My Decorating Addiction: "Tutu" Sweet Decor: Using a Ballet Costume for Inspiration!

Anybody who lives with a little ballerina knows how exciting this time of year can be!

Spring brings dance recitals. And dance recitals bring costumes. And, there's always sooooo much excitement about the costumes. What colours will they be? Will there be sparkles? Sequins? Ruffles? A big tutu? Miss G has been a dancer for four years now (she is almost 7), and I have to admit that I still get excited on 'costume reveal' day!

There are few things that have more delicious, girlie colours than dance costumes...

This year's ballet costume.

Hip hop costume.

Jazz costume.

Tap costume.

After the show, most of those gorgeous costumes end up stuffed in the back of a closet somewhere. Such a shame. Dance costumes not only have sentimental value, they are also pricey!

So why not use them to decorate? Yes...I said decorate!

Ballet costumes can be amazing inspiration when decorating a little girl's room. Now, in case you are imagining a baby pink room adorned with ballerina wallpaper and bronzed ballet shoes, I assure you that's not what I mean! A costume can simply be a great starting point for colour, and can inspire accessories without committing to a kitschy "ballerina" theme room.

Using the above costumes as an example, can you imagine how pretty a mauve and mossy green room might be, feeding off of the purple ballet costume? Our how about a yellow and aqua room, with the yellow hip hop costume as wall art?

Miss G's first very ballet costume was the inspiration for her bedroom. I love decorating with things that have special meaning, so when the time came to redecorate her room, I knew that this bubble gum pink/lime green costume would be on display. It was perfect wall art. And we loved the colours so much that I actually matched my paint chips against it. (The walls are Benjamin Moore Key Lime).

We brought in the pink through accessories, drapery and bedding. I am a real sucker for bed linens, so she has a few different duvets and quilts that we change around from time to time.

Drapes from Restoration Hardware.


A little pic of her at her first recital.

Toss pillows from a bunch of different places!

Artwork from KidsLine

I spray pained these tin stars.

This bedding was a HomeSense find.

Her mirror is wrapped in pink and green sinamay, with pink mini lights.

See my blog post about this DIY "Girl Power" gallery wall.

I had so much fun decorating around this sweet little costume! And, most importantly, her room doesn't feel like a ballet theme. Instead, the little ballet touches just give it an air of girlie girl whimsy. Once I had this starting point for her room, the creative options were pretty much endless.

So if you are stuck for inspiration for a little girl's bedroom or playroom, just pull out those gorgeous costumes from the back of the closet and I'm sure you'll find the perfect palette.

Until next time, happy ~~decorating~~ dance recital season!