A bedroom makeover fit for a tween.

Ten years old is a "tween" age, no? That in between, "not a little kid anymore but not technically a teenager" age?

That would be my daughter. My lovely, spirited, girly-girl when she wants to be, tough when she has to be, younger child.

Steve bought her a t-shirt for her birthday this year that I think perfectly fits her personality. It's from Smith & Wesson, it's black and has the S&W logo in bright pink writing and in white says, "Yeah, I shoot like a girl."

But lest you think pink is her favorite color, she would quickly (and loudly) tell you pink was so yesterday. She has moved on to purple. How befitting. Because purple is the color of royalty, ya' know.

Regardless of her current fave, no 10-yr-old really likes mustard yellow (she says with authority). And that's the color Rachel's room was before we repainted the walls this week.

Now, in my defense, the deep yellow perfectly matched a beautiful antique toy-themed wallpaper border we hung in that room when Rachel was about a week old. It was a sweet little nursery with a honey-colored crib and a quilt rack and a set of shelves that held mementos from the hospital and little stuffed bears and bunnies and pictures in frames.

No more.

Rachel's room is now striped with teal blue, white and purple paint, with sparkly sheer curtains and bright white book shelves. She traded the big, old painted bookcase her Papa made for her for an old sewing table I had that she now uses for a desk. She has new lamps, a few new storage containers, and rugs with a hint of zebra stripe on their borders.

Her fuzzy new comforter should be here within the week ... I still need to hang the curtains that will block out the light ... the trim around the doors and window need to be painted white, as does her bedside table ... and we have a new bed picked out which we will order as soon as the funds are freed up in our budget. But even with a handful of things yet to do to finish off this room, Rachel is really enjoying her new space.

So, without further ado ... some pictures.

 Before ... 

Sweet, no?

Once we got the wallpaper border off we started by painting a white stripe around the middle.

Then we taped it off and painted purple on the bottom section.

And then blue above the white stripe.

Once the painting was done it was all about the furniture and accessories.

Rachel now spends more time in that room than she ever has. She loves it, and that makes me so happy.

 Fun, huh?

Every tween girl needs her own space, and this one's pretty cool. Rachel and I spent most of a week working on it while her brother was away at summer camp.

Time well spent, indeed.