The Journey of Parenthood…

Tour of our Home: Britt’s Mermaid Room

Before Britt was even conceived we chose a blue color for her room. We knew if our second child was a boy we loved the blue hue and would either do shark theme for a boy nursery or mermaid theme for a girl. Once Britt was born we worked on her nursery. I TOTALLY regret waiting until she was born to decorate her room. I spent way more money than I would have because I was stuck at home and was very limited in my options. I also didn’t love the way the room turned out. You can see her nursery here.

Once Britt was ready for a big girl bed, I wanted to take that opportunity to convert her nursery bedroom into a more “big girl” bedroom. I especially wanted to be able to take the time and energy to focus on having her room reflect the original ideas I had for it!

Here is her completed mermaid themed room! Our plan is for Britt to stay in this room until we have our 4th baby. At that time she will move upstairs and her room will become the nursery for that baby 🙂

I wanted to incorporate as much as possible from her old nursery. I kept the mermaid picture above her bed but added in the “you are my sunshine” prints from another wall to give it a larger look. I also found a star fish at Hobby Lobby to complete the wall.

Her mermaid bedding is from Potty Barn Kids along with the polka dot duvet and pillow shams. I also bought the mermaid pillow from Potty Barn Kids. She’s had the Bla Bla Mermaid Doll
since birth and Mema made the little pillow for me so it brings in the pattern of the curtains!

When we originally talked about Britt’s big girl bed, Zach planned to make one for her. He is very handy and we found simple instructions for creating a full size bed with lots of storage space. Then we visited Ikea and happened to see this bed on their display floor. It was EXACTLY what we had wanted for her bed…and it was only $199.00! We discussed it and Zach agreed he probably wouldn’t even be able to buy the materials for that cheap plus it saved him the time it’d take to make it. Score 🙂  I really love the storage options it gives us (for me…every piece of furniture we own has SOME type of storage. It’s so important!). The headboard has multiple shelves and under the bed are four HUGE drawers. As she gets older I plan to put books and such on the shelves for her to be allowed to read after she wakes from naps!

Right now the shelves have a teddy bear bank that was in my nursery as a baby, a little seahorse from Hobby Lobby, and a small picture frame with a photo of Britt (that’s she’s obsessed with showing people!)

The drawers are seriously MASSIVE! I know as she gets older she’ll appreciate the extra space!

Britt’s room is the worst lay out of any room in our house. It has a HUGE window so it makes it tricky to arrange furniture. I wanted to get her a full size bed, rather than a twin, so that made it even harder. I think boys should have bunk beds and girls should have larger beds. Is that strange? I just figure when boys have people sleep over they want separate sleep spaces but girls like to sleep together haha! 

Closer view of bed

And of wall above bed

I kept the same clock from her nursery and kept it hanging above her bedroom door. But I bought a square piece of canvas from Hobby Lobby and covered it with the same pattern in the pillow on her bed that’s also used in her window covering. I always like for a pattern to be represented in at least three places in a room. I feel like it helps it flow!

Britt’s big girl furniture also came from Pottery Barn Kids. I know it’s expensive, but to me it’s WORTH IT. Their furniture is seriously amazing and holds up so, so well! We got Britt a tall dresser and a long dresser. I didn’t get her bed from there because I didn’t feel like it was worth the money, and I’m glad we went the Ikea route! We probably saved over $1,000 doing that! I also save up for the kids furniture and then buy it on a Pottery Barn credit card. They do an awesome rewards program and I’m able to buy the bedding using my points! I got all of Kye’s bedding for FREE when I bought his furniture and I only spent $50 on all of Britt’s (two sets of sheets and duvet set) thanks to the rewards!

I kept the same magnetic board I had above her tall dresser but moved it over and added in some shadow boxes. I already had the small shadow boxes from Kye’s nursery at our old house. I bought a couple pieces of green and white polka dot paper from Hobby Lobby and then hot glued pieces from Britt’s mobile onto them. Her mobile was pretty expensive so I was VERY happy to be able to use the pieces and I think it turned out great!!!

I kept the same picture frame from her nursery (I ADORE this photo!) but added a new seahorse! 

Every mermaid room has to have an Ariel right?!?!

We’ve used these same shelves in Kye’s nursery, Britt’s nursery, and I decided to keep them for her big girl room. I got another seahorse and star fish and think it helped the items on the shelves flow more with the room. 

I loved all the nursery bedding that a friend made for us, but I was never really happy with the WHITE curtains. They were white with blackout behind them and the blackout made the white fabric just look dirty rather than solid white. I found some pink curtains that have a ruffle to them that reminds me of the ocean. I like them SO much better!

Closet!

For the last wall space I had a hard time deciding what to do. Casey had a plain wood frame she wasn’t planning to use so I got it from her and Zach painted it blue for me. Then I found a wooden anchor from Kirklands and he spray painted that hot pink (spray paint is AMAZING!). I LOVE how it turned out! I also got a lamp from Hobby Lobby that matched the pink and white dots in her bedding perfectly. The lantern was a ross find and I added some sea stones to it that used to be used in our kitchen! 

Donald Duck is Britt’s FAVORITE 🙂

I’m really, really happy with the way her bedroom turned out! I truly LOVE it now and am glad I took the time to really convert it from a nursery to a “big girl” space for her. It didn’t cost much money at all to make the small changes but I think they made a big impact!

Emily Parker
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