Penelope Inspired Bedroom

Remember my mention about how I believe a child's room based on the bedroom set in the movie penelope would be the cutest thing ever? Well I decided to find ways to actually execute my idea into the perfect child's bedroom based upon my own fantasies of a bedroom when I was growing up.

Setting aside my long standing belief that an attic bedroom with a barn door access in the floor and spiral stair case and fireman's pole as the coolest room setting ever, here are some neat real life applications of the penelope set.

Apartment Therapy wrote an article a couple years ago featuring some screen shots from the movie that are great for finding the elements that made Penelope's room so great.

The first thing I notice is the color scheme which while a tinge on the dark side features some amazing jewel tones. So using my favorite old color scheme tool Adobe Kuler, I created this color scheme as the basis for our room.

Starting off with a bedroom that features a lot of hard wood surfaces would be great...

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Then I would install an amazing bookshelf like one of these to hold all the books of my child's life without them ever having to get rid of one to make room for another (this has been a life-long problem for me).

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Now having a two-way mirror in your child's room might be a little creepy but what about a cute bench seat under a nice big window. I especially love the ides of using this bench to be a basket storage station which is also quite popular in Montessori rooms.

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Next I loved the furniture used in Penelope's room. You could totally find antique and similar style armoires and furniture pieces on craigslist that with a couple coats of white paint and some minor distressing would look stunning. Or even decoupage one of them with squares of origami paper a painted red trim like in the movie.

{$100 on craigslist}

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Not crafty? How about this already finished armoire for only $200...

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And don't forget the gorgeous filigreed Victorian mirror painted glossy white...

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I can't remember if I've raved about the principles of the Montessori Child Bed here yet, if not stay tune for a post on that later in the week. Anyways we are planning on using a futon mattress directly on the floor for the first few years. But as our child grows what about setting it up as one of these amazing suspended bed?

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Penelope's art desk puts me in hog heaven as does this recycled wood desk. I think we could build something like this ourselves.

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Now for decorations and toys...

Who can resist a vintage style tricycle?

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Or an indoor bench swing hung from the ceiling?

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And what about all those terrariums that can also serve as a wonderful science project for home schooled kids? Why not use apothecary jars?

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Which you can get on the cheap from places like Save on Crafts, Sears, or even make your own with dollar store items.

I especially love this grass terrarium or the bottle ones.

Lastly, what about that gorgeous red tree in Penelope's room? I researched various ways to create your own and the best idea I found was to make a tree sculpture out of something that was in fact once trees: coffee cups!

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Don't you just love the idea of creating a drama filled wonderland playground for your children while still teaching them valuable lessons on recycling and reusing items in their bedroom?