Zebra. Really?

The girl wants her room redone. Have I mentioned this before? The main theme she's requested is based on her favorite animal. The zebra. Oy!

Animal prints were strictly taboo in our house growing up -- my mom absolutely hates, hates, hates them. No way, no how, no animal print -- or anything even remotely resembling one was permitted.

As a result, I'm thinkin', I'm not all that fond of them either. But the girl is a fashionable tween and she has definate ideas on how she wants her room redone.


I'm all about vibrant colors -- fresh and lively -- coral, greens, yellow, oranges, shots of pink. But, alas, Auntie M (that's me) has no vote in this room makeover. Zebra. And purple. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh. In a fairly small space. Just thinking of it makes me think dark and dreary, and I was picturing stuff like this...

And believe me there's plenty of this kind of stuff available (this courtesy of Amazon.com). Is is just me, or does this look really oppressive?

So I hit the web to see how these two color/pattern requests could work together in a fresh way. I gotta admit it's tough. But I keep digging through websites hoping to find something that appeals to me -- all the while keeping the girl's more sophisticated style in mind.

I have to admit that it's hard to grasp that hip, latina, fashion-queen, paint-em-on-skinny-jean-wearing-vibe when I'm a polar-fleece and well-worn-jeans kind of girl. S-t-r-e-t-c-h, stretch, stretching.

I found some nice looking sets that have zebra influences in horchow.com:

Majella Marzipan is nice, but it's not purple, and it may not be fashion-forward enough for her -- I think it's a bit too sophisticated and not enough "attitude":

I really like the one called "Aubrey" -- but holy-Horchow we can't afford these prices -- so this might be a contender for how we use zebra and purple but make it pop with some other colors or patterned fabrics. Lively-er. than just purple zebra, don't you think?
So the quest has begun. Zebras for all!