In her 3 years, Ella has had 3 bedrooms. Each one has been a little different, accommodating her age and the living space. But in each one, I’ve tried to combine keepsakes with whimsy, letting my vision complement her growing personality.

Oh, and pink. A lot of pink.

Her first bedroom was the sunroom in our 1 bedroom apartment. It wasn’t easy to arrange (or easy to live with– French doors are pretty but not exactly practical) but the memories of putting it together while I was waiting for Ella to be born are sweet ones.

 

Ella’s second bedroom is from the 2 bedroom apartment we lived in after we got back from Switzerland. A real room this time! It was big and airy and I took full advantage of all the wall space.

And finally, Ella’s current room. No more crib and no more rocking chair; those are in Jack’s room now. It’s a little bit smaller than her last room and I knew I wouldn’t have as wall space for all of the things I wanted to display so I set about finding a hutch dresser. The only problem is hutch dressers are ridiculously expensive. So I went searching on craigslist and after a few weeks, we found the perfect one. There have been several different combinations; I think the increase in shelving space has made me more indecisive.

But I think I’ve finally settled on one arrangement:

This corner also underwent a transformation after my father-in-law made Ella an art table:

Her shelves have also been changed a few times:

 

My favorite part in all of this is seeing what’s consistently been watching over Ella as she plays and sleeps and grows. The picture of me and my mom when I was a baby, my old copy of Ella Enchanted, the picture of Jesus that my Sunday School teacher gave me in high school, and that big gray, white, and pink E I miraculously found at HomeGoods to name a few. Who knows how many of these things will stay with her as she gets older and we move and grow as a family? Who knows how her tastes will change? Who knows what she’ll want to occupy her most private space?

I’m really excited (and a little scared) to find out.