“Breakfast At Tiffany’s” Inspired Bedroom

Last fall I had the opportunity to makeover my niece’s bedroom. My sweet niece Brooke was turning fifteen and having one of those “my room’s not cool” teen moments. With her parent’s permission, I got to work on a surprise room redo just for her. After some pinteresting (Check out my board for Brooke’s room) and covert spy operation by her sister, Ashtyn, I was able to get a design tailored just for her. Brooke loves fashion and Audrey Hepburn, so a “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” inspired bedroom was the perfect fit. There were several times along the way that I thought I blew it, fishing for information and trying to ask questions without giving away the surprise was tough. Then there’s my sister-in-law. Lia! You tell everything! I totally thought she would blow the surprise.

Here’s what we decided:

1. A shade of “Tiffany Blue” for the wall color
2. Bright pink and black for accent colors
3. Damask prints for a “frenchy” feel
4. A new bed with lots of storage
5. A giant sofa made from a clawfoot tub (yeah, right!)

Since I missed Brooke’s June Birthday, I was shooting for fall. I thought if I could have her room finished as she was going into a new school year, she would feel ready to take on her sophomore year. August was an insane month, let me tell ya. I had 30 days, start to finish, I had to be super sneaky, and figure out a time to makeover her room while she was away.

Last summer, I built myself a brand new bed.

It rocks.

I love it and I thought I would share the love too. So I planned a twin-sized version of the “Farmhouse Storage bed with Hinged Footboard” just for Brooke. It’s such a simple design, I knew it would work great for a teen room, especially with all of the cubbies. It took about a week to build, I was in a hurry and didn’t give as much detail to my work as I could have, but when you’re on a time frame, sometimes that’s what you’ve got to do! As long as it can hold her up and there are no stray nails hanging out, I figured we would be good, haha.

With the bed complete, I moved on to my next objective- accessories! Since I had a budget of $0.00, I did what I do best.

Thrifting! I found some cast-off items at Goodwill that could get a little makeover themselves.

First were these:

Gross, old picture frames.

They just needed a coat of black paint and some fun Audrey Hepburn quotes to a lift a girl up when she’s feeling down.
I also used one and lined the canvas with a black damask fabric, and one with a bright pink paper to show off her student letter she received for Basketball (I don’t know how you letter in Basketball when you are only 4′ tall, but in small schools it can be done.).

Next was this chair that I found. I absolutely love how it turned out! It’s got those frenchy curves that suit the style of the room and a fun fabric. The caned back was in excellent shape too, not so fun to paint though. All of those little nooks and crannies took some time.

Between the building and projects I was keeping in constant contact with my sister-in-law, Lia. Trying to plan excuses to get the kid out of the house for a few days and put the room together “Extreme Home Makeover” style was a little crazy.

I made a memo board using fabrics to go with the room.

This is an awesome idea that I found on another blog called Laura Thoughts.

It’s a fabric covered magnetic board that you use for storing cosmetics. I purchased another frame at the thrift store and cut sheet metal (hardware aisle, Lowes, $10) to fit. You just hot glue magnets to the back of your makeup and they are in plain sight. What teen wouldn’t want this? (apparently this teen- she has let me know that she now stores her makeup in a case, but still uses the board for photos and jewelry. Go figure.) I think I need one of these. My kids are always trying to get to my makeup, and I have it in a mini tote hanging on a nail on my bathroom wall- I know, classy. But if it is within reach, I’ll be scrubbing blush out of my rugs for days. My two year old is constantly rubbing lip gloss wands over her eyelids and my four year-old begs for “sparkles.” (I swear they have radar, the SECOND I go to get ready, they are in there asking for eyeshadow and blush).

Nothing greater than finding a toddler trying to give herself a “smoky eye.”

I found this little plaquard/hook thingy at Goodwill too. It had one broken hook, so I got it for $.99. I removed the hooks, got out my scrapbooking supplies, and a little Mod Podge. I had no idea what I would do with it in the room, but with a little Cricut magic, I had a cool monogrammed wall hook. After I readjusted the hooks and gave it a quick clear coat of spray sealer, it was finished. My niece found an ingenious use for it. Storage for all of her hair stuff. She has a large mirrored closet, so she just sits in front of it on the floor to do her hair. This is a great idea to keep her heat tools from burning the carpet.

I searched high and low and found a great bed set from Walmart.com. I couldn’t find anything locally in my price range, and Walmart had this one on sale for $60. Yay! It was just what we were looking for. I sewed a quick pillow to match the other fabrics in the room and we were ready to go.

Finally the day came. My sister-in-law calls and lets me know that Brooke will be gone for the weekend with a friend! Wouldn’t you know, it’s the same weekend my husband plans a draft party for his Fantasy Football league! I’ve got 48 hours to makeover a room, plan a party, and not lose my mind!

Two things I love to do, throw parties and decorate…just not in the same 24-hour period.

I was able to tweak my schedule and convinced myself I could pull an all-nighter, decorate the room, finish by morning, and set up the party by afternoon. Doable, right?

Uh-no.

Well, I enlisted the help of my niece and sister-in-law. Ashtyn and Lia were painter extraordinaires. While the girls painted the bedroom, I repainted all of Brooke’s furniture to match her new bed. Her desk, hutch, and dresser all got a fresh coat of white paint. The walls were painted a beautiful Tiffany Blue, or what Valspar likes to call; “Sea Wave.”

We were finished by 2 am.

I went home and got some sleep! My all-nighter was unbelieveably short. I came back in the morning, we brought all of the furniture into the room, set up her things, and then I left to go set up the “Snackadium” at the Fantasy Football draft party. Done and done.

My niece came home to a new room, totally surprised. She didn’t see it coming at all! So what was the first thing she did? Well, she had to call her best friend, of course…and rub it in a little.