Fancy Room

Over the last track out, Fancy and I undertook to makeover her bedroom.  You may be shocked to learn that the style she chose was "fancy."  And while that may seem to cover a broad spectrum of design elements, in Fancy's mind, fancy means French.  I believe she got this from Fancy Nancy*.  Again, French style could encompass a great deal, but for our 6-year-old client, French means black and pink and Eiffel Towers.  And Damask.  And fur.  And poodles.  And the word "Paris."  And birdcages. Yeah.  She has specific taste.

*I should clarify that although there are lots of fun style ideas to be plucked from the pages of Fancy Nancy, our own Fancy declared it would be too "little kid-ish" to design a room based on the book illustrations.  She wanted a fancy room with a grown-up feel, but that would still suit a girl.  Challenge extended.

I'll suffice it to say that this 3-week project, which has now extended to 5 weeks and counting, has proven to be an exercise in patience for me and has revealed much about Fancy's personality. There were smiles, tears, nail-biting decisions, ooh-la-las, stand-offs, walk-outs, the occasional "Mom, you were right," and even a single "well Fancy, YOU were right."  Today I even got a "thank you for making my room so fancy.  I love it!"  We still have a 7 foot tall Eiffel Tower wall decal to install, and we're searching for just the right chandelier to replace the ceiling fan that has been deemed too babyish (Rella can't wait to have it in her room, despite it being babyish).  I am lobbying for a black and white striped awning over the closet door; we're hoping my brother will come install crown molding before too long, and perhaps I'll find a small desk or occasional table as well.  But for now, the bulk of the work has been done and the results are dramatic.

Room detail - small accent shelves to hold fancy accessories and crystal-embellished chandelier wall decals

 Piles of throw pillows - the pink one with French cartoons was the inspiration piece for the room

We searched far and wide for lamps.  Well, we really just made multiple trips to Home Goods.  Home Goods tends to have a large selection of great lamps, stocked in pairs.  It turns out Fancy can't make swift decisions. She needs days (or weeks) to consider and mull things over.  So by the time she would decide on a pair, we would go back to find they had been sold.  This happened multiple times.  On our latest trip she decided she liked these pretty well and I scooped them up and brought them home.  The interior of the shade has Eiffel Towers and French words printed on it, so the images shine through when the lamp is turned on.  She is currently debating over switching the white ribbons for black ribbons.  She is 2 weeks into that decision.

Bird cage detail by her bedroom door - hung on a fancy drawer knob I had stashed away in my tool drawer for some reason.

Metal sculpture she earned today by finally coming to a decision on which Eiffel Tower wall decal to order.  Making that decision meant I could finally hang pictures on the wall.

  Night light

 Pictures on the wall today!  Woo-hoo! (See little Fancy Nancy perched on the shelf?)

 Picture detail - Sweet Fancy gazing up at a pink Eiffel Tower.  Thanks to Uncle Jordan for traveling to Paris to take the picture and for letting me doctor it up a little bit!

 Black faux fur throw rugs on either side of the bed

View of the recently hung picture collage from her mirror

Main impression of the room.  This was a battle she totally won.  I was pushing for the Damask curtains and a white comforter piled high with throw pillows.  She wanted Damask curtains and comforter (and chair and lampshades and sheets), but I thought it would bee too much.  She stood her ground and I stood my ground and the track out days went by.  I found a set of Damask sheets at TJ Maxx and picked them up, thinking it would be cute to have them peeking out from beneath the white comforter (which I had not found and she did not want).  I thought I was being all "mother knows best" and put the sheets on the bed so that when she came in and saw the overwhelming explosion of Damask she would back down and agree to a white comforter.  Um, she was right.  I loved it.  So we ordered a Damask comforter that night and another room detail was checked off the list.

Ooh-la-la ~ Fancy is fancy.