Mia and Ava are Moving On Up

Believe it or not, it's time to think about kicking our little ladies out of their current bedroom.  After a long discussion and some compromising, we spent the weekend creating a new space for Mia and Ava.

Here was our dilemma:
Besides wanting to keep one of our rooms as an office/guest room, the girls are used to being together and I think they should stay together until they tell us otherwise.  Mate always had his own room and a large bed.  He said making Mia and Ava sleep in twin beds is like jail.  I thought that was a little dramatic, but everyone's entitled to their opinion.
The only way for them to stay together would be in twin beds.  Hence, our dilemma.  Personal preferences aside, we also had some logistical things to figure out.  Their cribs are convertible, so if we wanted to use them as bed frames, we'd have to buy full beds, put the girls in separate rooms and buy another crib for baby #3.  We also considered buying toddler beds and making a more permanent decision later on, but that seemed like delaying the inevitable.  Our last option was to buy twin beds and wait for the girls to ask for separate rooms or bigger beds (which I can't imagine happening any time soon).  Unfortunately, all these choices would result in some of our current furniture being wasted, which wasn't exactly appealing.  Ultimately, we decided to merge the guest room and office, buy the girls twin beds and have them share a room.  It's safe to say this was more of a compromise for Mate, so a big thank you to him!
Even though we had to be careful with what we put on the walls and where we put it because the girls will find a way to pull it all down, we are beyond happy with the way their room turned out.  It's probably a little more girly than I intended, but that's okay.

View from the door

 

Mia's side of the room

This picture was printed at Office Max for about $3.  Just ask for an engineer print.  I used mod podge to create a canvas.

Sheets from IKEA, decorative pillow from Hobby Lobby

Ava's side of the room

Quotes we spent a considerable amount of time choosing.  They are printed on tissue paper and then adhered to painted canvases with mod podge.

I took an inexpensive area rug and made a border by stitching rose ribbon around the sides.

I found these signs on clearance at Hobby Lobby after Valentine's Day.  They were blank, so I bought, painted and attached these words.

The other side of the room.  I'll probably put the tutu toy box I made months ago over here.  For now, we have to keep it in the closet because the girls climb on everything.

Since we were basically starting from scratch, the budget on this project seemed to keep growing.  The beds were the most expensive part, but hopefully the girls will be happy in them for quite some time.  Here's a breakdown:
shelves $15
mattresses $300
bed frames $60
paint $30
bedskirts $24
curtains $25
rug $20
large canvas $14
enlarged picture $3
small canvases $7
sheets $60
pillow cases $10
accessories $20
comforters $40