Let There Be Light

My son has been in Florida with my parents for the past few weeks, and this means my daughter has been getting good and spoiled! This is a good thing. She and I have never had real alone time together, and we both needed this. I needed to see her. I mean, really see her. She has such a big heart and tends to get lost in the mix of life. I decided this was her time to be spoiled, even if that meant doing so on a single mama budget.

This led me to the "Let There Be Light" project in her room. When I first moved into the duplex I rent, it was less than a month before her birthday. I couldn't afford much, but what she really wanted was purple walls. Now THAT I could do! In fact, I scored a gallon of "ooops" paint for $7, and that 1 gallon was enough to covere her room. The only problem is that her room was dark already. It is in the middle of the house, and though it has a window that spans the width of her room, there is a lovely shade tree that keeps a lot of natural light from coming in. There is a main light in her room, but it is recessed and doesn't shine very bright. She has a lamp on her night stand, and though it's nice, I wanted to do something pretty for her.

I then turned to pinterest. You know those "nailed it" meme's? Well, I am proud to say that this will not be rotated through those! This actually turned out well, and it was so stinking simple!! Without futher ado, here it is.......

Now I will say that some pf my crafting OCD has kicked in, but there isn't much I can do about it. I wish I could move the bed so that the plug was covered by the leg of the bed, but then her bed would pretty much be on top of her dresser. I also don't like the excess strand on the other side, so I will have to find something to do with it. However, my girl LOVES it! She said it makes her feel like she's living with fairies.

Here is what you'll need:

3 yards of tulle for a twin sized bed

Christmas lights

A curtain rod

Scissors

Pencil

Level

Drill

I let my girl choose what kind of tulle she wanted for this project. She really surprised me by choosing a creamy colored glittery tulle. I honestly thought she would go for the bright pink or bright blue to match the monster high colors she has going on. I was able to score a great deal on this becuase it was on sale for less than $2/yard. I checked out the clearence section in the home decor area and found a curtain rod for $6.97!  I also was able to go right next store to Big Lots to pick up the lights, which ended up being the most costly part of this project, but it is off season, so there's that.

I measured out the width of her bed, and then I went a little wider. I ended up going 49.5" wide on the curtain rod. I then measured the wall behind her bed. Once I figured out where to hang the rod, I used a pencil to mark the rod holders. When it was time to drill, I realized my battery was dead. Womp, womp, womp. Pro tip....keep the battery charged! So, I ended up taking a late photo of her room because my thoughts are THAT organized (insert sarcastic tone). If this were any other beautiful blog, I would have take a before pic, you know, before I moved the furniture out of my way. Instead, you get the messy photo, but you get the gist. It's a dark room. 

Thankfully it didn't take long for the drill to charge, and then I was off. Oooooor so I thought. The cat decided to make an appearence. Of course, all things must be approved by her first.

I shooed her away and FINALLY got going. I cut the tulle into strips. Thankfully, this is a very forgiving material, and considering the nature of this project, If you cut a little wonky, you won't really know the difference. After I cut the strips, I strung the lights on. Finally, I just tied the tulle inbetween strands of light. Open and fluff the top of the tulle and voila, you have a budget friendly, fairy like light fixture. My girl is so excited for this, and I am excited for her. She will be starting middle school this fall, and she deserves a place that feels like her sanctuary.

This has really brightened her room, and though christmas light tend to give off a soft glow, it feels more airy and cozy in her room. She couldn't wait to plug in her lights and enjoy the sparkle tonight. The other thing, the glitter in the tulle looks fantastic! You can't see it in the picture, so you'll just have to believe me. You just can't go wrong with glitter, even if that means being covered in it for a little while!