Daughter's first room

Remember when I said I tend to decorate based on the "feel" I want in a room as much or more as the "look?" That was especially true when I was working on my daughter's first room. I'd made attempts to decorate the nursery, and as cute as it was, it never seemed to fit her spunky personality.

By the time she was a year old, I scrapped pretty much everything I'd done and started all over. Inspired by her baby book by Flavia I painted the walls a soft cream and the ceiling like the purpley-blue sky so common in Flavia designs. I added a 4" wide border in apple green and handwrote in script sayings from her baby book. My favorite one was "A star danced in Heaven on the day you were born." (Incidentally, that was also used in her birth announcements).

I found the '70's French provincial dresser, chest and hutch in a newspaper ad - got all three pieces for $130. Of course, they needed updating, so I came up with a MacKenzie Childs-inspired design, using inexpensive raspberry pink, apple green and lemon yellow craft paints.

I bought the mirror for $20 at a garage sale and the twin headboard for $7 at another garage sale. They were given similar paint treatments to coordinate with the other pieces.

The vintage, tole chandelier was my sister's, who gave it to me in exchange for the ceiling fan. She'd painted it for her own daughter's room, and it worked in perfectly with the Flavia design.

The room evolved over the years, with the addition of the painted trim around the window and the yellow walls covering the original cream and hand-scripted border. The intitial redo of the room cost way less than $500, including all the furniture, paint and fabric. I still have such fond memories of this room, and it fit my daughter to a T!



This little scene is from the Flavia baby book. The yellow walls cover up the original little blurb under the picture that said, "I'd like to have a tea party under the trees, with that friend, that friend, and you, if you please."

The little dollhouse is on a rustic coffee table, originally bought for $6 at a thrift store for my son's Playmobile toys. Once he outgrew it, I painted it, decoupaged some MacKenzie-Childs napkins on top, and it was the perfect size for my little girl.

This child-sized ice cream table and chairs were an antiques store find for my daughter's first birthday. They were painted and decoupaged to go with the decor of the room. Hopefully, these will be passed down to a future granddaughter someday.


This is a glimpse of the purpley-blue Flavia sky and the vintage chandelier.



There were two windows that shared a sill. One of the drawbacks of newer construction, is it often lacks architecture. Inspired by a magazine photo, I added the fanciful handpainted border for a little unexpected whimsy. We also added some fluted molding in between the two windows, so we could get away with two sets of faux wood blinds, which was much cheaper than a 72" set.

My daughter, now 12, has long outgrown this first room, and we're now working on room #3. I'll always love her Flavia room, though, and I hope you do, too.