kids attic rooms remodel

From: The Pioneer Woman.com

 

The Girls’ Room

Posted by Ree in Design

(So, so sorry about the delay, guys—thank you so much for bearing with me over the past few days, which were a whirlwind both inside the house and out. Once the project was done and everyone packed up and left, I paused and realized I needed to make sure I wouldn’t be stepping on any toes by posting photos of the finished project before the show airs. As it turned out, there were no concerns…so I’ll stop finding things to worry about now.)
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Before I show you the photos of the girls’ room, let me just set the stage a minute. Before their visit, Bob and Cortney had talked to the girls and gotten feedback from them about what they were looking for in their new bedroom.
As it turned out, my girls’ list of requests was quite small. It basically amounted to:
1. A place to sleep, please.
2. A place to read, knit, and study that they could call their own, please.
(Translation: A place slightly away from their brothers. Please.)
My girls really didn’t have any specific requests at all in terms of colors, materials, or decor; I think they (like their mother) appreciated that having experts design their bedroom was a rare and blessed opportunity. I’d never used a designer before, whether here at our house or at the Lodge, and we were more than ready to defer to someone who actually had a knack for design.
As I said yesterday, before it began I don’t think any of us (MM, the kids, or I) realized that we wouldn’t be able to see the room’s progress over the course of the four-day project. After Cortney and Bob returned from shopping at a local antique store/flea market, I did catch a glimpse of a couple of the accessories they’d picked up. But in fact, we truly didn’t have any idea what was going on behind the closed door of the room.
And that made the moment of the reveal that much more jaw-dropping.
The room before:

And after:

 
 
Well, our jaws dropped.

What had been a plain former storage room, covered in orange carpet and cloaked in abject purposelessness… 
 

 

Was now a sweet, functional haven for our two daughters, who live on an isolated cattle ranch and chip in and help as much as two girls ever could.

If I told you I got teary-eyed when I first saw the room, would you laugh at me? What if I told you I had to pinch my nose to keep from crying?

Okay…uh…never mind.

It’s so hard for these photos to convey the beautiful job Bob and Cortney Novogratz did. Somehow, they were able to strike a balance between feminine and functional, between contemporary and country, between elegant and eclectic. The room is just lovely in every way. But it’s also familiar and comfortable and age-appropriate.

Their episode will air sometime next spring (which is why I was gnashing my teeth at the prospect of not being able to share photos with you beforehand) and it’ll chronicle all the design choices in detail. There are so many interesting/clever features the show will cover at length, but for now, here are the things that really made an impact:
 

  

* Hanging beds. The gorgeous (and locally-crafted!) wood-and-iron beds hang entirely from the ceiling (they’re actually attached to the ceiling beams) and they’re something I’ve definitely never seen before. The beds are stunning (and the materials fit so well on the ranch), but what I really love about them is that they give the room such a nice openness. Being able to see the floor beneath the bed is really something new. And they sway ever so slightly, like you’re sleeping on a porch swing.

* Blue carpet. Bob and Cortney used striped carpet tiles in different shades of blue. The color choice itself was notable: design rookies like myself would automatically associate blue with a boys’ room. But in the girls’ room, the color is just perfect; interestingly, it comes across almost as a neutral pair of jeans; the blue just seems to go with everything. And again, I laugh at what my non-designer mind would have done with those same carpet tiles: I would have seen that they were striped, then laid them end to end so that the stripes stretched all the way across the room. Instead, though, the designers rotated the tiles so that a whole different pattern resulted. (Again, these photos do not do the carpet justice. The colors are so pretty in person.)

* The bedding. No poufy, ornate, satin bedding to be found. Just simple coverlets and blankets, and sweet pillows and throw pillows to keep it casual.

 
 

 * The desk. Across from the beds is a long (very long) work surface (again, crafted here in Oklahoma) with plenty of room for school work, journal writing, letter writing, and crafts. The shelf above displays books and pictures, and a bright pink bust displays our younger girl’s soccer medals.

 

 * A place to knit. My girls have both taken up knitting, and on the far end of the work desk, Cortney left them with a way to organize yarns and needles…as well as a spot to stow their current projects. The purple pedestals (which Bob and Cortney painted on a tarp right outside the door) act as the base all along the work surface and each one has a different storage/shelf configuration.

 The girls’ next knitting project, they’ve decided, will be scarves for their new friends. When this project came together in the past three weeks, my girls knew it was going to be a special experience. But they never could have guessed that they’d bond so instantly with Bob and Cortney’s two girls, who came along with their parents on the trip. The four girls worked cattle, practiced driving, spent an evening in the city, rode horses, and played Just Dance until they passed out. (I’ll blog more about The Novogratz’s visit soon.)

My girls’ new bedroom is something they will never, ever forget. But the new friendships have made the whole experience unforgettable.

As for me, I just feel inspired. Looking at the girls’ new room, I realize just how little I know about design, and just how little I’ve ever pushed myself in terms of trying new things around the house. (Many, many thanks to Bob and Cortney for taking the time to come to Oklahoma, and for being so generous and kind to our girls.)
 

 Most of all, I’m so happy for my girls to have a space on this ranch to call their own.

They’ve hardly left it since yesterday. I keep thinking they’ll come down to eat, but so far there’s been no sign of them.