Clara’s room got a makeover! I added a playful stencil on the back wall and a dreamy white pom pom canopy, along with some other details. It changed the look completely.

The nursery makeover happened how much of my decorating happens. I change one thing that leads to a domino affect of changes. One child (that will go unnamed — grrrr) unleashed a bodily function on the the rug in this room that it could not come back from. So I trashed it, which did not make me happy because I had sewn small rugs together by hand to make a large one.

I dug the rug from the boys’ old nursery out of the garage and plopped it down. It was not working with what I already had going on in there. 

I liked her room before, which you can see here, but the dots on the wall were always a couple shades too dark for me. Now that the green and brown rug threw everything off, I took the dots down and thought about a mural. Which made me consider trying the new beige canopy at Ikea. Which sent me in a tailspin of ideas.

But alas, my mom said she wanted to try making a white canopy by using the Ikea canopy as a pattern. You have my sincerest apologies for not being as talented as my mother. I have no idea how she accomplished this. I just made the pom poms. (I followed Living With Punks’ tutorial. So easy!)

The canopy is by far my favorite thing in the room. My mom would tell you it’s wrinkled here or didn’t quite fit there, but in my mind it’s perfect perfection.

And Clara thinks so too.

While she was making the canopy, I decided on a Mexican Otomi stencil for the wall. I was bouncing around on coral or peach, but despite all my samples, I surprised myself and landed on baby pink! Technically it’s Behr’s Pink Elephant. It’s a wonderful ballet pink, not too light or too dark.

Oh, I loathe stenciling. Basically the entire time I stencil I’m estimating how many I have left and thinking how much I hate it. But the end result is definitely worth it! This wall was actually simple to do. The hardest part was just getting around the cables.

You can see a full tutorial on how to stencil a room here.

My mom gave me this sweet embroidery that Clara’s great, great grandmother made. It’s precious and I’m so happy it found a home in her room.

Also, for her first Christmas, Mom gave Clara this adorable fairy garland that she picked up at a street store in New York. It has great colors and adds some whimsy to the room. The only problem is that my wild child will lunge her body off the changing table to try to grab it even though it is feet away. She’s definitely the strongest of all my babies!

And speaking of changing table, I’m now using this desk that was mine when I was a little girl. I used to hide all my Halloween candy in the bottom drawer. Too bad for her, I’ll know where to look.

I painted the boxes, house and initial the first time around. They were such a cheap way to add color and dimension to the shelves. You can see my inexpensive nursery project ideas here.

I suppose you can’t have enough pom poms in a baby girl room. I still love these pink pom pom curtains. I sewed the trim on a pair of Ikea curtains.

I love that rooms can evolve. They only become more interesting and layered and personal with time. This is why, for me, a room is never finished!

In the room:  stencil  |  chair  |  closet knobs  |  flamingo piñata  |  giraffe  |  inflatable globe  |  shelf  |  hanging dress  |  coral baskets: Hobby Lobby  |  Bird print: I designed it from a vector I purchased. (I’m sorry I can’t share a download because I don’t have distribution rights.)