Do you remember the entire room of SmartStuff4Kids furniture that I gave to one lucky winner last year? It couldn’t have gone to a nicer family. Denise and her husband have two kids in college, and their third is just a youngster, but shares the room with the college-aged daughter when she’s home on breaks. Translation? Small space needs flexibility and a transition to a big girl room x2.

I shared with you the plan for the sisters room makeover as we were putting the plan together. Head over to the first article to see the before of this room. Denise and I decided that we could put together this design working entirely by phone and the internet, which would allow her to update the room over time, instead of putting her under unnecessary pressure. They already had a lot of work to do, clearing out all the stuffed animals and little girl treasures, and painting the whole room a new purple.

They decided to keep two bookcases, which we knew would fit because I had created a scale space plan with these items in mind.

Denise was kind enough to share her thoughts on the new room and how the process went for both her and her daughters.

Is the new furniture layout better for when both girls are there?

The delivery crew from Mastroieni’s Furniture, the local SmartStuff4Kids dealer, were fabulous. Took care of not only the delivery, but the set-up into the space plan that we had designed. Being able to push the trundle bed out of the way when my college girl isn’t living at home saves a lot of space in the room. But she loved it when she saw it! She came home and said, “It’s like the princess room I’ve always dreamed, like a real princess, not just a Disney princess.“

What do you love best about the girls’ bedroom makeover?

I absolutely LOVE the furniture. It’s phenomenal. It’s so sturdy! I love the hidden compartments for jewelry. The drawers are so thick! It’s so solid, that it doesn’t seem anything will happen to it. The self closing drawers are wonderful. The room feels bigger with this setup and the trundle bed, even though there is more furniture and storage there. My goal was to have a set of furniture for each girl to take with her when she moves out, and even though it’s a small room, we can do that for them with this setup.

What strategies did you use to help your younger daughter let go of some things?

She thinks the whole room is hers, and she loves it all. Of course, we painted over a Noah’s Ark mural that we’d had forever, and my little one was very sad to lose that. We took pictures of everything on the walls that got painted over, so she could feel good about keeping the memories. She was upset to say goodbye to those things at the time, I thought I might have to make a photo book with those pictures, but she hasn’t missed them since. We started the room makeover before Christmas, so it was a great time to go through all of the little girl things and pass some things onto cousins and friends. Decluttering is tough for her, so she felt better about parting with some toys when she knew they were going to a good home, and there were still plenty of special things on display, even after the makeover. 

Saying goodbye to the Noah’s Ark room was emotional, so she was thrilled to see a giant rainbow again! It was from the same night light all three kiddos had, but it was magic to her that it could cover the entire length of the newly painted wall over her bed.

How did it work, fitting both girls back into the redesigned room?

We thought that our older daughter would get one of the dressers, and the younger daughter would get the other dresser, but to keep the peace, we gave our little girl at least a drawer in each piece so they could both enjoy it. Thank goodness for a big walk in closet! We kept the two older dressers, and they work well inside the closet. We also re-organized the closet and added a cute little shoe rack inside the closet. Walking through the room has been much nicer now that the floor is clear. So now everything has a place, and that’s been really helpful. Everything is either in a bin or the closet or the dressers. We added pop-up hampers in the closet for the stuffed animals, and made a rule that she could only keep as many animals as she could fit in the hampers. My youngster likes to switch out some stuffed animals for the seasons, so she can still get to them to make the swap.

As a mom, did you mourn part of the baby room?

Actually, it was a chance to cherish and embrace the princess phase of the girl’s lives. We are repurposing some gorgeous princess calendar pages painted by Thomas Kincaid. They are so beautiful, and they go with the theme. Putting these pretty calendar pages into frames we bought together is a fun project to work on with the girls to customize their room.

Is there a safety feature that you love?

I love the self closing drawers, which means they won’t get fingers pitched. And they also don’t slam the drawers anymore. And I love that one of her favorite things is the reading light that’s integrated into the bed. Since she’s in 2^nd grade, that’s helping her become a better reader.

What is the next home project that you might tackle?

We still have a few things in this room to finish, hanging some art and switching over to summer wardrobes. We’d like to work on our laundry room, playroom, and master bedroom. But first we’re going to enjoy this beautiful new princess room for a while.

Thanks to SmartStuff Furniture for making these girl’s princess room dreams come true.

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