At 2 1/2, Opal is an extraordinarily good-natured person, and quite the conversationalist. She often inhabits an elaborate imaginary scenario in which she is Baby Boy’s mom (Baby Boy is the proper name of one of her dolls) and she drives around in her pickup truck (we have a Volvo) with him safely in his carseat and flies him around in a floatplane (she has never been in a floatplane). Also, her favorite place to go on a rainy day is Cabela’s, where she has taken an archery class, and she can tell you about the finer properties of waders and different types of camouflage. Her good nature must come from my husband, and I have to claim the love of driving and flying, but the truck and hunting equipment fascination is all her own.
She also loves to instruct us about things. For example, she recently taught me how one would, if one wanted to, climb out of a crib: “you put your hands here, and your foot over the top . . . .” She hasn’t actually climbed out yet, but she is obviously able to should she so choose. So I’ve been thinking more and more about the transition to a big girl bed, and what I’m hoping to do in phase two of her room.
The room is tiny, full of angles and slanted rooflines. It’s a sweetheart of a room, with windows that look out on three (yes, three!) sides of the house, plus an internal window into the hallway. The internal window allows a lot of light from the big windows in Opal’s room to filter into the hallway, but because light also goes from the hallway into Opal’s room, we have covered the window with a beautiful quilt, a gift from a relative when Opal was born (thanks Netzy!).
I painted the room green long before Opal came along, and added the blue skyline and creature decals (purchased from Etsy) just before her arrival. The animals are cute and have a hand-painted look in person. Opal used to love saying goodnight to each of them, but it has been a long time since she mentioned them and I don’t think she’s very attached to them anymore.
Opposite the bed there’s a window seat, and these great bookshelves that we had built before Opal was born.
The birch tree running through the bookshelves came out of my parents’ yard. The room has always felt like a little treehouse to me, and I love the way the tree brings that in without being too theme-y.
Another thing I love in this room is the handles on the closets and drawers: orange leather!
So orange is a given in any future color scheme, which is fine by me since I love orange (in small doses).
As you can see, her crib is in its own little alcove, and the future big girl bed will have to go in the same spot.
As I’ve mentioned before, I have an idea for creating a curtained and canopied sleeping area for Opal. I love forts and tucked in nooks, and I think I could create something really sweet in this spot. I don’t picture it being too frilly or pink–that’s not Opal (at least in this stage of life), and I would like for phase two of her room to be something that can easily transition with her as she grows up. I recently scored this vintage embroidered fabric valance, which is just a little wider than the width of the bed nook in Opal’s room.
Hung here for blog demonstrative purposes only.
I asked Opal if she would like to have it in her room, and she said “yes, right now!” Then she went on to list the animals she recognized: “monkeys, horses, mariposas, elephants, peacocks–I don’t like peacocks but I love parakeets!” Doesn’t like peacocks? Loves parakeets? Who is this kid? I didn’t know she even knew the words peacock or parakeet, let alone held strong opinions about their relative virtues!
Needless to say, I think she’s excited about it, peacocks and all, and I’m hopeful that the valance animals can replace the wall-decal animals without any strife. The idea is to hang this across the width of the alcove, and then make curtains to go behind it. I have a vintage cut-lace table cloth that I think I can use to make the curtains, and in the end I’m hoping it looks similar to this, but on a larger scale:
I’m still trying to figure out how to craft the canopy and sides. The idea is to have Opal’s bed enclosed so that the interior window doesn’t have to be covered. Also on the to-do list is to paint the walls white (the list of walls to be painted white in this house grows ever longer….).
So that’s the plan. I could use some engineering help figuring out the best way to suspend the canopy and curtains. Any suggestions? Check back with us later in the week for another installment of Pinterest Friday! Thanks everybody!
