Tween Room Makeover Challenge

My niece Emma turned the big 1-0 last month. Her Mom (my sister) wanted to makeover her room as part of her birthday gift. I was like, "Sign me up!" It was all I could do to help myself from buying stuff at every store and day-dreaming up a beautiful room for her. Visions of curtains, wall art and fluffy pillows danced in my head.

Before I share some of the crazy deals my sister and I found, and I mean ca-razy deals, I'll share with you the horrifying unsightly before. Now, I must warn you, what you are about to see is not pretty. The following photos were taken on a random afternoon when no tidying up had been done. But in all honestly, I don't think tidying up would have solved much. Sorry Lisa, don't kill me for showing these. That's what's so great about a makeover! The worse the "before" photos are, the better the "after" photos are! Brace yourself...

 

I especially like the Sponge Bob poster. How can one little girl have SO MUCH STUFF? Yikes. This will certainly be a challenge. I can identify with Emma and her creative 10-year-old mind. For I too, once was a hoarder pack rat. Every paper, marker, shoebox and string could be needed for a future art project or held sentimental value. These things are hard to part with. That, and the 714 stuffed animals. That's not the actual number, but that's what it felt like, as I pulled stuffed animal after stuffed animal out of her closet. No wonder she can't find her clothes!

Behold, our inspiration:

This is the comforter set and inspiration for Emma's room. We have already made tremendous progress. I am excited to share more of the juicy details with you, but you'll just have to wait on the edge of your seats for a while. I'm running short on time lately, but I promise to share more about our tween room makeover as we go.

So, what do your kids or nieces and nephews rooms look like? Are they neat and tidy like our inspiration photo or are they more like disaster zones? What DO you do with all their toys? Our biggest challenge is storage space and finding room for all the barbies, puzzles, doll houses and STUFF. Without a playroom or storage space, you quickly run out of room. I welcome your suggestions.