Coco's Room: Turquoise and Pink.. and Horse Love!

Last year we moved into this house,

and I gave the kids the go-ahead to choose their own color schemes for their rooms.

My eldest, Natasha, ended up with a black white and yellow room

that you can see and read about here..

My son, Cameron has a real boy's room, 

which is next on the list to be finished off..

 the only thing I will tell you is it has been a challenge to create some interest in there - 

he has a complete set of matching furniture that we aren't changing for a few years.

Chloe, our youngest daughter, adores Natasha.

We had just finished painting Natasha's old bedroom

Refreshing Pool by Behr

and purchasing a huge amount of upholstery fabric

 (to appease Tasha's request of turquoise and white polka dots)

to use in the space, when we decided to move.

So naturally Chloe wanted a turquoise and white, polka-dotted room in the new house - 

 just like her big sister.

Natasha wasn't having any part of that, so gave Chloe her fabric,

and slyly decided on a different design direction.

Chloe adores animals, any and every one.

She has copious amounts of "stuffies",

which live under her bed in three storage bins.

Coco aspires to be a "dog trainer, horse rider or animal doctor" when she grows up.

She is still a bit young, but is gearing up to begin taking riding lessons as soon as she is able..

spends all her spare time with our dogs or drawing pictures of animals.

So this room had to incorporate horses, and Chloe decided it had to incorporate pink, 

because it's really still her favourite ;)

This is what we came up with.. hope you like it!

Coco and Tash have matching furniture, it is lovely, solid wood and so pretty.

It was very generously given to us years ago,

that story is included in the post about Natasha's room..

My darling Mum helped me make the curtains for overs Chloe's bed..

I love that fabric - polka dots can be subtle!!

Found it at fabricland for five dollars a metre - ha!

I bought the whole roll, there's still oodles left over :)

I made some pillows and trimmed the too short bedskirt

(did I mention that I despise ironing? perhaps I don't have to!)

Last weekend I slipcovered the "snuggle chair" -

this is where we snuggle and read, tell secrets, chill out together..

Coco loves to read and draw in bed at night before light's out..

her bedside table is crammed to the gills with paper, colored pencils and books.

The lamp came form Ikea, 

the vase has been kicking around a long time - not sure exactly where we got it!! 

 Coco chose those tulips (from the dollar store :)

 expressly to stick in her vase on her night table,

 so there they are!

The photo wall was done with frames we already had, a few pics, and some horse images Coco loved..

the only thing I bought new was the wood panel with the horses painted on.

It was $1.99 at the Sally Ann, but was dark brown and the paint was bright pink -

so I white-washed it with diluted white paint and rubbed off the excess.

Now it's softer and fits here. 

The carpet is a light, cool brown so bits of wood reference it and help it blend in.

Chloe painted that butterfly at her fifth birthday party held at a ceramics studio.

The large C and the horse picture below it are both re-dos from Coco's previous room..

I'll show you the "befores" and the end of the post..

So a cozy place to sleep and read, but what about a place to play?

Our front door is a revolving blur of children..

a never-ending parade, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

This rooms hosts tea parties, barbie extravaganza's, make-overs galore..

Chloe needs storage, and a table and chairs..

The dresser contains all the small toys, dress-up, etc..

All Coco's clothes are in her closet where a smaller dresser fits in under her clothes rail perfectly.

Coco's favourite doll, Emma, with her horse, Chocolate.

Two other dolls standing in for girlies, the sprinkler was on so no one would volunteer for pics :)

This corner looks a little spare, 

but down the road we will be tucking a desk in here under the shelf/corkboard,

 and then it will be just right.. as for now - 

there's plenty of play space, usually there are A LOT more toys around!

Each of the kids has one of these.. their great-grandfather was Chinese..

these were given to them by his wife, their Great Nana, who was Japanese.

The kids (and I) adored her, and although she left us two years ago we still talk about her all the time..

 I hope the kids can remember how special their Great Nana was when they are older.

Chloe has been drawing our newest dog, Mocha, daily for a month..

this one made me laugh - "the real one"..

Opposite Coco's bed are two shelves 

where she keeps jewelry, hair bands, her purple hair (doesn't every girl need that?!!)..

Chloe is super-lucky, probably even a bit spoiled..

but we are luckier :)

This little one brings a ray of sunshine wherever she goes..

the chair before and after:

The slipcover comes off for washing.. 

I will have this chair re-covered for Chloe when she is older

 (it's been in our family a long time, I had childhood snuggles here, too),

 but for now this is a better option.
See the Slipcover Party at the fabulous Pink and Polka Dot blog for loads of slipcover ideas..

the C and the horse picture, before and after:

 

The C got a fresh coat of white paint, and the rose painted picture was white-washed, then I decoupaged a horse pic over the floral painting.

that's it guys..

hope you enjoyed, Chloe does!

til next time..