Finishing Touches

After redecorating Ashley's room, I made a few updates to enhance the cuteness of it all!  I HATE the brass door handles that came standard in our house.  I spray painted all the ones on the first floor last year, but didn't want to do that with Ashley's because hers just looked beat up and old and didn't close or lock right...so I decided to buy new ones.  I got the new ones from Home Depot, and they were about $15 each.  You could totally scrub yours down, sand lightly, wipe, prime and spray paint...but at this point I just wanted her room to be done so I forked out the cash.  You can see our ugly originals on the left {brass} and the pretty new one for her door on the right.

 Eventually, all our upstairs handles will be upgraded to these.  I like the sleekness of them!  SUCH an easy upgrade too - so why not?

This is her closet door and the next one is her room door, with an updated lock that actually works!

 Another thing I wanted to do was put up some sweet but inexpensive art.  We have ALL.THESE.UGLY.FRAMES that are just begging for a makeover.  So...I made them over!

I found all the artwork either here or Pinterest.  All free.  Yes, that is right.  FREE.  Thank you very much!

I also found these following lovelies...they are for me.  I want to put them up somewhere else in the house.  I couldn't resist free, cute art!

Anyways, I primed all the frames so that the colors would really stand out.  I lightly sanded this and wiped them down before doing any painting.  It helps everything look better:)

Remember all those test pots I bought to figure out which color she wanted for the room?  Well, they didn't go to waste!!  I used those to paint the frames.  We still have a lot of each color, so I am always looking for more things to paint!

I only took about an hour to prime and paint the frames.  I put 2 coats of the color on, so that they would really look nice.

Then, I used the nifty gallery wall trick to figure out where I wanted to put everything while they were drying.

I let the frames dry for 2 days, we were really busy that week with family, so it was a good opportunity to let the paint dry and cure up before handling and hanging.

Finally, in went the art and up went the frames.  I bought the green clock from Ross for $7.99.  Score!  The little wooden plague with the teenager rules for life is from HomeGoods and was $10.

Doesn't it look so sweet?  I just LOVE all the art!  They are all so happy and fun and teenagery.

Yes the pink looks different in every picture...I guess that's just the lighting!  Again, the great thing about gallery walls is we can always add or update the art.  Such an easy project:)

Another thing we needed was a chair for her desk.  I was going to buy one, but then...I realized we have 4 chairs in the basement that we NEVER use, they are just sitting in our storage room waiting for something to happen to them.  I had bought a light green spray color that matches Ash's colors...I can't remember what it was originally for?  Anyways, you can guess...I just spray painted one of those lonely chairs!!  Again, sand and wipe and prime and spray:)

Don't mind the weird glow, that is an outlet extension that has an iPhone charger built right into it.  Genius idea, btw.  Dave is jealous and wants one for our room;)

Isn't the chair so cute?  Cost $0!!!  My favorite type of upgrade.

The closet upgrade is working awesomely.  Yes, I said awesomely.  I can't wait to install these in our master closets!

The biggest challenge has been getting the child to keep the room clean.  I didn't spend all this time and money to see the room look like a tornado ripped through it!  Ahhhh teenagers...

I also added a few shelves above her media center for some of her pictures, tchotchkes, and trophies...

Those shelves were a cheap find from Target...I think I paid maybe $20 for the both of them.

So...I declare this room 99% done.  The only thing needed is a nice reading chair in the corner, to replace the bean bag chair that's there now.  That chair will probably move to my office at school.  I think my students will love to chill in that when they are sad or need a break!

The room has totally been transformed and the amount of space she has in there has grown a lot since we got rid of that chunky furniture.  It's a small room, but at least she's got space to sprawl out on the floor or have a few friends sleep up in there or have a small dance party as all teenagers should at some point.  That's the dream;)

I hope you have enjoyed the journey of updated her room with us!  I'll keep you posted on any other things we may add to it.