REDESIGNING ROOMS = HAPPIER HOME
The Philippines hasn’t allowed personal travels by car from one province to another unless you own a property in another province. For the first time in my kids’ lives, they are not allowed to go outside of our little neighborhood during the summer break.
We anticipated to spend a lot of time at home, which made me think hard how I can make my kids happy in such situation. They needed a little change.
My oldest has asked in the recent past if she could redecorate her room. Thus, I decided to invest a little into redesigning her room so that she can have a room where she can enjoy and feel happy hanging out there.
TEEN ROOM
It was my oldest daughter who picked a Medallion tapestry to decorate her room in a new home when we first moved to Manila from the States in 2018. I helped her pick other elements in her room while listening to her ideas.
This time, I let her be more in control with selection of items to add to her room while providing a guideline on categories of items she could use. For example, I said no to any furniture or new bedding (we’ll move in a year, so I asked her to wait), but yes to pillows and decors. She wanted to remove the big tapestry as she thought that it made her room dark.
BEFORE
We removed the tapestry, but then it revealed a big white blank wall.
She had ideas to transform her room to be bohemian chic. Since she already had a vision, I simply assisted her realize it instead of leading the decisions.
We went out to H&M Home in Manila first. She picked the eye mirror, hanging baskets, pillows, desk mirror, and a jewelry hanger from H&M. Then we went to a home section at an SM Mall and purchased artificial leaves, artificial succulents, and a frame. I already had the wrapping paper at home that could go with her boho theme. Fortunately, she liked the design on the wrapping paper, so it was an inexpensive and easy way to fill a frame.
AFTER
DECLUTTERING BEFORE REDESIGNING
By the way, we decluttered her room first before redesigning. We went through all of her belongings in her closet as well as every single drawers in her room. We removed 3 bags full of nicknacks, old school paper, beauty products and even some trash from her room. It was a necessary process before redecorating.
I’m very proud of my oldest daughter for being proactive about redecorating and demonstrating her ability to come up with easy, inexpensive, but lovely decorating ideas. This transformation cost us about USD200+.
BEFORE
AFTER
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AFTER
KIDS ROOM
After redesigning my oldest child’s room, I decided to redecorate a shared bedroom for my middle and youngest children. My middle daughter has always wanted her own room and asked recently if she could use our empty room that I use as yoga room/guest bedroom. I’ve always made her share a room with her younger brother. That won’t change now. Why? I can write a whole blog post on it, but the main reason for now is that my son, who is 8 years old, prefers being in a room with her at night. Thus, I offered her to redecorate their kids’ room.
My middle daughter agreed and suggested to reconfigure the room. The challenge was the wall shelves, but I managed to move one of the wall shelves.
My middle girl is 12 and has already grown out of cute design phase. I’m a bit sad to realize that she no longer embraces girly cuteness, but the saving grace is that she still likes a faded pink color, which I like. Just like her older sister, she likes a bohemian chic design.
We have made a minor changes since these photos below, but for now here is a reveal of before and after of the shared kids room. My middle one is a happy camper now!
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AFTER
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Dear Kaho, I have following your blog forever 🙂 Thank you for all your interesting, useful and informative posts.
I have 3 girls and I would love to get them Peacock Chairs – there are many designs available where I am. My question is – are they comfortable at all? Are they for sitting down or is it just an accent piece in the room. The back looks very upright. I’m not able to try them out right now. Thank you, Kaho
Carol, thank you so much for your comment and above all, following my blog! I have one peacock chair in our dining room and two flower chairs in kids’ rooms. My middle child sits in her flower chair. I recently bought a round cushion for her seat. It makes it more comfy. It’s a good chair to use for a desk. My oldest uses it as a decorative piece, though. It is pretty. The peacock chair in our dining room is an accent piece for us. I love looking at it. Since you asked, I sat in our peacock chair. Just like you said, the back is upright and you do have to sit up straight. It’s a good chair to sit and have a conversation, but it may not be comfortable as a reading chair. Hope this helps!