The Changing Room: Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the CHAMPS out there who fearlessly, passionately, lovingly live out this calling of motherhood day after day. It is often a thankless job and I want to make sure that those girlfriends out there who weren't acknowledged fully today get a great big shout out here!!

You are amazing and I thank you for inspiring me every time I meet one of you. Let's continue to encourage and not compete with one another. We're in this thing together and I'm honored to partner with many of you in celebrating the joys and commiserating over the defeats that this calling provides.:)
In honor of Mom's day, I will showcase two rooms below. Both of which I can take no credit for, except for choosing wall colors and offering some advice on accessories. This one below is my friend Abby's little boy, Murphy who is transitioning to his big boy bed while waiting patiently this last week for the arrival of his new brother or sister .
(*Disclaimer-if these pics make you feel like an inadequate mother, stop my my house anytime and take a sneak peek at my girls' rooms-they are a disaster of mismatched furnishings, piles of clothes, food and unidentified foreign objects).

This one below is my client Karen's guest bedroom/ retreat for her oldest college aged daughter to bunk in for the summer months before she heads off into the real world. So sweet how both women went to great lengths to make sure their children's rooms were a reflection of their love and care. (Again, those of us that don't or can't-there is NO shame in that. We're good at other things, right? Like remembering to brush our teeth every day).

Ignore the bag on the bed. My attention to detail is slipping while snapping photos on the run. :)

Karen is looking for additional wall art and wants to recover the shades and replace the baubles on the chandelier but I thought all of it was eclectic and precious and told her not to change a thing. (My bedroom chandelier is eclectic and precious because half the decorative bulbs are burned out and it keeps me from having to put it on a dimmer switch). :)

Of course, me and my strong opinion couldn't leave well enough alone and during my my color consult with Abby, I tried talking her out of painting Murphy's bed bright green. I was rooting for robin's egg blue, but she forged ahead and proved me wrong. I truly LOVE it and it is soooo Murph- preppy and bright and cheerful. I think she offered me a compromise by painting the base of the vintage card catalog nightstand blue.(A shout out to my better half who built that base/box for her).

I thought Karen's vintage dresser was so sweet. I loved the detail on the knobs and the beading on the sides. (My dresser doesn't have beading, it's just taken a beating).

Here's a few more shots of Murphy's room:

This is the same over-achieving, but so very lovable mom who threw the London themed b-day party for Murph's first birthday bash. You can see some of the same nods to London in his room. (The theme for both of my girls rooms is "FOR THE ONE HUNDRED MILLIONTH TIME, PICK UP THIS ^%$%$##$####"!" :)

I'm Murphy's neighbor, so I get to remind him these upcoming years just how lucky he is to have a Mommy like his-and NOT because his room is so sweet, but because his Mommy is.

Karen let me snap a few other photos of her house.
She has a gift for accessorizing and
making everything feels so inviting and homey. I loved her living room set up and use of a vintage ladder.

And one last pic of her own bedroom:

Again, I only helped with color selection and some ideas for furniture placement and some suggestions for implementing some functional character pieces like this: