Skip to Content

$3.00 Dress Up Station & Toddler Dream Room! #InspireBigDreams #ad

Sharing is caring!

 
Three years ago, I was truly blessed with a spit fire, ambitious, strong-willed sassy little girl who inspires me daily. She has always known what she was going after and has a plan to get there.  She is an imaginative and beautiful spirit and as we approach her birthday, I wanted to do something special for my little dreamer.
 
Toddler Room Makeover
 
The little girl who is obsessed with princesses, and animals and being a doctor to “stuffed animals and toys.”  The little girl who fought through a terrible failure to thrive diagnosis to not only thrive but show people that it is not your physical size that matters, but the size of your spirit.  To see your tiny baby go through numerous medical procedures and hardly cry and have to take innumerable amounts of medication with no answers on why she would not grow, was easily the hardest thing as a parent I had dealt with. This little girl; my little girl, deserved something a little special that she will cherish as she takes on her next year of life with big dreams.  While scrolling through Pinterest and walking the aisles at Toys “R” Us, I came up with a grand idea.
Toddler Room Makeover

It was nearly time to transition the princess into a room that was less nursery and more of a child’s bedroom.  I have wanted to create a dress up station where she can play, dream, dress up, be a mommy or a kitty or even a princess.  I just want a space that she loves, that she can use that gigantic personality and imagination to be and do whatever she wants.

First I wanted to create a space in her room where she can play, dream and create.  I thought a toddler dream board would be a good craft to add into her room.  I have made nearly all of the decorative items in her room, and was excited to add this.  I grabbed the items at my local craft store and got to work creating a little board that she could put stickers or hang jewelry on.  I wanted a mirror that she could see herself in and a little space at her level that she could place her treasures.

Toddler Room Makeover
 
I know many of my readers will be interested in creating this so here is a quick tutorial with photos.
 
What you will need:
 
  • A large frame
  • Paint (maybe)
  • Letters for “dream”
  • Cardboard
  • Stuffing
  • Fabric
  • Ribbon
  • Hot Glue
  • Miniture mirror
  • Scrapbook paper
  • Thin piece of balsa wood
  • Clips
  • Screws

 

Toddler Room Makeover
  • First I painted the frame and the wooden pieces (“Dream” and the mirror frame) to match the princesses room.  Using a mini paint roller makes this go quite quickly.
Toddler Room Makeover

 

  • Once the frame and pieces were all dry, I went ahead and created the lattice ribbon board. First, I measured a piece of cardboard to fit inside the frame and then I cut a piece of fabric to wrap around the cardboard.  I adhered one long edge of the fabric to the cardboard with hot glue.
  • Next, I took a small amount of stuffing and put it on the cardboard and then wrapped the fabric around the cardboard and stuffing to seal the stuffing in and create a small cushion.
  • Using hot glue I sealed the other long edge of fabric to the cardboard.
  • Then I sealed both ends to the back of the cardboard using hot glue.
  • Finally, I attached pieces of ribbon in a lattice shape to the cushion cardboard.  I only glued the ribbon ends to the back and I left the fronts unattached so that pictures and other paper-like items could be slid and held into place by those ribbons.

 

Toddler Room Makeover

 

  • To finish the dream board, I placed the cushioned lattice into the back of the frame.
  • I then took the balsa wood and cut it to fit in the space between the top of the cushion lattice and the top of the wooden frame. I used hot glue to adhere a piece of scrapbook paper to the balsa wood on both the front and back of the wood.
  • Next, I secured the lattice cushion and paper wrapped balsa wood to into place inside the frame.
  • Finally, I added the little touches. I glued a small decorative mirror in one corner, then used tiny screws to put the clips on in the other corner and lastly, I used hot glue to put the “Dream” sign on the top of the wooden frame.
  • The cost of the products was about $15.00 and aside from waiting for paint to dry, the actual assembly took a little under 20 minutes.
I was not done though.  One thing the imaginative little dreamer loves is to dress up.  Not only does she absolutely dress up every single day, but the girl has a hoard of outfits and accessories at her disposal.  The one issue, we had no where for these massive and beautiful outfits to go.  So I thought I would create a simple and cheap dress up station!

 

Low Cost Dress Up Station Project
 
The problem: Space.  Her room just did not have much.  So I had a genius idea to utilize some closet space for the dress up station.  I rearranged her closet and made a space in one corner that I thought would work great.

 

Closet Dress Up Station
 
Next I took a $1.00 tension rod and put it up between the closet wall and the dresser.  I also put that massive pile of dresses on baby hangers that we had laying around.  Then I got to hanging, but something was missing.

 

Dress Up Station Bins
Little bins for her dress up accessories.  I ran to the store and snagged each of these fabric bins for $1.00 each and added them to the dress up station. I then made these little labels and laminated them at work to stick onto the bins.  If you would like to use this label, click here for the printable.  I organized hers into Shoes and Slippers and then Tiaras, Headbands, Jewelry and Masks.  I piled the accessories in, set them under the dresses and went to work hanging the dream board and adding a couple special friends to her new room!
 
While I was shopping in Toys “R” Us, the Disney Princess Dream Big aisle pretty much stole the show and inspired my ideas.  You see my little girl loves her princesses, and any given day she will dress as a new one.  Currently she is into Rapunzel, which I adore and I feel like it fits her.  Rapunzel and my daughter have a lot in common.  Both had to overcome hardships to grow as people, both are feisty leaders who are innovative and passionate.  Both of them have recently cut their hair in a pretty “chopped” manor.  When questioned, my little princess, looked me straight in the eyes and told me “It’s ok mama, it will grow back and I like it pretty like this.”  Like Rapunzel, she is accepting of who she is and encourages others to be accepting as well.
Dress Up station unveiled
 
I saw so many amazing Disney Princess toys for really great prices as I shopped at Toys “R” Us.  I just knew that I had to grab a few.  I first found the Sing and Shimmer with Princess Rapunzel doll. This toy was obviously coming home with me!  Bonus, she sings “I See the Light” which is a favorite in our house.  I then snagged a few of the Disney Princess Royal Shimmer dolls to add a bit more variety to our doll collection  (there are 11 and I think I will be buying them all eventually).  I picked Mulan, Aurora and Belle because they are lesser known princesses in our house and I wanted to begin to introduce her to the characters that shaped my childhood and encouraged me to Dream Big. Last, I could NOT pass up Ariel’s Sea Castle.  I mean come on, it is Ariel, and her castle and you can dress her up and it comes with Sebastian.  Yup, I might have bought that for myself.
 
After putting some final touches on her new Dream Room, It was time for the big reveal!
 
The big dress up station reveal

It was perfect.  She ran straight to the dress up station and of course grabbed her Rapunzel dress, a tiara and some slippers and got ready.  She was loving looking at all her dresses and accessories at her new dress up station and she kept telling me, “Oh thank you mama, I love it so much.”  We had to shift her attention to the Dream Board corner and her new Disney Princess dolls to finish the room reveal.  Her and our son actually really enjoyed checking out the new toys and in particular loved Ariel’s Sea Castle.  The kids played for hours, imagining, dreaming, sharing and just taking in the newness of her surroundings.

Toddler Room Makeover
 
Finally, as the evening was wearing down and I was busy tending to other mom stuff, she ran to get me and pulled me over to her dream board.  She had put a sticker and hung a necklace on the clips. Her dreams are already starting and I am eager to see where these next several years take us.

 

Interested in other projects? Check out our DIY Fabric Baby Gate.

Sharing is caring!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.