Julia's Princess Room

My firstborn baby girl just turned five a couple of weeks ago.  As if that didn't feel bittersweet enough, her request for a new "big girl" room did.

The conversation went a little something like this:
"Mommy, I want a new big girl room for my birthday."

"Oh, you don't like your fun butterflies and dragonflies?  You're room is so pretty now!"

: : blank stare : : "Mom, this room is for babies.  I am not a baby."

{Insert my realization of that fact and subsequent emotional breakdown here.}

She's right.  She's definitely not the baby who wanted bugga buggas to decorate her room three years ago.  Her butterfly bedding was fraying from washing it constantly.  Those pastel curtains were starting to fade.  And five year olds apparently do not need mobiles hanging in the corner.  Silly mommy.

What kind of room does a big girl like Julia need?  A Disney Princess room, it seems.  That's grown-up??  She assured me that all cool kids have Disney Princesses.
Now, I love those princesses as much as the next Disney addict, but plastering Cinderellas as big as my child all over the place is not really my thing.  I discussed this with her and we decided to go a more subtle route, just having touches of princessy things here and there.
By subtle, I mean she chose purple walls and pink bedding.  I have proclaimed since I was I was pregnant with her that I would NOT be a mom who would turn her daughter into a girly-girl, surrounded by girly-girl colors and dressing up in tutus and dresses all the time.  But you know what?  I didn't turn her into this.  She has chosen this.  And I just gave in big time.

We're tight on cash (who isn't?), but I was determined to give her the room of her dreams.  We bought her purple paint for her birthday, and her grandmother bought her pink bedding.  We reused the pink curtains from our upstairs playroom (it will be turned into a room for Sawyer eventually, and I doubt he wants pink curtains...you never know, though...).  I took the castle decal from the upstairs playroom and slapped it on the wall in Julia's room.  For artwork, I turned her existing decorative frames into Princess art using scrapbooking paper and more decals.  It is all very girly, and she loves it.  Here it is, in all its pastel glory:

Pink and purple Princess room (butterflies above bed stayed).  Night when I took this, so sorry it's dark.



Lamp also stayed...she couldn't part with it.  Cinderella's Castle wall decal and toy.




Her armoire.  Disney snow globes.  Stolen towel animal from Pop Century (he's a hitchhiker).




Wall art I crafted out of scrapbook paper, old frames, and wall decals.




Her stuffed animals.  I want to remember this forever.




Another view of the room.  Note the 80s Barbie house, which is AWESOME.  Also, her memories board and messy toy bins.



Princess tin we got at Walt Disney World.  First thing you see upon entering.




Princess throw pillow.  And, yes, she still sleeps on her converted toddler bed.  She refuses to allow us to turn it into a full bed as of now.  She could grow a foot or two and still fit.

 So, all in all, we spent $30 for paint and supplies, and her grandma gifted her sheets and a comforter.  We owned or created all the decorations, and her sentimentality (or mine?) allowed us to keep a couple of things from her old room.

Is it overwhelmingly purple and pink?  You bet.  I totally failed at preventing that.  But even I have to say that it doesn't just SCREAM tacky princess decorations, though it does speak it loudly.  She got enough of the characters to make her happy, but there are few enough of them to keep me sane.

It comes down to this: it's her room, not mine.  While a color like that would lead me into some sleepless nights, she loves it.  She picked the theme, and she owns it.  As if she weren't a princess enough already, now she has a room fit for her royal status.