpaper to allow for this kind of identity switch in the first place, but painting. so…
I’ve been telling her since she was 8 that we could change it when she turned 13. This felt like a reasonable amount of time to live with it (6 years). Now, for a 8, 9, and now 10 year old, waiting until 13 is an eternity. She used to pick it up all the time (once a week) and was never angry about it, but she really, really didn’t want it anymore (she thought it was baby-ish, which is a little kryptonite). Holding Seema, I tried my best to understand her…
That is, until a number of you came forward with some solid common sense and reason, defending his desire to change it. The overwhelming response was, “Why are you waiting? If you know you’re going to change it, why not do it now so she can enjoy it more and feel like her room is hers?” I was trying to make sure she didn’t think that life was that simple – that if she changed her mind about something, she had to change it. This has financial consequences. But as she says with a very sweet smile, “Mom, you let a 5 year old choose the wallpaper. What did you expect??” (lololol – he is absolutely right!!!).
I mean, how stinkin cute is her room?? Together we made a bulletin board (which we are going to paint). We did window movies just for fun (it’s that easy). We painted the old nightstand.
We chose the shelf color and the table color together (because painting is easier – that’s the lesson here).
Last year, we upgraded her bed like this green one from article Because the vintage Jenny Lind I found on FBMP was terrible. And as you can see, he started covering his walls with posters.
What color does he want???
She wants “beige purple”, which is the girl’s wall color. After looking at the colors together, I realized that for her she meant soft purple, not too bright (but not too brown either). And then I remembered that we’ve been through this same situation before.
| Right: designed by julie rose For EHD photo by sarah ligoria-trump From: A refreshed version of our favorite “child client” – Bedroom 8 Years Later
Remember the kid-to-teen room we created years ago for this sweet girl (who’s almost out of college now!!!). This is very ridiculous. Same color palette before and after 🙂 Birdie loves the latter room. Except she doesn’t want any vintage, which I totally get (I think she wants to be more grown-up, and vintage feels weird to her).
We think we know the color (that’s down to a last-minute paint partnership, which is why it’s happening now instead of this summer). We still need to make it look good with the doors and carpet, so so far, this is Sherwin-Williams Grape Mist. It’s a really soft lavender that still has a lot of purple in it (as opposed to being too brown or blue or pink). She likes it, I really like it, and we’re on equal terms about doing it together.
So, are we breaking out the wallpaper?
Yes. It’s painful, and I’m not proud of it, but we’re here (and it’s going really smoothly). There’s no point in painting, and there’s no point in forcing my daughter to live in a very specific room that she won’t like for the next 8 years. so we bought sprayAnd it’s actually coming out pretty easily. We primed when it was put up (with wallpaper primer), and now whatever glue they use can be dissolved by the spray it leaves.
I don’t know how we would be during adolescence, but let’s just say there is a lot of affection between us. Even when she says she doesn’t want anything vintage and any particular colors in her room (literally just light purple and beige – she gave her brother green bedding).
Pay attention to the stuffies, which are lovingly accounted for each night. At 10 years old, on the cusp of growing up with one foot in childhood, it’s fun to watch.
Well, that picture makes me cry. Luckily, I got to spend so much time with her painting in this room this weekend because that was our warning and our rule from now on. She is totally welcome to change her room, as long as she helps. Olivia Rodrigo will repeat 🙂
Opening Image Credit: Photo by Caitlin Green | From: Birdies Bedroom Reveal!! Designing with your kids (not for them), and how we decorated this room with color
