Getting Lucy's Room Ready

We made a trek to IKEA last Saturday (What were we thinking! It was a mad house) to get new furniture for Lucy's room. I've been going back and forth with how similar or different to make the girls' rooms. I am not a home decorator. I generally struggle with the basics of putting a room together. Planning a room for a 14 year old girl I haven't met and can't get input from (yet) is tricky. Lucy and Alice are only  5 months different in age and the younger is already established here. We need to be sure that Lucy has a voice, her own voice, and that she has her own identity separate from Alice. All of that is weighing on me as I try to do the simple task of furnishing a room for her.

Due to what was available and what was out of stock at IKEA, we ended up with a dresser from the same line as Alice's, but different. Where Alice has the long low dresser, Lucy has the narrower taller dresser. They both have one tall bookshelf and one nightstand, but because Lucy doesn't have as many drawers in her dresser, her nightstand was selected for more storage. I understand that she likes to hold on to "treasures" and will need space for that.

Josie (dog) supervising the dresser assembly.

Alice enjoyed helping build her sister's furniture.

Picking colors has been interesting. Alice's favorite color is PINK PERIOD. She has never wavered. The first time I inquired about Lucy's favorite color the answer came back RED. Recently she has revised her favorite and now it is YELLOW and I learned she doesn't care for pink. Hmmm. Pinning down a moving target isn't easy and spending too much money on one color scheme only to learn she changed her mind again isn't ideal. So I'm going with yellow for now with only a modest investment. The curtains were from Target and the duvet cover was from IKEA (on clearance). Once Lucy is here I'll let her decide if she'd prefer to have a comforter or quilt and if we need to buy something different. Alice has a beautiful quilt from Pottery Barn Kids (that was a splurge, but when you think you're only adopting one it seemed like a good idea!) If Lucy wants one like it, I'll happily get it, but it's too risky to do it now.

Finished.

Interesting thing about this room - our twin sons shared this room from when we moved into this house just before their first birthday until well into their high school years. When we had our health and safety inspection for Alice's adoption I was informed that this room is legally too small for 2 people to sleep in. Fortunately we didn't need approval from the state to raise our sons here and they didn't mind at all. (They did have bunk beds once they were older and you can fit 2 twins with small head boards side by side in this room - just barely!)

Now Alice REALLY REALLY wants to sleep in the same room with Lucy. She never slept in a room alone in China. The bed in Lucy's room (and soon in Alice's room since she decided she likes it better than her current bed) can be assembled as a bunk bed. We are holding off until we get Lucy's thoughts on sleeping arrangements. Because the girls' rooms are small and they are teenagers, even if they decide to bunk together, we will keep a bed & dresser in the "other" room so they can have space when they need it.

For comparison, here are pictures of Alice's room now with her own personal touch, aka - clutter  :)