Over the Rainbow

A few years ago The Ocho became fascinated with The Wizard of Oz. I think she was only 5 or 6 the first time she saw it and I remember thinking it would scare her to death, with the melting witches and the tornadoes and creepy talking apple trees. Not to mention the flying monkeys. (They still freak me out.) But it didn't. She fell in love with it. And before long she was asking for all things Wizard of Oz, including a redecorated bedroom.

Now, we all know I'm all about the movie musical and I was really excited that she'd claimed this one as her favorite. She started collecting the dolls, had our whole family dressed as the characters for Halloween and had me buying tickets to "Wicked" the minute they went on sale.

But I was in no rush to decorate a room. For starters, I had no idea where to begin.

Then, one day we were shopping in Ross when she bolted down an aisle and reappeared with 2 accent pillows in her hands. "Mommy!! Look!! These would be perfect for my Wizard of Oz room!!!" And she was right. They were ruby red and sparkly just like the slippers. Only one problem. She didn't have a Wizard of Oz room.

I shudder to think that had we walked out of the store that day without purchasing those pillows all my years of studying under Ty Pennington would have been wasted. Not to mention all the years I've spent married to a guy with superior skillz. I knew enough to know that all you need is one piece to build a room around and we had found ours. We've stored those pillows for 2 years in the hopes that one day we could decorate a room around them.

Well, today's the day my friends. May I present The Ocho's highly anticipated Wizard of Oz bedroom:

First up, the bed. RubyDooby made the blue gingham bedspread and sham a la Dorothy's dress and our cherished pillows finally found their home.
Handiman designed the rainbow and is very proud of how it turned out. I ordered the movie poster and purchased the frame at Wal-Mart. I am equally proud of how it turned out.
I've gotta give credit where credit is due. Handiman had the idea of the flying broom and hat. We bought them at Party City and hung them with fishing line. I think it's my favorite part of the room.
Even the ceiling fan got in on the action. Handiman had lots of leftover spray paint from the rainbow and decided this might be cute. Once again, he was right.

We were super excited to find a "There's No Place Like Home" stencil on clearance at Hobby Lobby. Score! Handiman painted the hot air balloon using a picture from the Internet. I told you. The man has Mad Skillz.

Once we put her dolls on stands and framed a few pictures from a calendar, things were pretty much set. No construction this time around, very little stress and No Accidents! And judging by the look on the client's face, I think it was all worth it.