Decorating: Creating a tween girl's room

I love to decorate, but when you have to add your family's opinion, and then add a dash of tween, decorating gets a little difficult. Ahhhhh!

The hardest thing about decorating is the cost. In order to save some money and have a better picture of what a room will look like I created a room inspiration board for Sidney (9). I like to have a plan that I can use, so I can decorate the room in stages.{see my Room Board page here}

She picked out the bedspread and I went from there.  Of course, I had a picture of what I wanted her room to look like.  I like neutrals, nothing too bright, but I DO like a POP of color. She had other ideas...

Here are some room inspiration boards that I made for her:

This is the original "room inspiration board" that I preferred.

This is what Sidney wanted.  I was very hesitant.

PAINT: We started with the bedspread and were able to use it as an inspiration piece.  The bedspread was purchased at Bed Bath & Beyond called Self Expressions Pop Circles (unfortunately, I don't see it online, but they do still have the sheet sets). We took the pillows to the paint store to select different paint options. Although, it took me a while to come around to the idea, and with some convincing of my friends, we painted the walls green and blue. Gasp!

WALL GRAPHICS: When we moved into our house, I had an Uppercase Living party.  I knew that I wanted to have a large graphic on her wall. My original thought was different sized polka dots, but I saw these star-bursts and HAD to have them. She wasn't opposed to the idea either. Yea, I won in this category!

ARTWORK: The room inspiration board has peace sign artwork that I found on Art.com.  The great thing about a room inspiration board is that it's just that, inspiration. We don't have to follow it exactly. To save some costs, I designed her room artwork and used picture frames from Walmart. Remember her room photos? {here} 

CURTAINS: I made her curtains and got the fabric at JoAnn Fabrics. I added ribbon to the curtains to make them more custom. See my blog about adding ribbon to curtains {here}.

FURNITURE: We got her bed, nightstand and dresser from Homemakers in Des Moines. Her chair was a birthday gift purchased from Target. I've been searching and searching for a nice tall bookcase that I can refurbish. I'm not having much luck. If you know of any place in Iowa that I can find a tall bookcase under $100, please let me know!  I'm getting impatient.

Sidney's room.  Almost done, just waiting to find a bookcase.

Friends have asked if I can do room inspiration boards for them too.  Yes, I can!  I do charge a small fee, but it's really fun and something that you can take with you to plan YOUR room.

Now on to a boy's room. Sports, sports and MORE sports. :) 

Stay tuned!