I had grandiose plans for working steadily on Penelope and Felix’s room through out the week, but it really boiled down to me working feverishly to get everything hung and set yesterday afternoon while Felix played in his crib. I don’t even know what Penelope was up to. Definitely not twiddling her thumbs by the look of my studio.
I’m thrilled to bits to have competed their space. Now on to the next! It sure feels good to cross this one off the list. Remember the before:
It makes my skin crawl just looking at that. It’s not that I’m a neat freak, it’s just here nothing even had a place to go to. Not to mention, I found three enormous spiders in the process of cleaning up all this mess. Like the size of a silver dollar. Creepy.
This is a happy spider-free place now. I hung these colorful banners as backdrops for each bed. They’re from my senior show back in college, but I hadn’t really thought about using them as decorations until just recently, when I found Penelope’s bedding at Ikea. I immediately thought of how cute it would be with that particular piece, then it all clicked. I’ve been trying to think of different ways to incorporate masculine and feminine with each other, and these pieces were the key! At least I think so. They’re so bright and cheery in the space.
I took one look at this plaid bedding at Ikea and had to buy it. She had been using an uncovered white duvet, so it was time to get something that looked a bit more polished. Even Chris welcomes this little addition
Vintage pillow from MoxieMandie, chevron pillow by me.
Above is the Dachshund lamp from Clever Tomato and love print from Made By Girl that we’ve had for ages. The dresser we’ve had since we moved to Utah, too.
I tried to keep everything relatively simple, but colorful. I made it a point not to hang artwork directly above Felix’s crib. I know he will get to the age (and height) where he will pull the artwork down, which makes the space ideal for a decal. I would just hate for a heavy piece of wood to come crashing down on his poor little noggin.
I designed and printed the herringbone blanket last winter as part of a groupon with Ink Garden. Instead of uploading a photo, I uploaded a repeat pattern and had the blanket made. Originally it was floating in the living room, but it works so much better here.
Penelope actually contributed a lot to this space, artistically. She made the above cloud and popsicle sculpture in her art class. She was thrilled to pieces to see that I wanted to hang up her art. I was actually worried that she wouldn’t be okay with me hanging it above Felix’s bed, but she was so proud that they could both look at her decorations. Bullet dodged.
The butterfly chair, rug and boppy pillow we’ve all had on hand forever. I’m just lucky that yellow is a recurring theme through out this bedroom. Say hello to Earl Ledbetter!
On the left you can see bits of the debris from hanging and fixing up artwork. From left, Painting by me, F cut by me and elephant piece by A Vintage Poster
Here’s the doorway and closet area. We have a little bookshelf that I bought while at our old house, but we’re not using it as a bookshelf anymore. Our books are almost all in the den which has two enormous closets with wall to wall shelves. More on that later. The balancing cactus toppled over a few minutes after I snapped this.
The piece up top is one of a circle/square series I did in college. It adds a nice texture to the graphic bedroom. The piece below is another piece Penelope made in art class.
Here’s a glimpse of the closet all neatly organized. Mostly. This system works really well for me and costs a fraction of what an actual cute dresser would cost. At some point, I’ll be putting in a shelf above the rod to store boxes of outgrown or seasonal clothing.
There were no pulls on the closet, so I cut two strips of leather and screwed them onto the doors. Chris prefers the blank doors, but I thought they were rather annoying to open and close. This little remedy was free and looks cool to me. If we decide to put actual handles on the doors at some point, the existing holes will be used or hidden.
Next to the closet, over on Penelope’s side of the door I put in a little gallery wall. It’s a mixture of art: dinosaur by Ashmae (and fellow painter friend from college), peacock by A Vintage Poster (with the addition of vinyl hand-lettering by me), P by AnnilyGreen, Chromatography pieces by Penelope, hand cut design by me and a framed chalkboard. The chairs I’ve had for a few houses, I bought them from Ikea.
I bought some chalkboard contact paper for a future project, but I know I will have loads left over so I applied a small piece to the wall and covered it with a frame I’ve had for ages. I showed Penelope the chalk board and she was thrilled beyond the moon. I should find a better way to store the chalk than in an ugly baggie on the chair.
There you have it. I’m quite proud of this cheap space for Penelope and Felix. I spent $30 on the bedding at Ikea, but that was before I decided to do the Zero budget project. Maybe it counts, maybe it doesn’t? Everything we either had on hand or repurposed from elsewhere in the house. I would have hit my goal on the head if I hadn’t purchased the bedding, but I’m definitely not regretting that decision.
If money were no object, I would do something like this: Pen & Felix Bedroom Pinboard.
I hope you have a great weekend! I will be hanging out with my husband, celebrating our sixth anniversary and scheming the next room for the Zero Budget Project. What are your plans?
