While You Were Out: Kris McDonald Style – Twin Girl’s Room Makeover

A couple of months ago I came up with the BRILLIANT idea to give my twin girl’s room a makeover while they were away with their Dad the week before Christmas as a surprise. I had from Tuesday night, December 20 until Christmas Eve to get it done. That is about 4.5 days. It was not so much a redo as it was decorating the first time. We had this home built 6.5 years ago, but I had not painted or anything yet. As I think I stated before I wanted to wait until my kids, especially my boys, were old enough to understand when I threatened bodily harm if they wrote on my walls again!

So I secretly came up with a plan. I started ordering things and stashing them in the garage and basement when they were not looking. I was almost worried that they would notice. But the nice thing about being a blogging mom who gets tons of packages anyway is that they did not ask too many questions when box after box showed up. And having a junky garage certainly helped because I was able to stash the beds and desks, etc. in there and they did not even notice the extra junk.

The reveal was awesome! It really was a complete surprise. I loved it!

BEFORE

As you will see by the below pics their room was nothing special. But, it is a nice sized room at approximately 17 feet x 12.5 feet. These before pics were taken a few years ago on a clean day. I forgot to take pics before I ripped the room apart (which is probably a good thing) so I am using these. If I had taken one right before I started remodeling the floor would have been full of toys and junk spilling out from under the beds. The bookcase was a mess and overrun with books and there was just not enough storage. That cute little Disney Princess toy cubby is totally full now. They do have a great walk-in closet which is now mostly organized.  There was also a black desk with a desktop computer in the room next to the door which is now moved to the family room. And the dresser had been moved to the other side of the room. But this is pretty much how the room stayed for the past few years: white walls, same bed sets, no curtains… nothing special.

And you can see in the below photo the lovely (NOT) artwork that graced one of the walls thanks to my boys.  The room was also lacking storage from the massive amounts of toys they have accumulated in the past few years. And of course, since my girls are 8 now the bed guards pictured here were long gone. LOL!

AFTER

Their new room is totally girly, functional, modern, spacious, and just plain cool!  Each girl got her own loft bed, a snazzy new desk, and plenty of storage space. I also made sure to cut no corners with accessories and the wow factor. The best part? I did it all on a budget! I had no planned budget in mind since I knew that I wanted to buy things slowly over about 3 months time, but I had no intention of spending a ton either. And there were a few items stashed around the house and in their closet that I finally put to use. I chose a purple for the walls. The painting is not perfect but it is not too bad. I think I will touch up the edges that meet the ceiling and a few other spots that I have noticed around the room soon.

The beds are the focal point of the room. I mean they are big, so you cannot miss them. 🙂 But they leave a lot more floor space. I opted for a modern look and I loved that I was able to mix and match several things based on the silver look of the beds that made it all work.

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Metal Loft Bed

Mainstays Glass Desks

Armless Task Chair

I was also blessed to have been able to give each girl her own netbook from my collection. I fixed them up by ordering each a butterfly sleeve/laptop bag and matching skins. Each one got butterflies, but in a slightly different color pattern. And I already had 2 lovely pink MS mice that match.

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Wooden Wall Letters

Butterfly Laptop Skin

Butterfly Laptop Case

Desk Lamp

Metal Pencil Cup

I kept their existing dressers. They had seen better days since they have had them since they were babies. A couple of the drawers had been beaten up pretty good due to wear and tear and moving a few years back. I fixed them up and chose to be daring and paint a couple of the drawers to match the walls. This paint is actually a little weak for this use.

Since the drawers will be touched a lot it may show smudges, so I plan to go back and get a matching shade in a nice semi-gloss to repaint the drawers so they can be wiped easily. And you will also see the mirror art in this shot. They never had a mirror above their dresser, so I decided to do something really fun with it.

I also found some fun and colorful stickers for the wall that pulled everything together across the room. I used them in the dresser area and in the girl’s work areas. And I went retro and added a lava lamp which they just love!

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Elements Round Wall-Mount Mirror, Set of 7, Assorted Sizes

Kiera Grace Groove 20-Inch Round Mirror, Black

And oh boy did I get major brownie points for the TV! I need to organize the cords better as you can see, but they don’t seem to mind. LOL! I actually purchased the TV mount around 6 years ago with the thought that I would put a TV around this size in my master bathroom for soaks in the tub. That never happened, so I am very glad to finally put it to use.

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Pink wall Memo Board

Pink Flower Kid’s Room Lamp

Princess Wall Art

Patterned Storage Box

Bookcase

Lava Lamp

While I did purchase several things, I was also able to reuse or re-purpose several things for the room. The most expensive item purchased was the TV at $179. And it was a steal too! That is a 22″ JVC LED LCD 1080p television! Yes, that is a mouthful. Next were the beds at $160 or so each. Granny purchased the bunk bed mattresses at $108 each. Everything else in the room was $60 or less with the least being $1!! My favorite bargain find? The desk lamps and clip-on lamps for the top of the beds on clearance at Target for $4 each.

Items that were already here at home that got reused included the dresser and bureau, the bookcase, the desk chairs, the flower lights on the wall which we had picked up at Ikea a few months ago, the Dress Up, Princess, and the Diva signs, the piggy bank, cork boards (which I took off the wall in my own office for the cause), the letters on the wall that spell their names, the accessories on the dresser, the pink tack board, the mini-blinds, and a few other things.

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22″ LCD Television

LCD TV Wall Mount

Pink Princess Piggy Bank

I REALLY enjoyed doing this!! I think I found a new calling.