Upcycling boys furniture for a girl

[Belle0906]

I am swapping my children's bedrooms over. DS has large bedroom at the moment and DD has the box room. They are swapping quite happily but my son's bedroom furniture doesn't all fit into the smaller room.

He has a desk and chest of drawers which have nothing wrong with them. Is there anything quite quick and cheap I can do to give them more of a girly makeover or should I sell them and buy something else?

How old are the children? Ask your daughter what she'd like to do with them if she's old enough. Looks like you could paint it quite easily. Look at Pinterest for inspiration and tips.

A girly makeover?

whats wrong with them? why do they need to be 'girly?'
are numbers a boy thing?

You can't put those in a girls room. Either paint them pink and douse them in glitter or sell them and buy Disney princess themed ones. You don't want your little girl growing up thinking furniture is gender neutral.

Furniture paint from Homebase or Wilko.

Only clicked on this to read the comments

They didn't disappoint

Oh god yes don't put those in a girls room. She'll grow up to be a butch lesbian.

Is there a pattern to the numbers?
you could make them into a glittery fibonacci sequence...

I think my DD would prefer it if the numbers were something more mathematically meaningful - maybe a Fibonacci series?

I agree the black edging looks quite masculine. I think you could paint that a different colour and change the whole look of it.

You need to remove the numbers, then they'd look less "boy". Maybe replace with pictures of unicorns.

I mean, everyone knows numbers and maths is a boy thing. You wouldn't want a girl to be learning that sort of stuff.

I have no idea what the numbers mean or why they are 'boy' furniture. Apart from the numbers (which I don't understand) they look like nice pieces.
If your daughter doesn't want the numbers either sand them off or paint over them, depending on whether the material is solid or veneer.

The numbers are the pass code to a locker at the golf club. Inside there is a penis beaker and a bottle of steroids.

KEEP THE GIRLS AWAY

Print off some pictures of tampons, sanitary pads etc, cut them out carefully and stick them on with pva glue. A couple of coats of varnish over the top and Bob's your aunty.

Other than that, I can't think of any other differences in expectations for girls vs boys.

If dd is age 5 or so, just unleash her and all her crafty shit that's been hanging round the house getting in the way for ages, so it gets stuck on the chest.

Win:win. Assuming she's not perfectly happy with it as is.

I'm sure there a theme to the numbers but I'm blowed if I know what it is?
Is it something to do with those random numbers they shout out during the huddle in American Football?

yep, Mumsnet didn't fail to deliver on the comments!

id say that looks easy enough to lightly sand and paint in colours to suit the theme of the new room.

I've obviously failed as a parent as my boys (19 and 15) have blue bedrooms of their choosing (one navy and light grey the other cream and dark blue) and my 11 yr old of her own choosing has a pink and pink and more pink bedroom.

I actually upcycled a boring pine chest of drawers from Laura Ashley, they are now off white with pink drawer fronts, using Annie Sloan chalk paints. I took off a decal that was like a wheatsheaf!!! lightly sanded the whole unit and then painted, it took two coats for a nice even finish.

JeNeSuis

Blob's your auntie, surely?

I don't think the funiture is masculine, really. Perhaps "sporty".

If it's wood, you can just sand and restain it. I think that's what I would do.

The other option is to paint the drawer fronts. For colours, I'd go for a neutral white/grey/cream or something so it isn't reliant on the room "theme".

If you really wanted a "girly" theme, I'd do it on the stuck on "tags" - (which look easily removable). You could paint them pink, add glitter, even decoupage characters or stickers. Unscrew them to decorate them.

It looks like the frame is metal, I would think you will need a specialist metal paint if you want to get rid of that rather heavy black look. I've never tried this myself, I seem to remember reading about spray paint when I've vaguely contemplated it - take out the drawers and mask the panels well (or maybe even disassemble if it was flatpack and that's feasible. ) and obv do outside with appropriate care. there are youtubes on that sort of thing.

Oh for goodness sake some of the comments

My dd's room is pink, disney and glittery - as is all her clothes. Guess what? Her choice. I can't stand pink and run around in jeans and dms myself.

If your dd is old enough as her what she would like and definitely pinterest is your friend.

Of course the OP should revamp it in line with her DD's tastes, whatever that might actually be. The one caveat I'd have to the 'pink and glitter', from experience, is that little girls who adore this as preschoolers can really go off it a couple of years later - so maybe best keep it somewhat neutral, except for the 'tags' which could be easily be altered again in future. Colours such as aqua may be acceptable for longer.

(obv I mean 'acceptable' to the child, not MN! )