pinwheel girl

I was at a loss when trying to come up with design ideas for my daughter's new big girl bedroom. Since she's getting kicked out of the nursery in a few months, I started shopping and researching. Before she was born, I found some Michael Miller fabric with a bird theme and I fell in love with it. It was aqua and orange but decided to do a green and pink cupcake theme for her baby room with the idea that birds will be her big girl room some day. I went to work searching for it, but to no avail as almost 5 years later, it is out of print. I found another theme that was pretty cute, but I was sure I wouldn't find the fabric at a retail store. So, a disappointed me went off to one of my favorite fabric warehouses here to look for inspiration.

I found a few options, but none of them hit a nerve of inspiration. Since I love Michael Miller fabrics, I started looking there and after much digging and searching, I found the collection I was looking for. I started gathering the coordinating fabrics and then my wonderful mother, who was shopping with me, showed me a pinwheel print that was not in the same collection, but coordinated perfectly. I was suddenly inspired!

Pinwheels.  So cute, so summery, so innocent, so fascinating for a child. It was perfect. I went to work sewing  curtains and textiles, giving my youngest daughter her orange room. (well, more melon than orange, but she loves it as if it were orange.)

Painting was an annoyance. We ended up needed 3 coats and almost 2 full gallons of paint. But I like how it eventually turned out with a cheerful melon color.

Orange and pink bedding backed with light aqua

Orange coordinating bed skirt

Detail on the pillow sham

Pinwheel curtains and ties

Ikea curtain rod cost me less than $15

Of course, she needed a matching laundry bin

And, my personal favorite: pinwheel pictures (made with scraps of fabric, wooden dowels, fiberboard, wood trim and spray paint and, of course, hot glue)

She is pretty proud to be in her big girl room now (almost as proud as I am of it). Better yet, she loves that the vent in her closet is connect to her big sister's room.  They will have many nights of secrets and giggles ahead.