Caroline's BIG Girl Room!!

It happened. I can't believe our sweet Caroline is in a big girl bed. And that there is no longer a nursery or a crib in our house! Crazy and a little sad. Sniff!

First night in her big girl bed!

We had big plans Memorial Day weekend to introduce Caroline to a cot with hopes that it would be the first step in transitioning to a big girl bed. As I mentioned, she did GREAT on the cot and we encouraged Granna to have her sleep in the toddler bed at her house while she was there the entire next week. Our plans back in Memphis were to ready her big girl room for her so when she came home, it would be all put together and her nursery furniture gone. Weeeeell, then Tyler broke his elbow, had to have emergency surgery and we were all in Nashville/Clarksville for much of the week, so that changed a few things in the plan. :)

Despite the craziness with Tyler, Caroline continued to do SO great in the toddler bed at Granna's! We didn't want to mess up all her progress when she got home and put her back in a crib, so we quickly came up with Plan B. Russ went back to Memphis 2 days before the rest of us did and so he broke down the crib and moved it out. He also moved the full mattress from the upstairs guest room and put it on the floor in Caroline's room. Our plan was to have her sleep on those on the floor until I could get the bed painted. While I was still in Clarksville I listed the the nursery furniture and it sold quickly. Yay!

In the meantime, we learned that Tyler couldn't go back to school until he had a hard cast, so Granna came back to Memphis with us to keep him home from school. And remember...there ia no longer bed upstairs for her to sleep in since we moved it to Caroline's room! Ahh! Granna rolled with it and slept on the mattresses on the floor in Caroline's room for a few days until our new mattress came and then she got our queen mattress upstairs! Whew!

Caroline LOVED the mattress on the floor in her room! She never even once mentioned her crib or get sad over it. We would put her to bed and then move her to the cot once she fell asleep (so Granna could have a place to sleep)...a few times she kept saying "my bed" and pointing to the mattress and telling Granna her bed was the cot! Ha!

That weekend, I worked to spray paint the iron bed. I have had this bed since 1998 when I rescued it from a antique shop. It was completely rusted out and I spent hours sanding, priming and painting it for my first college apartment. I originally painted it a blue/gray, then black and it went gold for Caroline's room. I absolutely LOVE how it turned out!

Bye-bye black bed!

Much like our master bedroom re-do, I have been piecing her room together for quite some time...most things came from PB Kids and her dust ruffle came from Amazon of all places. She got some of her basic bedding (like summer and winter blankets) for Christmas from Granna. She has bed rails on both sides so she won't fall out. The first set was blue and I got secondhand, but she broke one in the first week leaning on it. So, I ordered the white set, which I like way better because they are easy to down AND the rails slide up under the mattress, too, which is so nice!

The only piece of furniture we kept in the room from the nursery was the corner bookshelf. To free up floor space, we decided to get rid of the lingerie chest so I was on the hunt for a larger chest to accommodate the storage lost from it and the changing table. I found a Thomasville piece in good condition and painted it. I changed out the hardware to a shiny gold to coordinate with the bed. I am loving it's transformation, too.

Her bookshelf...and, yes, this is how it looks most of the time. Books thrown
everywhere...she loves to "read". Oh and that's her stuffed animal bin...normally all
40 are in the bed WITH her and there is barely a place for her to sleep. Ha!

I wish I'd taken a before picture, but it had the standard cherry glossy finish. This was one coat in...

2 coats done and distressed...it still lacked a dark wax finish here.

Close up of the details. I hit these pulls with a brighter gold spray paint to match the knobs.

The last piece for the room was an old Lane cedar chest that Pop-Pop got for Caroline a while ago. It has been sitting in our attic waiting for her big girl room. I painted it and recovered the top. I'm a little on the fence about the color...I went with a distressed gray finish and it feels a little dark. I can always change it out later. It was meant to go at the foot of the bed, but for now it is going up against the wall...we don't want Little Miss using it as a stepping stool to get out of bed! :)

Before...the base was in decent shape but the cherry just didn't work in her room.

Midway painting progress. (And I was working on another chair at the
same time that you can see in the background...reveal to come!)

Dressed, waxed and ready for the top.

Finished product! I'm still on the fence on the gray in her room...
everything else it off-white, so I may change it to match eventually.

So, how's Caroline doing in her big girl bed? Just fabulous!! She loves her big new so much..especially her comfy duvet cover. She never really had blankets in the crib (for obvious reasons), so she loves snuggling up under the covers...and is a sweaty mess when I pop in to check on her before I go to bed. She also is loving all the room...every night she is in a different position in the bed! I move her back to her pillow and she usually doesn't even stir. Tyler has been a little jealous of her bed (especially since it is bigger than his). I anticipate a sibling sleepover in the near future.

This is sleeping at the foot of the bed...we put her Euro pillows there to keep her from falling out.