Mermaid Wishes

She decided one day that she wanted a mermaid bedroom. The whole thing was supposed to look like she was the mermaid underwater while she slept! Well, that's a pretty big project considering how much stuff is in her room That, and the fact that I hand painted every single one of those rainbow raindrops, I wasn't ready to let it go. So we compromised and settled on a mermaid bathroom. 

Being a busy mom, I of course was limited on time, so I made the goal of doing this in one weekend. It's not too hard, but I'll drop in some pointers for you as we go along.

Here she is, a whole new girl! One thing to note about this bathroom is that it is poorly ventilated and has very little natural light. I wanted it to be as bright as possible, so aqua it is!

• Determine what you want for a wall color before you get to the hardware store. I picked out 3 swatches for Ella to choose from and quickly got a gallon mixed up. Took no more than 10 minutes! 

Once I got the paint can into the room, I made the executive decision to only paint 3 walls. Two reasons for that....#1, That's A LOT of blue in a small space! I almost regretted not talking her into a lighter shade of aqua. #2, Time. The wall I omitted from the aqua explosion was the hardest to paint! It had the mirror, sink, lights, window and toilet on it. No fun to paint around, and such a time suck. So builder white it stayed! Honestly, you don't even notice it's white because when you walk into the room, you see the reflection of blue in the mirror. 

• Preorder all your linens and shower curtain. Have them either delivered or ready for pick up. I ordered the shower curtain online, but the purple linens and mermaid rug were from Target. They were on sale and I used my Red Card for additional savings, I picked them up Saturday morning from customer service.

This curtain has to be my favorite part of the room. It's the centerpiece showstopper and the color inspiration. I was perusing Pinterest one night and stumbled upon this beauty from Society 6 and designer Megan Morris. Here's the link if you want one just like it! Like I said, the towels and rugs are from Target, because Target is life!

• Explore your decor options online before you head to the store. I knew I wanted to make one stop, and Hobby Lobby seemed to have it all. The wall decor (except the mermaid cove sign) is from there. It was a "Wall Decor" sale week, so everything was 50% off. Yay! 

I had a general idea of that I wanted from Hobby Lobby, so I let Ella make the final decisions. Again, she apparently has options now! The mermaid sign and faux star fish are from there, as well as the netting over the window. The shells and starfish used to decorate the E is also from HL. Let's talk about that E for a second....

I made this quick how-to video last week, but it literally only took me 10 minutes to make, so it could have easily been done in my weekend time line. The very large wood E was found at HL in the clearance section for only $4 a year ago! I've had it floating around forever trying to decide if I really wanted it in her room. But inspiration struck, and now it's a mermaid E! I think it came out pretty cute for a quick craft. Speaking of repurposing....

• Repurpose what you can. I redesigned the towel rack to look more beachy than it was before. A little sandpaper, white paint and hot glued rope gave this rack a whole new look!

The towel rack! If you look back at the original pictures, you'll see this rack how it used to be. I thought it was decent as it was, but it needed to be mermaid-a-fide! Another quick craft and voila! To add a little dimension to this wall, I "stamped" bubbles in white craft paint. They're subtle, but effective. For stamps, I hit up my plasticware cupboard for kids cups, bowls, lids, etc.

Bonus points to you if you can spot the two Disney references in this pic, they're a little hard to see. We are big Disney fans, but I didn't want to go full Ariel in the bathroom! 

• Find what you have around the house and use it! Upcycle what you can.

This Mermaid Cove sign was made from a scrap of pallet wood I had in the garage and the remainder of the E decor pieces. Even the paint I used was already in my stash. Of course I had to throw a felt ball garland in there somewhere. I had 4 odd sized stars that don't match my other stock, so I made a garland to dress up the netting I threw over the window. I know most people don't have random felt shapes lying around, but you get the gist...or you can always just order one from me!

That's about it. I put her most used toiletries on a pink tray I found in her room and called it a day! The painting took the longest and reminded me how much I hate painting! But it was done in a weekend and now she can be "under the sea" whenever she pees!