Let's Get This (Paint) Party Started! Project Baby G's Room, Part II

Question:  What do you get when you add 3 awesome friends + Paint + Supplies + Pizza + music?
Answer: An Amaaazzzing paint party and a Completely painted Circus-Themed room for Baby G!
I want to thank Amy, Molly and Pips for spending their Saturday helping Doug and me give our second bedroom a fabulous makeover that was a small miracle to complete in a day!  We could not have done it without you ladies.  Here is what Baby G's room looked like before the Dream Team arrived:

And here is a photographic diary of our wild and crazy paint party!

Design Thief: This is NOT Your Grandma's Collection!

Sometimes, collectors really get a bad name.  If you've seen the show Hoarders, then you know that collecting can go seriously awry.  You may get visions of dusty boxes filled with baseball cards, ridiculous shoe collections, shelves full of creepy dolls, or even those as-seen-on-TV Stage 5 hoarders.  Well, I was walking around San Francisco's Hayes Valley Shopping District yesterday, and I have to admit that I saw some pretty cool collections.....

I went into Cisco Home, which has a remarkable selection of green and sustainable home goods.  Robert Pintozzi graciously showed me the customizable furniture, reclaimed tables, bedding, pillows...and AMA-zing lighting. These gorgeous Genie Lamps are sold individually, but why not get a few of them, and hang them in big and beautiful cluster?

How Baby Rooms are Just Like Bar Rooms (+ Why I Love Them Both)

What do you think bar rooms and baby rooms have in common?  If you are thinking that they are the two best places on earth to meet a vulnerable woman- then you are wrong, Buddy.  What a sick-o!  The correct answer is:  They are the two places that are BEST suited for decorating with fun, no-holds-barred interior design themes.

After a long urban hike around the City, I love to dip into a whimsically themed bar and get whisked away to a far away place.  My favorite theme bar in San Francisco is Big Foot Lodge.  It's lodge decor and life size Sasquatch provide a fun escape from the gritty streets.  A beer or two later, and then...it's back to reality!

 I used to play make believe ALL of the time.  My sister and I would embody synchronized swimmers in the pool, and my brother and I would spend afternoons running away from "bad guys" in the "dangerous woods".  Now, however, I am an grown up.  Mwa, mwa, mwa.......booo!!  As a grown up, the opportunities to dress up and play make believe are few and far between.   Nowadays, most of the time I like to "pretend" that I am pretty refined.

However, there is good news!  I am expecting a baby girl in January.  (Appropriately, I met her dad, Dougie, while working at the famous Pete n Peters (Sports Themed Bar) in Tahoe City, CA.)   Dougie and I are both so excited for our new addition, with all of the new adventures and challenges that she will bring.  As an added bonus, I can get creative and completely THEME OUT Baby G's room!  Over the past couple of months, I have taken the first three big steps to designing Baby G's Room.

Here are the First 3 steps to designing your own themed room: