imani's room

Imani's bedroom is my favorite room in the entire house. It is bright & cheerful and full of vintage pieces with pops of color mixed with loads of straight lines.

It's the kind of room that makes you happy the moment you walk in.

Back when we lived in San Antonio several years ago, we had this fantastic playroom. The floor was cement so I painted huge colorful polka dots all over it {with a stencil} and hung paper lanterns by brightly colored ribbon from the ceiling. It was truly a fun room.

I still love the paper lanterns and have again used them once again. This time pairing tissue paper poufs that I saved from a baby shower I did for a friend awhile back.

Hm. This photo is pretty grainy, sorry about that. I'd retake it but Imani is in bed sleeping.

Anyway, this special piece is a shadow-box I put together when my mom gave me one of my baby dresses, along with my dad's baby rattle. When my mother-in-law also gave me her grandmother's {or great-grandmother's??} infant-sized gold cross necklace, I knew I needed to make it into a special piece to keep forever. {My nursery was light blue gingham, so that's why I chose blue for the background}

These two little guys were total scores from a baby boutique that was going out of business a few years ago.

They were originally in my office, but I think they're way more fun up here.

Imani knows not to play with this one. It's just to "look pretty" and houses her stuffed animals, since it's about to fall apart and was probably painted with lead paint anyway.

It's fun to think how old the baby is now who once was pushed around in it. Sixty, years old? Seventy??

This chair was a big splurge when I was pregnant with Anton. The guy at the store convinced me it was important to have a rocking chair you can grow with.

I was sold when he told me it was wide enough to sit side by side with your child when they got older, so you could cuddle and read books together. {Well, that and the fact that it reclines and my head sits at the perfect height so I don't get a big crook in my neck after accidently falling asleep in it and waking up 6 hours later.}

It's one splurge that was SO very worth it.

Oh how I love this quilt. It's the first one I ever made {well, honestly and the last. they take forever!} and sewed it while taking a class at the most fantastic quilting shop. One where the instructor had a sleeve tattooed up her arm. Needless to say, it's not your grandma's quilting store.

Get this...I dragged Ben along with me. Yes, it was a "date weekend" and Ben made his own quilt. The other ladies hated him because he was better and faster than the rest of us. {I often call him "my seamster" - he can now sew anything. How many guys-guy type men can do that?!}

I wanted to personalize it for Imani so I appliquéd the shape of Africa on the center rectangle and hand sewed a felt heart over the spot where Ethiopia resides.

These dolls make their way up and down the stairs every day. Sometimes they sit in the zebra chair next to the fireplace, other times they're lovingly carried upstairs...by the hair. The one on the left was handmade by a friend when we brought Imani home. The one on the left is a traditional Ethiopian doll from the Mercado in Ethiopia.

One of my favorite things in the entire room is this gorgeous pillow with Imani's name embroidered upon it. It also came from a sweet friend when Imani came home from the orphanage. It's timeless and even more beautifully delicate in real life.

I truly hate blinds so most of our windows have not only drapes that can be closed at night, but gauzey sheers {from Ikea} so neighbors can't see inside even during the day, yet the sun is still able to stream through.

These yellow blackout shades {which in no way actually make the room dark} needed a little something, so I found these gorgeous polkadot sheers online. I adore the scalloped edges. So perfect for a little girl's room.

When the sun streams through, the lighting in the room feel so dreamy.

I wanted a big white dresser with straight lines and love what we found. I thought it needed "a little something" so I changed out only the top knobs.

I think if I'd replaced every knob with the flowered ones, it would have been too much and more foo-foo than I was going for.

Another of my favorite pieces is this pink vintage baby scale. It's another find from that baby boutique that was going out of business.

Upon it lies vintage baby shoes, a cupcake candle from my mom, a favorite discontinued Stella & Dot necklace, several old books, and because every room needs a little greenery {even if it's faux}, a little plant.

Though this is currently Imani's room, once baby Elsabet starts sleeping though the night {Lord let it be soon!!}, she will be in here as well.

So these diapers in the huge apothocary jar are obviously hers. I love how cute they look and how easy they are to grab.

This little bouquet of flowers was made with extra faux flowers after a project left only little buds. I hated the idea of throwing them away, so I just piled them together and wrapped the stems with ribbon.

Goodness how this book was the find of the century!!

I have looked {and looked and looked} for vintage books with some color in them!!! {I'm talking colored kids in them, not that the book was IN color}

And it's the most precious story. I love that the little girl looks so similar to Imani. We love reading it together.

Yes, another book in my decor {surprise, surprise}. But I had to purchase this one when I saw it was called My Little Sister. So sweet to put in a room our girls will share soon.

The blocks are a fun and recent addition, as is the singed fabric flower that I had made awhile back {tutorial here}.

Isn't this little guy so sweet? I got him for 90% off because his rear-end is cracked. {I tell ya, I love my deals!}

The felt flower from Anthropologie is a fun addition because Imani is obsessed with purple right now.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with her duvet. She was just using that cozy chevron blanket to cuddle up with at night, but now that the weather is getting colder, I wanted something thicker to keep her warm.

But the white is a little too stark and boring. Not sure yet what I'll change it to. Any ideas?!

I love this heart print above her bed. It was signed by all my closest friends in San Antonio when they threw me a shower right before bringing Imani home. It's a treasured piece.

These ores were originally purchased for Ezekiel and Abreham's room but they wanted to pin up the Ethiopian flag on the wall where I was going to put them.

So they have a permanent home in here instead. {I think they're cuter in here anyway}

This wall was a mystery to me for awhile. I knew I wanted to use these darling child-sized mannequins that I bought forever ago when I had an online shop for baby clothes, etc, {because they're so darn cute}, and thought it was a good spot for some of Imani's books {though the shelf still needs to be hung}. But I just wasn't finding the right thing to fill the rest of the space.

So I made my own.

It's way more fun in real life, but I simply bought a big canvas and found a map with colors that complimented her room.

I taped it on, purposely a tad haphazardly because I didn't want it to look perfect, and then stuck a bunch of circle-shaped gold stickers around the map. I then decoupaged the whole thing to finish it off. There's a lot of texture and shine on the piece. I love it.