"Like a pink nightmare..."

I case you haven't noticed, I haven't posted for over 2 weeks.  It's been way too long
my friends, way too long!  I've been busy-busy painting my daughter's bedroom (that's what this post is about), having house guests, and making my first rag quilt (my next post).
Above you see a pic of my daughter's bedroom.  I took this photo in April 2009, just after we moved in.  You see the creamy yellow on the walls?  The entire house was painted that color.  The previous owners were prompted to paint the whole house in neutrals to appease eligible buyers, I'm sure.  However, the color was NOT a selling point for me as I don't like it at all.  It's my mission to eradicate it from the house, one room at a time.  The month of October I've dedicated to painting the kids' rooms.

Besides the wall color, this room had some other obstacles to overcome.  One being this huge hanging light fixture.  It was originally an olive green color, but the previous owners thought to "lighten it up a bit" with white spray paint.  Improvement?  You be the judge.

Another choice decision made by the previous owners.  The storm windows were painted shut as well.  Fun times!

I went to Home Depot and picked out 3 shades of pink for the wall colors.   I painted 3 walls the lightest shade and the remaining wall the medium shade.  I reserved the darkest pink (almost a burgundy) for some sort of wall art.

Once I got the paint on the walls, the movie The Christmas Story came to mind.  You know the part where Ralphie was forced to model his pink bunny suit for his parents?  Ralphie's father declared, "It's like a pink nightmare."  Well, that line ran through my head quite often while painting this room.  The pink was so intense, it glowed.  Just look at how Lucy the Cat is tinged in pink!  

I created a pinterest board dedicated to finding the perfect wall art for this room.   I found a cool tutorial on how to rig up your own overhead projector with a lamp and a box but couldn't get it to work for me.  So I just free-handed it on the wall.  The cherry blossom design I chose didn't require precision so I felt comfortable just "winging it".  ;-)  

Here's the finished mural.  The birds are in a flat craft paint so they really contrast with the satin wall paint. I liked the effect.  Notice I painted over the wall vent?  Well, it was really unavoidable--already sporting several layers of poor paint jobs, I attempted to camouflage it.

The first mural went so smoothly, I painted another on the opposite wall.

The wooden valances were an original feature I actually really liked.  I thought the turquoise of the birds needed to be repeated in the room somewhere else, so I tried it on the valances.  Is valances the correct term?  Well, you know what I'm talking about, I'm sure.  Rather than painting them a solid color I opted to  do a little blending with white and create a ethereal or sky-like effect.  I have a bunch of white vinyl butterfly stickers I was thinking of putting up there too.  What do you think?  Too much?

I moved the bed, so the finished room doesn't compare well with the "before" photo I posted initially.  Once I got all the white furniture and the blue bedding into the room, the pink became less "nightmare-ish". However, I noticed the how the pink glow of the room infiltrates the hallway when the sun is filling the room!  My goodness, that room is P I N K !!!!

You can see here the light fixture has changed.  It's still an older style, but an improvement nonetheless.  You can barely see the rag quilt I made on the headboard.  I'll talk about that in my next post.

When I started this blog back in June, my crafty world revolved around sewing bags, and since then I have really been inspired to broaden my crafty horizons.  What started as some way to drum up some interest in my handbags has turned into a crafty journal of sorts, much to my surprise.  Since I've entered the blogosphere, I've just been so inspired to try new things that I simply can't limit myself to totes any longer.  I hope you're all OK with my lack of recent focus and stick with me on my crafty journey.  It's no fun to create new things and keep them to oneself.  I'm so pleased to have you all to share them with!
Speaking of sharing, I'd like to share our newest sewing challenge with you.  We hope you'll consider participating and sharing your talents and creativity with us!

Happy crafting and big hugs from Montana,