Rockin' C: Open for Business

The Rockin' C officially opened for business this past weekend--the business of reading, playing, sleeping and dreaming, that is. My oldest daughter declared years ago that when she one day has her own ranch, her brand would be a rocking C. (A few months prior to her 10th birthday, I stumbled across a branding iron C at a local antique shop. I had a farrier friend add the rocking bar underneath it for her birthday that year.) This year, for her 12th birthday, she moved into her new room--the Rockin'C--with a view straight out to the horse pasture. 

She literally can lie on her bed and watch her horse, Paisley, graze in the pasture. Despite her size at nearly 1000 pounds, Paisley managed to get a bit of her own presence in the new room. In lieu of satisfying my outdoor-loving girl's idea to install fake grass as her flooring (or of satisfying a dream she once had in which Paisley actually came into her room), we instead went with wide-plank wood (actually, 1x8 pine shiplap from the local lumber yard that we sanded, glued and nailed down with Liquid Nails construction adhesive and a finishing nailer) that was then white-washed and to which we stenciled white paisleys randomly around the room. 

I looked up several tutorials on whitewashing floors prior to trying it out. They all sounded way too complicated and had way too many steps for my taste. So, in true "me" fashion, I made up my own method. I took one party-sized styrofoam cup full of the white paint I have selected to use for trim and moulding as well as some walls around the house (Sherwin Williams Snowbound in an eggshell finish), poured it into an empty paint can, added water up to about an inch and a half from the top and stirred with a paint stick. From there, I poured my mixture into a paint pan and started rolling it onto the floor stopping every two or three boards to brush out the whitewash finish with a wide paintbrush (otherwise the roller left bubble marks on the wood instead of a smooth finish). (Pouring into the paint pan was a messy job as the thin mixture has a tendency to splatter. It also has to be stirred and restirred frequently to prevent the paint from separating from the water.) This method achieved exactly what I was hoping for in far fewer steps than I found anywhere else. 

We purchased a large paisley stencil at Hobby Lobby. We actually found it in the fabric craft section where they have all their canvas and burlap bags, aprons, etc. instead of where all the other large decorative stencils are. Together, my daughter and I chose a few random spots around the room to add her paisleys with a dry paintbrush dipped in the same paint as we used for the whitewash. (A stencil brush or sponge would have worked better, but we forgot to pick one up at Hobby Lobby when we were there and it was just too far to turn around to go back.) In addition to her wood floors, which we will carry throughout the upstairs now that we know we like the look, she also got a natural wood ceiling to keep the rustic feel going. 

I am so pleased with how her room turned out. It has just enough rustic for her, and her interests are clearly represented throughout the room. It also ended up girlier and more elegant than I expected her to like. She's my rough and tough cowgirl who lives in old t-shirts with ripped up dirty jeans and boots even in the heat of summer. She calls lace "white junk" and shuns most skirts and nearly all hair adornments. In this room, however, I can picture her with her sister, cousin and best friends as she gets ready on her wedding day. There's a sophistication in her new room that she's really fallen in love with. She still hasn't moved all of her stuff from her old room because she doesn't want anything to junk up her new room. (This comes as a shocker to all who know her since usually a trip into her room is going to involve several trips, as in you stumbling over and through the piles on her floor.) She says this room is too pretty to get messy. She has even made her bed each morning since she has waken up in there--without me reminding her!

complete with baseboards (also whitewashed) and ready for load-in

Horse show ribbons are hung on jute cord stapled to the back of a frame made from old fence wood.
The crosses are part of her collection, and the barrel racer picture was an anonymous gift that showed up in my office one day at work.  We still are not sure who the generous gifter was, but we have our suspicions.  In any case, it fits her room and her passions perfectly.
Her bedding is the same bedding she has had since I redid her room for her 4th birthday (also a horse-themed room).

She became an even more avid reader this summer, so she inherited a chair I had recovered for my room at the old house.  The colors fit in perfectly with the color scheme she chose.

Her cross collection made it up onto the wall today.  The one centered at the top was a present for a Christmas or birthday (note the three barrels and the cloverleaf pattern for my barrel-racing enthusiast).  The two on either side were gifts to commemorate her baptism.  The bottom right was made by Dad with some leftover wood one afternoon.
She has a collection of snowglobes (12, to be exact) that still need to move upstairs that will fill her dresser top and the shelves on her vanity.

She never has been much into dollhouses, but this barn from Grandma fits her perfectly.

My mom decoupaged this back in the '70s.  I remember it hanging in various spots around the house over the years.
Evidentally, it made it into the hands of one of my aunts who recently handed it down to my daughter.

Looking to add more blue to the ribbon display at an upcoming horse show...

Her 12th snowglobe from Dad to celebrate her 12th birthday--a beagle in rememberance of our sweet Elvis that we lost earlier this summer.  Next to her horse, he was probably her best friend.