Barbie Retires

This is the Barbie room. My sisters and friends would gather here before parties or dinners “having a dresser”. Makeup table covered with products. Jewelry hanging from the bedposts. Dresses hanging on doors. Music on. Someone curling their hair. Someone borrowing earrings. Someone sitting on the bed unable to decide between two pairs of shoes. Always accompanied by Prosecco.

The Barbie Room

The room was crowded. Warm. Alive. But everytime we hosted lots of house guests I had to declutter it and rearrange it for sleeping. With the recent arrival of our first grandchild I decided to set aside the front guest bedroom as a nursery and repurpose the Barbie room into a dedicated guest room. So I emptied it. That was the first renovation. Not paint or furniture. Just clearing it out until the room could breathe again.

Then I made it green. Very green. I had been looking at photographs of English country houses. Dark rooms. Heavy curtains. Crystal chandeliers against deep paint. Rooms that looked quiet and hidden from the world. I wanted that feeling here.

The inspo pic, and the repainted room.

So I painted the walls, trim, and ceiling the same dark green. The room changed immediately. At night it looked beautiful. The chandelier glowed. The black iron bed was subtle against the dark walls. The room felt still. Serious. And for a while I loved it. But living in a room is different than photographing one.

In the mornings I couldn’t find my glasses after I set them down. The corners disappeared into shadow. The room felt heavy. Vacuuming became strangely difficult because I could barely see the floor. The room worked in the evening but it failed in the morning.

So I painted it again. This time Farrow & Ball Setting Plaster. The light came back. The room softened, the walls warm instead of dramatic. The room felt calm. I ordered new quilts and rugs after repainting. Softer layers. Lighter textures.

The room feels different now. Less moody. Inviting and restful.

I remember the old version too. Women talking over each other. Makeup everywhere. Someone laughing from the bed while another searched for a missing shoe. But I’m a grandma now and the Barbie room is retired.