Making it Lovely

Category: Eleanor’s Room

  • Eleanor’s Bizarro World Room

    Eleanor’s Bizarro World Room

    The Land of Nod was so into the bedroom I designed for Eleanor (which they helped furnish) that they recreated the look for their new catalog. It’s on page 61.

    Our copy arrived today, and I showed it to Eleanor. “Does this look like your room?” I asked her. She looked at it, then started pointing at toys and asking to play with them upstairs. The girl really wants her mercury glass mushrooms and toy calliope, please.

    Here’s Eleanor’s room, for reference.

    Quite the resemblance, right? (Although, now that I think about it… they’re based in Chicago. I’m in Chicago. Dudes, why didn’t you just shoot here?)

    Anyway, thanks team Nod! It was neat to see the Bizarro World version in the catalog.

  • Eleanor’s New Bedroom

    Eleanor’s New Bedroom

    Eleanor’s room is done! She’s a fan.

    The pink walls, lighting fixture, and curtains that I made are still in the room from when it used to be my studio. There is a detailed list of sources on a separate page, so do take a look if you’d like to know where something specific came from.

    Here’s the vintage dresser from her nursery that we painted pink. I hung a mirror (it’s named the Eleanor Mirror!) above to reflect light from the window on the opposite wall, and the basket on the floor is for Eleanor’s laundry.

    To the left of the dresser is a rocking chair and her closet. To the left of that are her bookshelves.

    She loves grabbing toys from them.

    There are three framed prints above the bookshelves. I made the Que Sera, Sera print in the middle (download it for free here!), and the other two are by The Black Apple and Lulu Dee. The frames are from Target.

    Download this print for free!

    I also made the recycled paper banner that hangs above her closet.

    There are more toys on the other side of the room, behind the door. The smaller things are in toy boxes, and the larger toys are tucked away in a little alcove.

    And then there are the books.

    The girl loves to read.

  • Will We Have Rainbows, Day After Day? (Free Printable)

    Will We Have Rainbows, Day After Day? (Free Printable)

    My Grandma Rose sang when she was happy, and it wasn’t until years later that I realized most of the songs she sang were by Doris Day. Que Sera, Sera was one of her favorites.

    I thought it would make a sweet print for Eleanor, though I did take a little liberty with the lyrics. Doris asks her mother, “Will I be pretty, will I be rich?”, and she asks her sweetheart the line about rainbows. I transposed them because I thought it was better for a little girl’s room that way, and the fact that I could make “RAINBOWS” in rainbow colors may have swayed me a little too.

    You may download and print this PDF for your own personal use. The file is 8″x10″, so it will print nicely on a sheet of paper. I used card stock and a white wooden frame from Target.

    I’d love to see it if you put this print in your own home too!

  • Eleanor’s Room (Sources)

    Eleanor’s Room (Sources)

    Furnishings Partially Provided by The Land of Nod

    I’ve made a page listing all of the sources for everything in Eleanor’s room. I think it’s a nice mix of vintage, reused, and new, and I can’t wait to show you the finished result!

  • Eleanor’s New Bedroom (It’s Almost Done!)

    Eleanor’s New Bedroom (It’s Almost Done!)

    I have a few more little peeks into Eleanor’s new bedroom for you today. The vintage dresser from her nursery that we painted pink is there. It needs something above it, I think. Oh, and pay no attention to the holes in the wall next to the hooks! I may have repositioned that one on the left a few times.

    Eleanor’s rocking chair is off to the side, between the dresser and the closet.

    And here is Eleanor’s bedside table, sans any styling. It’s always filled with books. I’m considering painting it one day, but white is fine for now.

    Tomorrow, I’ll share the sources for everything, and soon I can share the finished room!

  • Toy Storage in Eleanor’s New Room

    Toy Storage in Eleanor’s New Room

    Partially Furnished by The Land of Nod

    Eleanor was happy to sleep in her big-girl bed, but bringing in her toys really sealed the deal on her new room.

    There is a nook behind the door to her room that lends itself well to toy storage. It used to look like this when it was still my studio:

    Storage Behind the Door

    Now that all of the studio furniture has made its way down to the basement, I put a couple of storage bins for toys along that wall. I was going to switch out those curtains that I made, but I decided that they were too cute to get rid of.

    Larger toys go in the opposite corner under the eaves. It’s looking a little messy already, so I think I’ll add a big basket help contain things a bit.

    We gave Eleanor a train set for her birthday, and she’s been having a lot of fun with it (“CHOO CHOO!!!”) on her play table. I like that there is a trundle underneath for storage too. That’s where her vintage colorforms blocks and a few other toys are.

    The bookshelves in her room are gorgeous, but they could use a little bit of styling. Nothing too over the top (this is a toddler’s room), but a little prettying up wouldn’t hurt.

    I need to figure out what to do above them for art. You can see the closet to the right there, with the recycled paper bunting that I made a while back, and that’s staying. The bunny clock was in Eleanor’s nursery and I like it in her new room, but it isn’t necessarily staying where it is. I think the fabric ‘e’ might get hung too, but I’m not sure what else to do. Maybe a big art grouping? Any ideas?