Second Rate Decorator

Gaius found Quetzal in her room. He knocked softly and heard her muffled "come in!"
When he entered she seemed to pale, or blanch as much as her face of fur could show. She was seated on her bed with notes and what looked like blueprints spread out all before her.
"Um, you wouldn't be here for–"
"The decorating challenge? Yes. You are the only one who has not taken your turn yet."
"Uh, well, you see I am working really hard on the innovator challenge, perhaps I could, just skip this one?"
Gaius sighed, "Quetzal, I know you have not been looking forward to this, but it won't be too hard. All you have to do is think of how rooms are decorated back at your home, put an Aztech touch on the room. All the material you need will be provided and I will be there to urge you on," he held out an arm, "I am here to escort you to the room."
Quetzal hesitated, thinking up any excuse for her to use, she could find none and her ears drooped. She swept up her plans, stalling as she did so. 
She let Gaius lead her silently to what she felt was her doom. The room did seem quite doom-like. Before Gaius even cracked open the door she could smell the strong wave of must and mold. The room had no windows and was luminated dimly by light scales that seemed mostly spent. They cast an unpure yellow light onto the medium sized room. The room was stuffy with thick dusty rugs and tapestries that were so old that mold had eaten away at the ends. Some had fallen revealing a smooth cold stone wall. The room was equipped with a bed, a small table, and a wardrobe all made of wood. Upon closer inspection it seemed the wood was completely untouched by the forces eating away at the rest of the room, but they definitely needed a good cleaning. The state of the mattress and sheets was unspeakable. 
Quetzal recoiled at the sight of the room, but at least she had somewhere to start.
"Out here is a load of cleaning supplies that you will need," he gestured to a pile in the hallway with liquid cleaners, dusting rags, brooms, and much more. 
"Down the hall is a room filled with any furniture, supplies, and tools you may need. Since so many have done this before you, the room is running a bit low on things, hopefully you will be able to make do."
Quetzal nodded half heartedly and turned to look into the horrid room once again, not wanting to have anything to do with it.
Gaius saw her unhappiness and sighed again, "Quetzal, don't worry too much, a queen must show she can work well under pressure. Speaking of which, you have until sunset to finish. I am sure you will do fine, but you better get started!" He smiled and without another work walked off.
Quetzal had no clue what to do, so she started with the obvious. She walked quickly to the room with furniture and choose a tall lamp. She lit it on the hall torch and brought it into the room to improve the lighting. She then got to work. She tied a clean rag around her mouth and nose and squinted her eyes against the dust as the pulled all of the tapestries from the walls and rolled them into a thick ball. The carpets were right behind, revealing a wooden floor that was just as intact as the plain items of furniture. She flagged down a castle guard to help her bring the furniture into the hall so she could clean the walls and floor. She swept up the dust and cleared cobwebs before mopping and sponging everything of dirt and mold. She requisitioned a ladder from the furniture room and was about to begin removing the spent scales when she found the scales were still in perfect condition. The only thing restricting the light was some sort of yellow mold that had grown over the steady light force. She retrieved cleaning fluid and scrubbed each scale until the light shone again. When the light was in working order she put out her torch and returned the tall lamp to the furniture room. When she got back she thoroughly cleaned the plain furniture she asked again for help to move it back in. The bed had been stripped of the unfortunate bedding and Quetzal went to the furniture to replace the old mattress. 
The room was incredibly bright and clean, but it was vacant of anything. She still had plenty of time, but had no clue what to do with it. Quetzal really wanted to decorate in a true Aztec fashion, but she had never been in an Aztec style house. Her family manor was in the style of many countries and made from materials that had to be shipped months overseas. Her family showered every room in expensive souvenirs from all over the world, each room a different theme and some with no theme at all. She sat on the floor rubbing her temples, ashamed that of all the culture she had been forced to absorb was never her own. She thought as hard as she could, absentmindedly carving a spiral into the face of the bedside table with a claw. The groove became deeper and deeper and she was startled when she noticed what she had done. She looked at the spiral closer and was impressed with how smooth the gash was. She had been an absentminded whittler all her life. She remembered with a smile that when she did well her nannies would reward her with scraps of wood from outside her compound. She was quite skilled at carving miniature figures of different things.
An idea came to her, she dropped to her knees by the small bedside table and pulled off her rag mask. She ran her paws along the wood and found it was of a soft variety, but very good quality, with a small grain that would make any carving splinter-free, even without lacquer. She grinned and felt the bed and wardrobe. They were all the same, there would be no need for her to replace the furniture. She put some thought into it, and recollected a time she visited an ancient stone temple. The Teotihuacán ruins that her family named themselves for. She closed her eyes and tried to imprint the square structure in the art of the ruins. She opened her eyes and began to work.
. . .
She had carved to her heart's desire and the floor was in for another good sweeping. Quetzal next felt that something was needed to adorn the walls, which were still cold bare stone. She took a chunk of wood that had come off the bottom of the bed as she carved. She carefully carved it into a wall hanger matching the carving on the bed. Ho-Oh's claws served as hooks. She was not sure how to attach the hanger however, and it was too small to make up for all the empty space in the windowless room. She went to the furniture room for ideas and found a rack of different paints. She selected a pale green and a grey that was almost black. She scooted the furniture to the middle of the room and got to work with the brushes, first painting the wall green than adding grey over the fast drying paint. She returned the paint to the room and stumbled across a thick gluey fluid in a bottle among the paints. The label read "adhesive," it was exactly what she needed. Applying the clear goop to the back of the coat hanger she stuck it squarely to the wall near to the door. Quetzal returned to the supply room and rifled through the fabric goods, procuring some plain clean pillows and sheets. With scissors, thread and needle she sewed on zigzags of fabric to some of the pillow fronts and the edge of the sheets. The pillows were all white with grey stripes, but for the middle pillow she chose a pale orange, similar to the colors of Ho-Oh. She chose sheets in the same green color of the wall. 
The floor was her next concern. The supply room held empty rug looms and fluffy dyed cotton ready for use. She decided it was time to put one of her less desired skills to the test. As a child when she was bad she was sentenced to weave rugs with her nannies for a day. Though she despised the work and the impatience of her nannies, she knew the basics. She picked colors that matched the room and a pretty vase that she had stumbled upon when hunting in the room. She used a zigzag for the border but adapted the striped pattern of the vase for the center of the rug. It took her longer than she liked, but came out with only a few lumps and knots here and there. She laid it beside the bed carefully. 
She thought she was finally done and shut her eyes as she took in a deep breath. It was then she realized just how bright the light scales were, with her eyes closed she could see the red of her inner eyelid clearly. It was time to get innovative. She returned to the room and dug up some thick black velvet curtains, a more translucent cloth, some smooth rope, and a few little pulleys she had seen lying around. She took too trips bringing all the supplies, and on the second trip made sure to bring a hammer and nails. The ceiling was made from a soft clay over wood, the clay was use to imbed the scales originally, and Quetzal found they were great for holding nails and pulleys. She carefully strung up the curtains on a pulley system often used to dry laundry. Two levels of it allowed the thick curtain to be drawn so as to block out all of the light, and the thinner one to only dim the light. Quetzal knotted thick beads onto the ends of the curtain strings, a black for the thick curtains and grey for the thinner. Pulling on a cord on the right side of the room opened the specified curtain, and the ones on the left side closed them again. 
The paint was a bit splotchy, the carvings not completely even, the rug lumpy, and her stitching juvenile, but all together the room was much better than Quetzal had ever thought she was capable of. 
"Second rate decoration is better than none, at least I can say the room is much better off than it was."
She could tell sunset was soon, she closed the thick curtains so she would be able to reveal the room to Gaius in a dramatic manner and had one last idea. She took out the thickest needle she could find and brought the ladder back out one more time. 
. . .
"I am very excited to see what you came up with Quetzal," Gaius chided as he strolled up to the door where she had been waiting for him.
She nodded with a faint smile and opened the door with a gesture for him to step inside.
The dark room immersed him and his eyes went to the only source of light in the room.
"Oh my, the stars!" The ceiling of the room was speckled with pinpricks of light, as if the constellations were hovering above hid head.
Quetzal slid in the room and pulled the translucent curtain over the black, not wanting to blind Giaus when she drew back the thick one. To Gaius it looked as if the stars had become a bit dimmer and more distant, before the illusion split and the room was revealed in the new light. 
Gaius stared silently over the complete room.
"Well?" Quetzal asked, her nerves returning, "Is it to your liking?"
" . . ., A first rate decorator you may prove to be after all my dear."

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Only one more challenge to go, hooray!! 
I did not expect to write this much with this challenge, it just kept coming...