The walls of Clara’s big-girl room are finally dry, and the few pieces of furniture we have—mainly a daybed, an old side table, and two small thrifted wooden chairs—are back in place. Here’s how the room looks now.
Not quite magazine-ready, but a huge improvement, and we’re thrilled with the progress.
The new wall color is lovely. These photos don’t show it perfectly, but in person the tone is subtle, warm, and cozy without leaning too yellow or peach. Because it’s not overpowering, it will play nicely with lots of other colors as we layer in textiles and accents. Highly recommend this kind of neutral-warm paint for a kid’s room that you want to feel welcoming but flexible.
Now, about the “table tweaks” mentioned in the title. First, a bit about the chairs: we found them for $8 each at a thrift store in West Virginia while returning from a trip to redo Granny’s bathroom last September. They sat in the cluttered playroom for months until we cleared the space and rediscovered them—like finding an extra room in the house. We’re planning to paint the chairs a bright color (red is on the shortlist) and keep the table crisp white.
That table has a history: it used to be a side table in our first house’s den. It was originally a Target side table that we modified years ago by adding a larger top and painting it white—first intended for our bedroom and later moved around as we rearranged furniture.
It hadn’t really found a permanent spot in the two years we’ve lived in this house, so it spent a lot of time in corners of the sunroom or the basement. Now, with the two kid-sized thrift chairs, the table makes a perfect little activity spot—except it was too tall as-is. See how it towered over a similar kid table we built for the living room?
A little sawing fixed the problem. After searching for screws to remove the stem from the top, John used a reciprocating saw to cut it down and followed up with a Dremel to clean and level the surface before reattaching it.
Trimming about four inches off the stem was tricky because of the base’s angle. John’s first cut wasn’t perfectly level, so he marked a level line around the stem and carefully shaved it down with the Dremel until the cut was even.
Once it was leveled, he used a Kreg jig to create pocket holes and reattach the stem to the base. The pocket holes are slightly visible if you crawl under the table, but they sit well beneath the base where they won’t be noticed during normal use.
Now the table is almost the same height as Clara’s drawing desk in the living room, making it just right for her size. With the two thrifted chairs and this adjusted table, Clara will have a sweet spot in her room for coloring, Play-Doh, dolls, or a game of Gin Rummy.
So that’s what we’ve been working on in Clara’s big-girl room. I’d call it about 7% finished—plenty left to do, but such a satisfying start.
The blanket on the bed is my favorite find from a recent sale, and the tie-dye-style pillows are from West Elm. I want to add more pillows—navy would look great, I think. The pink “C” pillow was from the same sale as the blanket. Clara is absolutely obsessed with the big-girl bed. Our pediatrician recommended keeping her in the crib until she’s uncomfortable or starts climbing out, so for now the bed is mostly decorative, but she looks so cute in it. Someday she’ll officially move in.
Until then, the room functions as a really fun play space, which is so much better than the junk room it was for the past two years. We’re embarrassed it took so long, but better late than never.
Here’s what we still want to do:
- Paint the thrifted chairs a bright, happy color.
- Find a dresser, preferably secondhand.
- Make and hang curtains.
- Add a rug for warmth and color.
- Hang art and a few three-dimensional pieces we have in mind.
- Install a new light fixture.
- Hang a mirror at Clara’s height—she loves making faces at herself.
- Convert the junk closet into a proper clothes closet or a cozy reading nook.
- Add crown molding (and tackle the other rooms on this side of the house that still need it).
- Bring in accessories like more pillows and storage bins for toys.
We’ll keep you posted as we make more progress. What projects are you tackling right now? Painting thrift finds or reworking old tables? Share what you’re up to—we love hearing about DIY discoveries.