Once upon a time, this was Annie’s room.

Since I didn’t know whether she was going to be a boy or girl (I wanted to be surprised), I decorated it sort of gender-neutral…black, white, and red. It was really cute, if I do say so myself.

This was (well, still is) KB’s room.

The walls are a gorgeous watermelon pink, and the bedding and valances are all shades of pink and green. We decorated this room together when she was three. I took her to Hancock’s, and she picked the fabrics. Good taste for a three year old, don’t you think? I think she has a future in home decor. Except that the paint color she chose was a blinding neon pink; when she wasn’t looking I handed the Sherwin-Williams guy a prettier pink sample card and whispered, “Mix this one instead.” But she THINKS she picked the color, and that’s all that matters.

Well, at some point last year, they both decided they wanted to share a room. Not in so many words, of course, but every night one would end up sleeping on the floor in the other’s room. So we turned Annie’s crib into a toddler bed and moved it, with its black and white toile bedding, into KB’s pink and green room. Its not attractive, in case you wondered. But it does the job…keeps both girls sleeping content and secure, with another warm body in the room.

Now however, we’ve come to the point where we need to lose the crib. For a couple of reasons: one, little Micah needs it.
She’s fine right now sleeping in a bassinet beside mom’s bed, but really needs a crib in her room. And two, Annie is just getting too tall, and can’t keep crib-sized covers on, and this house being 80+ years old is QUITE cold at night when its 28 degrees outside, and she really needs a REAL bed with REAL blankets so she can stay covered up at night. Its time for a real bed for Baby A. And we’re one more step closer to her being a big girl and not a baby…(sniff).

And that presents a dilemma. If money were no object, I’d just call up Bufe and Babin and order up a new tastefully decorated bedroom with all new furniture. Or two; one for each of them.

But I’ll let you in on a secret: I’m trying to do this on a budget. I have a somewhat tightwad penny pinching skinflint frugal spouse. He’s not going to understand why a girls bedroom needs to be cute (how frivolous!), and why those frayed army-green wool blankets that belonged to his grandmother won’t make adequate bedcoverings for the girls. He can’t wrap his brain around the ‘attractiveness’ factor. He doesn’t get things like home decor, or why you would pay money to change the color of your hair.

Men.

I’ve learned, living with him, to do creative things like rinse my ziplock bags out and reuse them. Clip coupons. Shop garage sales and Goodwill. Dig through clearance racks. Someday I’ll give you a tour of my entire home decorated on a budget, and you might just be surprised when I show you what I found at someone’s curb and brought home. What I dug out of the dumpster. The living room furniture that I sucked up my pride and bought from a friend-of-a-friend’s garage sale. The things in my closet that came from Goodwill. Designer clothes I found for $7 or less at the Dillard’s Dump. Seriously. There’s good stuff out there if you just keep your eyes open….

Let’s look at those bedroom pictures again and my decorating budget….

Metal Bed: bought at garage sale. Its a bunk bed; other half is in garage.
Bedding: bedskirt and pillows custom made; coverlet ordered from Domestications (cheap).
Dresser (not shown in picture): someone’s secondhand childhood dresser; repainted white and put pink knobs on it that I ordered from ebay.
Rocking chair (not shown in picture): belonged to my grandmother; repainted it white and recovered it myself.
Wall art: handpainted by KB and myself.

And here’s Annie’s bedroom again….

Bed: given to me by my friend Allison after both of her babies used it(free); BF painted it black.
Bedding: half price at TLC; both of my babies have used it.
Rocking chair: belonged to my grandmother (free).
Dresser (not shown in picture): belonged to my grandmother and refinished by BF. (free)
wall art: framed paperdolls I cut out of a magazine.
Changing table: borrowed.
The only thing that cost me money was the bedding (half price) and the slipcover I had made for the rocking chair.

So you see, two bedrooms totally decorated for almost free. You now see the challenge ahead of me. How do I work with SOME of what we already have to make a cute bedroom for two girls to share?

*Should they share KB’s room, or Annie’s? KB’s is already painted pink. Annie’s would most definitely have to be re-painted. I would have to buy a minimum of new bedding if they used KB’s room. The rooms are mirror images of each other but Annie’s is one foot wider, which makes a big difference.
*Should I use the bunk beds?? I have a fear of Annie falling off the top bunk. Anyone out there have bunk beds?? Is this a real fear?? Should I bite the bullet and buy TWO new matching beds, or just use the bunk beds?? Keep in mind I do have those head-cracking hardwood floors.
*Annie’s room is colder…it has FOUR windows instead of three, and is on the north end of the house. But someday, at some point, SOMEONE will have to use this room.
*Am I wrong to make them share a room in the first place?? If they DON’T share a room, then I don’t have to make the bunk bed decision.

I’m signing off to go scour Ross, Tuesday Morning, and Marshall’s…my three favorite stores…and heck, maybe even Goodwill. You never know. 🙂

If you see any cute garage sale bedding out there….let me know….and leave me a comment with any advice you might have!