Birthday Room Redo

Friday was The Elder's 11th Birthday. 

The first of her B-day requests was cake decorating supplies.

I baked the cake, devil's chocolate from America's Test Kitchen, (made dairy-free with coconut milk) and did a crumb coat of frosting, but she did the rest and it turned out great!

Once the kids were at school on Friday, my mom came over and helped me zazz up her bedroom as another birthday surprise.
Earlier this year I built a rudimentary canopy for The Elder's bed.
For the big room redo I got some pipe insulation, painted it white and covered the uprights. Next we covered them with some more of the lacy fabric I used for the canopy.
Then, using some outdoor light clips, we attached a string of twinkle lights to the top.
It's the perfect reading light level, and turned out fairly magical, if I do say so...

 We found a bunch of lovely art that The Elder has been making in school, and hung it around the room.

She also needed a desk, and luckily the neighbors threw out this changing table the other week. 

It converted quite easily to a desk, and with a lick of paint it looks brand new.

 

She was mostly happy with the transformation, though there was a little panic when she couldn't find all of her toys. 

It's a little staggering that this tiny sweet baby

has turned into this confident, bright, delightful young lady.

Happy Birthday, my girl.