Defining a New Sleep Space

We have been co-sleeping with Ladybug Girl since her birth.  From reading all my favorite international blogs, this is almost a taboo.  From asking around the office though, this is completely normal and energy-efficient (i.e: tipid sa aircon).

She did have her own room, but it was used mostly as her playroom.  

We had a single bed beside the master bed (not that she slept on it most nights).
Her convertible crib/toddler bed was moved to her playroom for naps.

Early this year, I promised Awesome Guy that it was time to start the transition to independent sleeping.  Poor guy, he was the one who was always displaced (from asking around, this is again another norm).  

So we packed away the crib, and brought this in her playroom:

An extra twin mattress that had been waiting eagerly for this day

This is all the rage in Montessori-style rooms, but frankly it just looked wrong to me:

Right?
This is just Ladybug Girl napping.  At night she still slept with us.  Yes, I move slow.

So in the interim I brought in the sofa bed from the spare room.  That stayed around for a few weeks.

Her upgraded nap space.  Yes, still nap.
I did say it would be a transition, right?

By that time I had gotten a bad case of bronchitis and then pneumonia, so the little girl and husband had to sleep in the playroom for two weeks.  That actually jump started the real move!  I guess I was the one who was unwilling to let go of sleeping beside my soft, fragrant little bed partner.  

Sniff.

And so when I got well, I finally moved the single bed out of the master bedroom and into Ladybug Girl's big girl room-slash-playroom.

Finally her own real bed!
With the higher bed, her bedside lamp is now the perfect height for her to reach herself.

If you're noticing that there is a mattress on the floor, you are very observant and discerning that she is still not sleeping by herself at night.  Now this is all her, folks.  She panics when waking up alone, so we are now taking turns sleeping with her at night to ease her into independence.

Here is where I'll possibly digress a bit to explain how parenting style affects all this.  In the Philippines, a sleeping arrangement with kids (and yayas) is a very personal choice.  Mine was to be on-duty at night so that I would be sure yaya would be alert and rested while I was at work during the day.  There are pros and cons to this, and good reasons either way.

On-topic:  now that she uses the same space for serious sleep and play, I worried that she may not get a restful night sleep with all the stimulation so accessible around her.

So now I want to carve out a more defined sleep space within her play room and make the bed look like a room within a room.

And also because when I wake up in my floor mattress, this very unfinished view bothers me:

You can even see the 3M stick-ons from the previous artwork expecting some action.

While cleaning out more junk some weekends ago, my meantime solution found me:

Leftover reposition-able wall stickers from Wee Gallery, now four years old.

One hour during a weeknight later:

And this is now my view when I wake up:

I'd love to put some sheer white curtains on either side of the bed.
I actually have the materials ready and will post that update when they're up.

Seriously, is there anything cuter than a sleeping baby-child?

That's not an easy view to give up at all.