Get Your Cowgirl On!

I've really said very little about my children here on my blog.  In great part because I originally started the blog to be just a way to communicate my new part time hobby turned part time business of restyling and upcycling furniture and other vintage finds.  But I'm beginning to feel that the blog is a continually evolving, living breathing extension of me.  So, I'm going to start sharing a little bit more of the living, breathing me!  Are you with me?  So, let's start with the fact that I'm married to a really, really great guy, Dennis!  Truly the best husband ever!  I'm also the Mom to three wonderful, beautiful, inside and out, girls!  I'm a blessed woman.  I've been slowly, almost sloth speed, working my way through decorating the girl's rooms.  Two years ago we sold our house on the golf course, because I tired of sending my children out to play in the backyard having to wear their bike helmets to avoid dropping, poorly hit golf balls.  We now live in a quiet older neighborhood on an acre...heaven on earth.

I'll feature the other girl's rooms sometime soon because they need a little more picking up of all the teenage accessories cleaning and tweaking.  However, I'd like to show you my 6 year old's newly completed room!

Much of this decor is a holdover from her Nursery days, and yee haw it's a cowgirl theme for Ellarie!

When we moved to this house I used the exact same paint and virtually set the room up to be identical to the old house.  I wanted our transition to be smooth and her surroundings to be comforting.  Didn't happen.  To this day whenever we drive down the street near our old house (which can't be avoided since it is on the way to her school) she never fails to tell me how much she loved the old house.  Sigh.
A friend stumbled across some cowgirl fabric that was identical to some I had been looking at online and I snagged up all the yardage I could.  The coordinating bandanna fabric was hung to resemble a giant bandanna over the window.  The corner posts we tied it to are actually branded with both of my grandparents old branding irons that my parents now have.  Ellarie got a little bling with a new chandelier that adds so much more light and a great deal of sophistication that should grow with her.  If not, I'm dibbsing it for me!  Doesn't her name look cool swirled out in the rope?

Here's Ellie's nursery cowgirl quilt.  I have another quilt with the cowgirl fabrics that will eventually sit at the foot of her bed.  It just needs quilted...and bound...I have an issue with completing quilts it seems.

The pillows were fun to make.  She loves the fringed horse pillow.  I love the ruffles and the faux tooled leather pillows. 

The boot lamp was something I had always wanted to do.  Luckily another friend spotted these pink cuties at a resale store and picked them up for me.  I just used plaster to weight the boots and hold my metal tubing in place. A basic light kit was all it took.  I covered the metal rod with more of the sisal rope, screwed it all to a flat base, covered the lampshade with the cowgirl fabric and fringe, and made it a little bandanna of it's own. Voila!  Cute little light.

This dresser, Dolly, so named because that wood piece on the bottom has always reminded me of the placket on a western shirt, was just moved in since it saved us some floor space.  Truth be told, she's also called Dolly because of her buxom bow front voluptuous curves on the bottom.  The name just stuck.  I'm beyond delighted she'll be staying with us.

This is the wall opposite the bed.  Ellarie has a bookshelf jammed full of good reads, and a nice little play trunk for some of her favorite stuffed friends.  The picket fence is an idea I stole borrowed from my friend Suzanne.  I think she said she saw it in a Better Homes and Gardens publication.  But it is a fantastic place for all of Ellie's many creations.  She is a very, very prolific artist and it was getting way out of control before the picket fence.

To complete the tour around her room I'll show you the cute little hook set I found at Target 3 or 4 years ago.  Above it hangs the primitive wool hooked rug "Don't Fence Me In".  Yes, I know it looks like the horse is standing on the fence.  Maybe he is.  Or maybe it's just a primitive rendition of a horse, fence and a tree.  One never knows with art, right?

So there is one of my non-furniture projects that has been keeping me busy.  As I always tell my husband, "it's cheaper than therapy".  And so much, much, more fun!

Linking up to: 
http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/2012/01/wow-us-wednesdays-47.html
Hope your 2012 is off to a fantastic start!  I can't wait to see how it all unfolds!
Deb