To the Hippiemobile! Wait. What?

Why can't we be friends?

Confession: The Girl is a long-haired, dirty hippie. True story. We're democrats in this family, but she's hardcore. She's got that idealism that hasn't been touched by cynicism getting old age, yet. Good for her! But evidently, I've got to decorate her room around her hippienessism. Greeeeaaat. She requested curtains that actually keep the sun out (because God forbid she rise before noon) and a chandelier. Heh? She meant mobile, but I got'er. That's easy, so we trotted off to the Dollar Tree to purchase some flowers (daisies, actually. A hippie's favorite flower and wouldn't ya know, HER favorite flower. Go figure.) and she mentioned a love of butterflies. Also, easy enough. I'll just make some out of scrapbook paper, right? Oh! But WHAT IF...I make it more complicated than it needs to be and I make TIE-DYED BUTTERFLIES??!!! Yes, of COURSE. And this is the final product.

Check out those badass butterflies. I think it could be fuller, but she likes it the way it is *shrug* Want some tie-dyed paper for your own tree hugger? It just so happens that I tried a million different methods so you don't have to AND wrote a tutorial JUST. FOR. YOU. And you don't even have to make butterflies! Aren't I great? :D

But a daisy, tie-dyed butterfly mobile alone does not a hippie room make. So I said to myself, "Self, what do hippies like?" Peace signs! Yes! What else? Beads! Anything else? Not war. I was kinda getting nowhere. I didn't want her room to just be a bunch of cheesy, store-bought stuff with peace signs printed on them because that's, well, cheesy. Plus the concept of a bunch of pre-fab stuff doesn't keep with my idea of hippies. But WHAT would a hippie room even look like?! So I turned to my most trusted resource -- Google images -- and prepared to assemble my inspiration. Turns out you have to be really specific when researching or you get a bunch of black light posters and more psychedelic results than what may be appropriate for your 14-year-old daughter. Once I got my search terms right (bohemian hippie rooms) I got this:

Ok! I can do this! There's very much a Moroccan feel to this. In fact, Moroccan lamps were in SO many of the pictures and it just so happens that I own a few. Score! I also learned that a big part of "the look" is about a lot of textiles that don't match. Well, ain't that lucky! She HATES stuff that matches! I've made a list of things that I'll be incorporating into this "design." As I check each one off, I'll share with yous! Fingers crossed I'll have it all finished by the time they come back from their dad's...

Next up: the ugliest curtains on the planet. She'll love them!