My little princess no more...bedroom transformation

Since my new camera is in the shop this week (add it to the list of broken things around here) I couldn't take pictures of us in daily life or going to the skating rink with Ashley's friend Jenna and Jacob Rosser (for his first time). So no dog antics, silly poses or recipes shared...instead I'll post something that's been sitting in the wings for awhile. 

This post will be about the annihilation of my carefully crafted Princess room that I was so proud to create for my one and only girl... who now declares she doesn't want to be a "girly girl"

She loved it as we were creating her Princess room but my ego was pretty busted when a couple of months later Ashley begged "Can we paint it blue now??"

"NO! We can't paint it blue I just painted a wall mural for you!" 

(not to mention the hand crafted comforter, curtains and accessories that went with her princess theme!!)

So I ignored the fact that Ashley' really wanted a blue room for as many years as I could and I told her to enjoy the room she had...

When she started getting old enough to be embarrassed about having friends see her pink princess room  (she would make me close her door when people were over) I decided to hand the Keys to the Kingdom over to Ashley and let her have the room she wanted. 

So TA DA...here is her new blue, beachy room 

(well it's really aqua which I thought was a good compromise)

Gone are her cute dresses that she had when she was a baby...her blessing dress, first church dress and first Easter dress....how sweet...

Now she has pictures of local beaches and some of our beach trips from this last Summer. 

Cousins and friends who went with us are represented.

(Oh since I didn't know if we were moving or not the "paintings" on the wall are actually painted contact paper cut out and put on like wall stickers)

Gone is the wall mural that I would make up bedtime stories about....the little girl was always princess Ashley in her castle and the witch was locked in the tower on the side...a good dragon lives in there too somewhere. 

Since I didn't want to paint on the wall in case we moved I got this plywood surfboard left over from the LPA convention this summer and decided to paint it. 

I painted it per Ashley's instructions...

Instead of a princess coming out of her castle she is now a Surfer Girl writing in the sand....wearing her favorite bathing suit of course.

The puffy pink curtains and hand made bedspread....

Have been replaced (though I still found a use for a bit of the tulle)

I loved that the starfish on the curtains was actually a Christmas tree garland that I got at Kohls all strung up already and just the right length!

I loved her old bedspread...

She even helped me decorate some of the squares!

But Ashley seems much happier with the blue store bought version...so I had to get over it ;)

What to do with a pink pearly lamp???

Why paint over it and add shells from Hawaii instead of ribbon!

The mirror that was gold and pink got a paint job as well.

Finished product...

I guess it was time to box up the baby shoes, Kindergarten graduation picture and dance medals.

I'm finding that watching your kids growing up is pretty bittersweet.

Though Ashley might not be my little princess any more I'll probably be just as sad when she grows out of this phase 

Jeff and I are learning that parenting is pretty much a roller coaster, I'm grateful to have him by my side because all you can do sometimes is hold on tight and try and enjoy the ride!