A Familiar Path

Before we left for church camp, I finally got around to painting the girls’ room. Everything was ready. The window treatment was made, the quilts bought, the duvet cover was put together, all that was needed was the room to be pulled together.

I wanted to show you what their room looked like before. I know I’ve posted pictures on this site somewhere, but I could not find one. I also took pictures before I painted and cannot find those anywhere. So, I guess it was not meant to be.

Before, the room was pink with a shelf running about a foot from the ceiling. Under the shelf pink flowers with green leaves were hand painted. The handmade (by my uncle) wooden headboards were stained a dark finish. The bedding was a second hand pottery barn duvet in white and light pink.

This makeover has been in the works for a while. First, we found two stripe twin sized quilts. After that, everything came together one piece at a time.

About a month ago I agonized over the color of the walls. The girls were pushing for a brighter green, but I wanted just a soft hint of green, almost white, because I knew how much other color there would be in the end. I’m glad I stuck with the soft green called Springtime.

When we got back from camp my uncle had sprayed the dark green on the headboards, my mother had bought them new white sheets and my aunts had dressed the beds and hung the curtain.

It was like the room makeovers had been here while we were gone.

A while ago we found this brightly colored king sized duvet cover that went well with the striped quilts we picked out. My aunt cut the duvet covers in half and added a back piece made out of a green sheet. She had enough fabric leftover to do the curtain.

The girls and I found the lamps at Hobby Lobby a while ago. I liked this one best, but Emeline had to have the one with purple accents (shown in the top photo). I gave in on that because she had little choice in any of the other room colors.

Sometimes it’s hard making a room work for two.

They still need a rug and something to go over each bed. I was thinking a large wooden initial or some personal art work. I’m not sure yet.

I love the way it turned out. We’ve moved away from all pink and girly and into some fun, new colors for my growing girls.

Too bad it still doesn’t look the way it did that first day.

Little sister rubbing her hands in delight because she found her sister’s room door open and many treasures await destruction.

A couple of weeks ago I woke up one morning and decided I couldn’t possibly live with a piano in my entry way for one more minute. Though it had been there for at least four years, having it there for one more day was suddenly impossible to endure.

During Tess’s nap time I moved everything around in my living room. I first tried the piano on this wall.

Under the chalkboard and photos. I lived with it there for one week. The problem was the loveseat had to go in front of the French doors and the table behind it went in front of the fireplace. Both bugged me in this awkward new place.

I woke up from a nap one evening about a week later, very grouchy, and could not live with the living room that way one more minute. Apparently irritability drives me to rearrange.

The loveseat went back to its happy place over by the chalkboard and the piano went here, beside the French doors. I didn’t try it here earlier because if you walk in front of the piano

<——————–this way, you’ll exit down a short hallway to the carport. I thought the piano would block the entry just as annoyingly as it did in the front entry.

It did not.

In fact, I kind of liked it there.

I liked the way that it didn’t interfere with the rest of the furniture placement. We could still have our ratty old recliner positioned in the perfect place for watching television.

I still had room for one of my favorite chairs right next to it.

And, best of all, my entry way was free to welcome people without having to shove the bench under the piano before you opened the door.

Sometimes you just have to push some things around to find out what works.