Girl's Room / bedding idea

This is what Carly's room looked like shorty after we moved in. This was the existing paint color which was sort of peachy. The shelves were here when we moved in as well. The former homeowner used this room as an office. Originally there were mini-blinds. We put in shutters a little later.

You will probably notice that the wainscoting didn't match the closet doors and trim. I fix that later. I think it was only primed.
This was after I chose a green paint color (Sassy Green from Sherwin Williams) and bought Carly a loft bed. I handmade her a quilt which was the spring board for the room. I was very sad to realize you couldn't even see it after all the work I did. (I hand-quilted it!!) (Notice the shutters!)

I only made this wall hanging because I was so sad that I couldn't see the quilt on her bed. I just made it out of quilt scraps.
Well....the loft bed, though GREAT at space saving, turned out to be not that great for a child who was still not completely self sufficient. When she fell asleep on the couch it was SO HARD to carry up into her bed. Though she could get herself in and out of bed if she needed to use the bathroom, if she was sick we couldn't cuddle with her or help her very easily if she was throwing up. And forget changing sheets. Ridiculous!

Plus I wanted a better way to accommodate guests. When they did come, they slept on an air mattress in the boys room. I really had to rethink this.

Enter my garage sale. My friend Jenny decided to sell her bunk beds at my garage sale. When I asked her how much she intended to sell them for, she said, "5 bucks each." Oh my. I offered to double the money but she wouldn't let me. She warned me they were rickety as a bunk but I didn't intend to use them like that anyway. The only problem: I only had ONE HANDMADE QUILT and there was no way I was going to make another one. It took me like a friggin' year to make that sucker.

Then the stars aligned one day. Here are the duvet covers I made! They are reversible. The pink and green is actually the underside but they are cute on top too.

Below is how they look with the white side up.

So here is how the stars aligned. One night my kids were driving me nuts so I told my husband I was going to leave for a while. I decided to just run to Goodwill and look around. I found an Ikea queen sized white duvet cover. Nearly new, no stains, tears or anything. I threw it in my cart to think about it. My Goodwill can be a rip-off and I wasn't sure I liked the price yet. Then I found a NEW, in package green twin size blanket that coordinated with the paint color. I threw it in my cart too. Then I found two pillow cases that were white with green polka-dot trim. I think they were made out of tablecloths!

At home I had a full size pink sheet set ($5 clearance at Walmart) and a king size flat sheet in green I had bought at another second had store for $2.50. I had these for at least a year not knowing what I would do with them but that they may come in handy in Carly's room.

I decided to cut the white queen sized duvet cover in half. I could use it for both duvet tops. Then I could piece backs out of the pink and green sheets. I sewed the pink and greens together for the back and then sewed it to the white top. I just left the opening at the bottom of the duvet open. It didn't need a closure.

I decided to cut the green twin size blanket in half as well and use it to make two throw blankets for the end of the beds. I stopped at Joann Fabrics to pick up the polka-dot fabric for some pillowcases. With all the solids, I needed something more interesting. I decided to hang the inspiration quilt up too with a drapery rod I had sitting in my garage.

For the future: I am thinking about curtains and bed skirts. Plus, the art is WAY too small so I will need to be on the lookout for something larger.

It ended up being about $20 per bed. Not bad. Not bad. It could have been better if my Goodwill didn't think it was a friggin' Nordy's!