How Tos-Day Room Redo & Beach Blanket Pillows~*

There is a thing about room re-dos.  You can re do a room to look perfect, but as you live in it the perfection declines.  I mean, you just don't know how a room will work until you've lived in the room, you know?

And so it was with Thing 3.  We did her room not too terribly long ago, but it just didn't take.  As the days went on it turned out it just wasn't practical, wasn't functional, wasn't Thing 3 enough.

Notice I have carefully refrained from bringing up Thing 3's teenage-ness.  Because being a 15 year old had nothing to do with the sudden & dramatic need for a change.  Oh noooo. 

Anyway.

We needed a change.  And, as it turns out, more Sponge Bob.  Because Thing 3 has developed a Sponge Bob passion.  Sigh.

She had moved her furniture around a few weeks ago, and we just finished bringing the rest of the room up to pace.  Jer & I took the opportunity to surprise her {with her permission, she is, after all, 15 years old & deserving of privacy & respect} with a completed room redo.

We touched up wall paint, bought a new comforter & added some other touches-- like beach towel pillows.

We bought an assortment of inexpensive beach towels {$3.87 per at Walmart} and used pillows we already had-- including a body pillow and various throw pillows.  Use the pillow you want to cover as a pattern, cutting the towel slightly larger than the pillow itself.  After cutting & pinning, sew the edges of what will be the open end, then sew the sides {right sides together, wrong sides facing out}, turn right-side out and there ya go~*

Here are the finished pillows.  The pink striped one is a contoured memory foam pillow, the orange is a spare throw pillow & the yellow striped is a body pillow {the other side is a turquoise beach towel, so she can change it up}...

And here is the finished room!

We used a tension line across her room to suspend poof balls & fishies.  A party quality fishing net (like this) and some round paper clips (like these) makes a handy spot for pictures & mementos.

We painted one wall a cheery yellow.  We added a large chalkboard-painted square for notes & attached some black plastic office organizers to hold chalk & a large yellow sponge that will serve as an eraser.

Her "vanity", which is actually a black glass desk, was covered with a rainbow-esque table runner that I had on hand from years gone by, then encircled by a hula-ish table skirt.  The chair was purchased at our favorite used office supply place for a whopping $12.50.  

The mirror was an inexpensive door mirror that we've had for years.  We took off the cheap plastic frame, attached it to the wall with mounting putty and hot glued shells around the top edge 

She is our soccer star, so we made a soccer corner, complete with a teddy bear from her younger days wearing the medals she got over the past few years.  She made the wooden soccer sign a few years ago when we did a wood burning project.  I added a hook to hold her cleats {though she'll be getting new ones before the season gets started}.  Becks oversaw the whole thing.

Here is a wider shot to orient you to the whole room...

As a side note, Mac aka Zombie Cat seems to like the bed...

While Boromir the Brave prefers to peek out of the hula grass like a lion in the plains. 

 Interesting.  Cat Psychology.  I should write a book.