a peek inside: Annabel's room

Since Will's no longer working weekends, we've had a bunch of extra time to get some pictures hung and rooms pulled together a little more around the house.  We worked in Annabel's room last weekend, and I think she's pretty happy with how it turned out.

She's pretty much the queen of purple these days and loves her purple room and matching purple blanket.  I made the "dream" banner for her just after she was born, using a pattern from this book.  The quilt on the end of her bed was my baby quilt, and the patchwork blanket on the chair at the foot of the bed was a handmade gift to Annabel from her great-grandmother.  Eventually we want to get her a new bed, but for now, her brother's old Cargo bed works just fine.

 On the shorter wall of her room, along with her dresser and a little table for toys, we made her a dress-up corner, which she and Tommy are really into these days (her - princess dresses; him - Batman/Iron Man/Turtle/Red Ranger costume).  On the far wall next to the bathroom entrance (Tommy and Annabel share a "Jack-and-Jill" bathroom so her sink is through that door) is her doll crib that was made and given to her by Dani's talented father-in-law.  And the framed pictures above the crib were painted by Carrie!  I love the mix of handmade, hand-me-down, and brand new furniture/artwork/toys/blankets in Annabel's room! (And for the record, Annabel's dress-up corner does not even begin to compare to the amazing dress-up closet we had at my Nanny's house.  She let us wear all of her old dresses and shoes and hats and bags.  So amazing and hours of fun.)

Here's a close-up of her dress-up corner.  She spends a lot of time admiring herself in that mirror...

 See?  :)

At the foot of her bed, we made a little space for reading with her big cozy chair, over-sized Kanga stuffed animal, and a sweet little bookshelf that holds whatever favorite books she's reading at the moment.

 One thing there's no shortage of around here is good books.  We have a lot of children's books and keep big shelves of them in both of the kids rooms so they always have quick access to something fun to read.

 Under the big beautiful window in her room (it overlooks the woods behind the house - love) we've put her doll house and tree house.  Lately I've found her kneeling in front of them, dolls or fairies in hand, making them go up and down the stairs, swing on the swing, or head to bed in the 3rd floor bunk room.  This makes me happy.

Sweet sleepy girl.  Can't believe how fast she's growing up!  It wasn't long ago that her room held a crib and bouncy seat instead of a twin bed and dress-ups.  I love having a three-year-old.

So that's her room!  Hopefully I'll be able to share Tommy's sometime soon...if he ever cleans it up.  It looks like a giant Lego monster exploded in there.  Have a great week, and I'll see you back here on Thursday for "at the moment."