ZBP: Penelope & Felix’s Room

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I had grandiose plans for working steadily on Penelope and Felix’s room through out the week, but it really boiled down to me working feverishly to get everything hung and set yesterday afternoon while Felix played in his crib. I don’t even know what Penelope was up to. Definitely not twiddling her thumbs by the look of my studio.

I’m thrilled to bits to have competed their space. Now on to the next! It sure feels good to cross this one off the list. Remember the before:

It makes my skin crawl just looking at that. It’s not that I’m a neat freak, it’s just here nothing even had a place to go to. Not to mention, I found three enormous spiders in the process of cleaning up all this mess. Like the size of a silver dollar. Creepy.

This is a happy spider-free place now. I hung these colorful banners as backdrops for each bed. They’re from my senior show back in college, but I hadn’t really thought about using them as decorations until just recently, when I found Penelope’s bedding at Ikea. I immediately thought of how cute it would be with that particular piece, then it all clicked. I’ve been trying to think of different ways to incorporate masculine and feminine with each other, and these pieces were the key! At least I think so. They’re so bright and cheery in the space.

I took one look at this plaid bedding at Ikea and had to buy it. She had been using an uncovered white duvet, so it was time to get something that looked a bit more polished. Even Chris welcomes this little addition

Vintage pillow from MoxieMandie, chevron pillow by me.

Above is the Dachshund lamp from Clever Tomato and love print from Made By Girl that we’ve had for ages. The dresser we’ve had since we moved to Utah, too.

I tried to keep everything relatively simple, but colorful. I made it a point not to hang artwork directly above Felix’s crib. I know he will get to the age (and height) where he will pull the artwork down, which makes the space ideal for a decal. I would just hate for a heavy piece of wood to come crashing down on his poor little noggin.

I designed and printed the herringbone blanket last winter as part of a groupon with Ink Garden. Instead of uploading a photo, I uploaded a repeat pattern and had the blanket made. Originally it was floating in the living room, but it works so much better here.

Penelope actually contributed a lot to this space, artistically. She made the above cloud and popsicle sculpture in her art class. She was thrilled to pieces to see that I wanted to hang up her art. I was actually worried that she wouldn’t be okay with me hanging it above Felix’s bed, but she was so proud that they could both look at her decorations. Bullet dodged.

The butterfly chair, rug and boppy pillow we’ve all had on hand forever. I’m just lucky that yellow is a recurring theme through out this bedroom. Say hello to Earl Ledbetter!

On the left you can see bits of the debris from hanging and fixing up artwork. From left, Painting by me, F cut by me and elephant piece by A Vintage Poster

Here’s the doorway and closet area. We have a little bookshelf that I bought while at our old house, but we’re not using it as a bookshelf anymore. Our books are almost all in the den which has two enormous closets with wall to wall shelves. More on that later. The balancing cactus toppled over a few minutes after I snapped this.

The piece up top is one of a circle/square series I did in college. It adds a nice texture to the graphic bedroom. The piece below is another piece Penelope made in art class.

Here’s a glimpse of the closet all neatly organized. Mostly. This system works really well for me and costs a fraction of what an actual cute dresser would cost. At some point, I’ll be putting in a shelf above the rod to store boxes of outgrown or seasonal clothing.

There were no pulls on the closet, so I cut two strips of leather and screwed them onto the doors. Chris prefers the blank doors, but I thought they were rather annoying to open and close. This little remedy was free and looks cool to me. If we decide to put actual handles on the doors at some point, the existing holes will be used or hidden.

Next to the closet, over on Penelope’s side of the door I put in a little gallery wall. It’s a mixture of art: dinosaur by Ashmae (and fellow painter friend from college), peacock by A Vintage Poster (with the addition of vinyl hand-lettering by me), P by AnnilyGreen, Chromatography pieces by Penelope, hand cut design by me and a framed chalkboard.  The chairs I’ve had for a few houses, I bought them from Ikea.

I bought some chalkboard contact paper for a future project, but I know I will have loads left over so I applied a small piece to the wall and covered it with a frame I’ve had for ages. I showed Penelope the chalk board and she was thrilled beyond the moon. I should find a better way to store the chalk than in an ugly baggie on the chair.

There you have it. I’m quite proud of this cheap space for Penelope and Felix. I spent $30 on the bedding at Ikea, but that was before I decided to do the Zero budget project. Maybe it counts, maybe it doesn’t? Everything we either had on hand or repurposed from elsewhere in the house. I would have hit my goal on the head if I hadn’t purchased the bedding, but I’m definitely not regretting that decision.

If money were no object, I would do something like this: Pen & Felix Bedroom Pinboard.

I hope you have a great weekend! I will be hanging out with my husband, celebrating our sixth anniversary and scheming the next room for the Zero Budget Project. What are your plans?

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    1. ira lee says:

      wow!!! this looks amazing and also looks like you spent some cash too! i love the bright yet muted colors! all the art work fits so well, the colors are just great!! so good job and im ready for you to come help me at my house!! lol

    2. Melissa says:

      I technically bought the bedding before deciding to do the zero budget project, so I’m not sure if that counts. Maybe. Thanks for your kind comment!!

    3. Ag says:

      I adore what you did with the BKF chair!

    4. mandie says:

      So, so fun! I especially love the chair and the mobile- P did a sweet job on that! :)

      Happy anniversary friend!

    5. Emily says:

      Love the artwork and colors!!

    6. samarahuel says:

      Wow, Penelope does some cool art in her art class! Both the mobile and the yarn picture caught my eye. I want to see a close up of the Chromatography pieces! I also love how the plaid on Felix’s elephant poster and Pen’s bedding echo each other. I think the chalk looks perfectly fine on the chair, but if you want to get it out of Felix’s reach, what about a cute cup or little bucket (I’ve seen some in the dollar section of Target) on a small wall ledge?

    7. samarahuel says:

      Oops! Sorry about that! I don’t know what I did but I posted a funky version of my comment again!

    8. Alice C. says:

      So cute! I love love love the bright sunny colors. Gorgeous prints above their beds. Also, a huge fan of that Jenny Lind bed you have pinned. How adorable! I want one of those for me!

    9. I love how fresh and colorful everything is! It’s so great that you have such a vision for what you like that you were able to pull all this from other spaces and make it work so well. Beautiful room!

    10. Tamara says:

      LOVE the artwork behind the beds- you are a fantastic artist and I love that you also display Pen’s pieces right next to yours. How valued she must feel!

      I know it’s fun to dream (especially with Pinterest), and those pieces would look perfect in this room, but doesn’t it feel so good to do so much without spending anything?!

      p.s. I don’t count the bedding ;)
      p.p.s. I love that the comforter is a little bit bigger than the bed, thus eliminating the need for a bed skirt and hiding whatever finds its way under the bed.

    11. Ah, I LOVE IT!!! So colorful and clean and happy. And I think the handles on the closet are perf. xo

    12. Katie says:

      So fun! Thanks for the tour!

    13. bmerry says:

      I am working on my, but now our bedroom and it looks similar to your before picture!

    14. kristin says:

      oh this is so great! love how it has things made by you and P, too. the art above each bed looks amazing!

    15. May says:

      I absolutely love what you’ve done with the room. I especially think the leather door handles are beautiful and simple. Your artwork behind the crib and Penelope’s bed are so eye catching and lovely. Well done!

    16. Leanne says:

      Thanks for the fun room tour. It turned out awesome. I love the artwork. What a perfect place for it. I can’t wait to see the rest of the house. It was great to see you today too!

    17. Rebecca says:

      What color did you use on the walls? I love it!

    18. love! i might go buy that duvet for my little girl today…so sweet!

    19. Caitlin says:

      I love it! Your house looks beautiful. I love that you incorporated your daughter’s artwork – and it looks great!
      I’m needing to find some ideas for a nursery as I’m pregnant with our first, I love the prints from A Vintage Poster, I think I’m going to have to get some from there!

      Thanks for the inspiration!

    20. Elaine says:

      can’t believe it cost you nothing for this! looks fantastic!

    21. marissa says:

      this is AMAZING! and i am in love with those banners! so awesome!

    22. I am beyond fascinated with your leather closet pulls! Totally pinning the crap out of that. Must do!

    23. Leah says:

      This is the cutest kids room EVER! I love how all the random art and prints go so well together. And yellow is the best color.

    24. Melissa says:

      Y’all are so sweet with your comments!! Thank you so much!

    25. MommyG says:

      I love your zero budget projects! :) Oh, and I have the same LOVE print too.

    26. CoraD says:

      Holy amazeballs – totally awesome room! You do good work with no budget.

    27. […] Bedroom makeover on a $0 Budget from I Still Love […]

    28. Heidi says:

      I think it’s so awesome that you used some of Penelope’s artwork in her room. I liked the rain cloud mobile even before I knew she made it.
      I really like the leather door handles. So unique and modern.
      How have you liked the chalkboard contact paper?

    29. Melissa says:

      The chalkboard contact paper has been awesome! The texture isn’t as off-putting as regular chalkboards, so I’m a big fan!

    30. Melissa, I am so jealous that your kids get to have your wonderful senior project in their rooms. The pieces look so happy, and you know that the one above the crib is my favorite.

    31. Erin says:

      I would love to know how you did the custom vinyl lettering for the vintage animal posters…I’d LOVE to do this for my shared daughter/sons room! Thanks!!

    32. Melissa says:

      Erin – I lettered and cut out the letters with Illustrator and my Silhouette cutter machine on vinyl diecut sticker paper. Let me know if you’re curious about specifics.

    33. dana says:

      I love the leather pulls on the closet. Seriously. Really clever idea.

    34. Juliette says:

      Hi melissa!
      Your house is darling!

      About the chalk, we keep ours in a Bonne Maman jam jar with the cute checkered top, it works well at our house.

      Juju

    35. […] made a tote bag out of a pillow case, I finally shared how to color block leather, I started the zero budget project and I painted […]

    36. Courtney says:

      Melissa – I LOVE the room! I have been looking for an example of a boy/girl room with a crib so thank you for sharing this. Also, I love the closet organization. Where can I purchase these?

    37. Dana says:

      Hi! Really great room!! What color are the walls? thanks so much!

      • Melissa says:

        I tried to see if the previous owners had extra paint left over and I’m not finding it anywhere. I’ll post it here if I find it. Sorry i couldn’t be more help!

    38. Dana says:

      thanks anyway!!

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