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Toddler Bedroom Makeover

Girl’s Bedroom Refresh

You know how I said this was the year of finishing projects? Well…

I tackled a new project and gave my toddler’s room a makeover!

When I wrote the post outlining our project goals for this year, I mentioned that our younger daughter’s room was on the list. Given that this was declared the year of finishing projects, we didn’t really plan to tackle it so soon (if at all). Yet, here we are.

In reality, even though I may not share that I’m actively working on a project, I’m ALWAYS thinking about the rooms in our house that aren’t finished. I’m constantly planning, scheming, or designing something. This room was no exception. (And let’s be real, sometimes I’m planning changes for rooms that are already complete!)

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Where It All Started

At our previous house, I decorated our daughter’s gender-neutral nursery to my liking, not knowing we would move just 6 months after she was born.

When we moved into this house, I was hesitant to displace her just so I could make over her room at the same time we were sleep training (which is already a nightmare in itself). Besides, there were bigger fish to fry. So on the to-do list it sat… for two+ years.

The Inspiration

While we were busy working on other projects throughout our home I was still gathering inspiration left and right whenever I came across something that piqued my interest.

I knew I wanted to keep the area rug that was already in the room and relatively new, as well as the dresser I bought off Facebook Marketplace and refinished a while back. I needed a design that worked well with these elements.

While I was working on this post about color blocking I fell in love with the idea for our daughter’s room and went down a rabbit hole. Over time, I ended up gathering loads of inspiration pictures.

Image 1 / Image 2 / Image 3 / Image 4 / Image 5

The biggest problem with this room was the light-sucking tone of the current paint color. The green was beautiful on its own, but it just wasn’t right for this room. Obviously, I was feeling the coral/salmon/dusty rose tones from my inspiration pictures as well as the idea of visually cutting the room in half with paint… so I ran with it!

It definitely didn’t hurt that I found this picture that makes me giggle everytime I see it in the same color palette. It just felt like it was meant to be and HAD to be incorporated into the design. Plus, it's placed so you can see it whenever you walk down the hallway, which makes me so happy.

The Makeover

A couple of months before I tackled this room, Lucius had foot surgery. Without my DIY partner in crime, house projects were much tougher to accomplish. Aside from that, we were trying to finish up the nagging 5% of the endless projects around the house that were 95% done. As good as it felt to finally cross some of that stuff off, it wasn’t exactly exciting and my motivation was lacking. I needed a simple yet impactful makeover to fuel my creative fire. And this was it!

I started this makeover by gleefully removing this hideous light switch cover. I also had to patch the hole we cut in the wall to rescue our cat after he snuck under the floorboards during our hallway flooring installation.

Next, I had to determine where exactly I wanted to split the room with the paint colors. I decided on a line about three-quarters of the way up the wall for a couple of reasons:

  1. I didn’t want it exactly in line with the top of the window or door trim, which would have been a little boring and predictable.

  2. I knew putting the breakpoint higher up on the wall would bring the eye up and make the room look taller.

To get my line, I used a tripod and attached my laser level. Since the tripod wasn’t quite tall enough, I had to raise it up by putting it in the crib. Whatever works, right!?

From there, I painted a rough line around the room in my base color as I spun the level around from wall to wall. Once that initial line was painted, I taped it off more precisely, then painted the bottom half the same as the trim color - Pure White by Sherwin Williams. The trim and doors are semi-gloss, while the walls are eggshell.

My goal for this room was to LIGHTEN IT UP! White isn’t always the best option to lighten up a room as it can sometimes end up looking muddy. In this case, because I planned on pairing it with a bright coral, it felt like a good call.

Once the white was dry, I painted everything above the line - trim, doors, and all - Wild Salmon by Sherwin Williams in eggshell.

I was INSTANTLY amazed at how much brighter the room was at this point. I still occasionally think the light is on when it’s not. Not only that, but the effect of painting the ceiling and the top portion of the wall the same color really does make the room look larger.

The only problem was that the room felt like it needed a little something extra. Enter: the semi-circle.

Because I’m a terrible blogger and I was in the ZONE, I didn’t take any pictures of this part. But it’s super simple to recreate! Here are the steps:

  • Tie a string to a thumbtack and press it into the baseboard at the center of the wall.

  • Figure out how large you want your semi-circle and tie a piece of chalk to the other end. Since my wall is white, I used a light grey piece of chalk.

  • Hold the string taut and lightly sketch your line.

  • Then you just need a steady hand to fill it in!

To create a little more dimension in the room, I mixed up a custom color for my semi-circle using several different coral paint samples I already had on hand and adding white.

Future Plans

Of course, a room is never done. In the short time since these pictures were taken, I’ve also added the coral color along the sides of the large painting above the dresser and on the valance of the blinds.

There are definitely other plans I have for this room too, like replacing the nursery chair with some much-needed toy storage.

And as much as I love the mobile above the crib, this room needs some lighting! Most of the bedrooms upstairs don’t have any overhead lighting, but I’d love to enhance the semi-boho vibe going on by adding a swag light with a naturally textured shade, like in the inspo picture below.

Lastly, we’ll need to get a big kid bed soon! I plan on stealing our older daughter’s bed (and probably nightstands) for this room and giving her a new bed she can grow into - like a daybed with a trundle for slumber parties!

Final Thoughts

Obviously, there are still plenty of tweaks I’d like to make this room, but I’m so happy with the changes I’ve made so far. And although my toddler was severely disappointed that her room makeover surprise wasn’t edible (true story), I think she’s gotten over that and loves her new room now. What are your thoughts!?

For more design eye candy, check out these posts:

Toddler Bedroom Before and After