In My Room

I took some of these pictures SO long ago, intending to do some sort of tutorial on a few of the projects I did for the girls' room in Michigan.  I put so much time and energy into this room--design and decorating don't come quickly to me.  It took my friend, Melody, literally seconds to give me some AWESOME ideas that solved problems I'd been stewing over for weeks.  Anyway, I told myself I had until the day Bennett was born, then that was it.  No matter what.  My desire to decorate died that day, as well as my drive to post on this blog, ha ha!  What happened?  Facebook, I think.  Now we are in our new house and the girls' room is just kind-of thrown together.  I really miss this place, their sweet room, so I went looking for these pictures today.  It was just a place I wanted to be.  So many good memories and funny conversations happened here.

I liked the look of two twin beds, but we never, ever used Abbey's.  There were many nights when I was pregnant that I'd fall asleep with BOTH of them, in that little twin bed, all night.  But they did love playing 'Jump from Bed to Bed'.  Clever title, I know.

 

It's funny to have their ages on these, Hayden turns SIX next month!

I got on a Sarah Jane kick and bought a bunch of prints one month.  I also grabbed this calendar--I hope my kids don't actually look at it to learn how to read dates because I keep using the same calendar year after year :)  Between that and their inherited time-telling issues, their teachers could have their work cut out.

In retrospect, arranging the bookshelves to look JUST like a ladder and putting interesting things at the top was not a great idea.  But it only took once...

This drawing was the first time Abbey ever drew our family.  I think I'll keep it framed forever.

Melody gave me the idea to make the bird nest for this light shade.  I literally feathered the nest.  I used bits and pieces from everywhere--some garden fencing from a recycle shop, ribbons from here and there, a painted strand of leaves and berries, twigs from our walks, etc.  I went online searching for a bird pattern (pre-Pinterest!) and found just the one I wanted.  But the website also had them attached to a branch mobile.  So if I'm going to make two for the nest, might as well make seven more for the mobile :)

This big mirror always makes me laugh.  We were driving around, checking out Ann Arbor when we first moved there, and I caught sight of this mirror as we went past a garage sale.  Justin told me to 'play it cool' as I got out of the car to check it out.  I think I offered $15 or $20 and the man said he wouldn't take anything less than $30 or something.  I started milling about looking at other things, and Justin independently walked up and started talking to the man about it.  The guy sold it AND the little mirror underneath for $10 to Justin.  I was still at the garage sale!  I don't know how, but Justin always gets what he wants.

Did you notice this little guy?  A few years ago, Hayden found a little blue elephant 'piggy bank' at a garage sale.  She loved it and carried it around like a stuffed animal.  But it wasn't stuffed, it was ceramic, and when it dropped on the garage floor, it shattered.  I wasn't there, but Justin said it was devastating.  Abbey was probably four or five at the time and suggested they should pray and she asked Heavenly Father to help us find Hayden a new one for Christmas.  So what do you do.  You get online and track one down.  Only, it's not going to cost the fifty cents you paid for the original one at the garage sale!  Answering that prayer was pricey.

And last.  These paintings.  Oh, these paintings.  I gave Melody an insane list of possible inspirations--none of which had anything to do with each other.  What she came up with was so incredibly perfect, so incredibly spot on.  It's where I imagine my girls go when they pretend together.  She is such a gifted artist and captured Abbey and Hayden's childhood so perfectly.  I have the best memories of laying in bed with them at night as they told each other stories about the girls in their paintings and called dibs on who was who.