A 'new' room for Nina....

My eldest daughter is going off to college in a matter of mere months. I feel the weight of her impending loss daily. "This is the last October 9th we will spend together for awhile...."  "This is the last Law & Order SVU Pedophiles and Puppies Marathon we will watch together for awhile...."  It seems like just yesterday she was asking "Mommy, was there a recipe for this?". 
In honor of her last several months at home, I am re-doing her room. Just in time for it to become a guest bedroom. Poor Nina. She's so patient.

Most of my house is modern or at least retro. I'm not really 'in' to Shabby,chippy or glazed over with brown. But my daughter LOVES this look. But the girl who loves THIS:  
 

  (and unicorns)  Also loves THIS:



(That's her trashcan. On a mirrored table from the 70s.)   Hmm....what's a mother to do?  I personally think Shabby Chic can be rather formulaic, and I am wracking my brain for ideas how to make this room HER with a little bit ME too.

This summer I DID manage to get one wall covered with antique book pages. Her room smelled like a library for months.

For this project, find about 3x as many books as you think you will need. I like the fact that we found books that have some drawings in them. Also, many books do not have chapter titles going across the top of the pages, but I found some that do.  I bought them just for the chapter titles. Some of them are hilarious such as : Pirates and Secretaries  and They Dress for Dinner.
  Initially I had read instructions for creating this look that recommended blue painter's tape. WRONG!!! You need double sided tape. Lots and lots of double sided tape. If you use blue painter's tape, half your pages will we sunbathing on the floor in the morning.   I bought a huge roll of double sided tape  at Lowe's that was in the aisle with the shrink wrap window film. It's much cheaper that way and I STILL have some left over. Another piece of advice, while old books are super cool, if the pages are starting to crumble, pass on the book. No tape will adhere to something that brittle.

I didn't use a level line or any 'method' other than working from the bottom up. My BFF Becca helped me with this project and I must say...while I started out adhering the pages in a rather OCD kind of way, she was rather slapping them on which is not only a hilarious role reversal, but funny because I ended up liking the slap dash look better, so that's what we went with.

I bought Nina an  awesome antique sleigh bed, last November. But it's red. And it needs to be pink.  Since I am the most 'distracted by shiny objects' person you could care to meet, it has been sitting  in the garage untouched since I bought it.(Right next to her piano). This Bombay chest has the look I am going for with the bed, the existing dresser and the new 'antique' dresser and mirror. I was sooo going to jump on the chalk paint craze, then I found out that it's a ton of work. Like a ton more than painting furniture is anyway. I think I'll stick with what I know. 

Anyway, I have a lot to do.
I really need to find some awesome ruffled curtains that don't remind me of  THIS:

 Gah!  I think these will do.

I snapped this photo of a wig shop window when I was in LA this summer. I would really love to have this printed on canvas.  I think it sums up Nina so well, a bit  Marie Antoinette, a bit retro scary movie, a bit long luxurious brunette hair, a bit of family history....

I think I've got it....so we need....old books , antique pink dresser, Shabby Chic bedding, ruffles that won't give me flashbacks, a little bit of disco, a little bit of Seedy Underworld, a couple of loyal dogs thrown in the mix and Voila!
We agree!!!