I must also start with two confession and one caveat:
Confession: Over the past three years, I have come to love decorating my house. I love design blogs, DIY blogs, mommy-craft blogs--all of it. While I try to limit the amount of time that I spend reading such blogs, it has been fun over the past few years to get lots of new ideas, learn new things I can put into practice, and start transforming my house. I have been thinking about how I wanted to decorate this house for the past 5 months--ever since we made the offer on it. I have had to learn in the past month, though, that putting it all together the way I want it is going to take more time than I thought. So, some rooms are more finished, and some rooms are more works-in-progress.
Caveat: My house never actually looks like this. I have staged these pictures while my big kids were watching TV in an attempt to get some of the cool design-blog-type pictures you see out there. But seriously? Never looks like this. Ever. Maybe for 2 seconds after I've cleaned it. But then I leave the room and it's back to chaos. (You can partially see this in the last picture here--the train that is supposed to be neatly in line on top of the bookcases is jauntily awry. Now the question is--who did it? I honestly don't think Carver could reach up there to mess with it, but I'm also pretty sure David doesn't go around the house messing things up just to see how long it takes me to notice...) But, it's also true that I'm a bit of a neat-nik. We do have set clutter-control times around here (before lunch, before dinner, and before bed) because when it gets too crazy I get crazy, but it still never really looks like this. Only when I've been the one doing all the cleaning, and that's very rarely the case.
So, on to the blue room!
As you can see, the room is very, um, blue. We did no painting in this house. While there are a few rooms that I would prefer to be a different color (including this one), the paint color in those rooms is not bad enough to justify the work needed to paint them. This is our homeschool/playroom. Rosie is my child-model. If this were a BHG shoot, she'd be my only child :)
I did the silhouettes of the kids several years ago. I need to buy another silver frame and actually do one of Rose and Hope. And, I haven't quite figured out how to hang pictures on plaster walls. This attempt involved some spackle and paint. They're almost straight.
The wall behind the couches will be our bulletin board wall. I have three boards, which I still need to figure out how to get on the wall (see above problem).
These are cheap-o Wal Mart bulletin boards. I painted the frames white, used spray adhesive to glue some cool fabric on, and then lined the edges with ribbon to hide my not-so-straight fabric edges. They really are cool looking, and they'll help break up that wall.
Next is the toy corner. The pictures above the kid's kitchen are pages from a used copy of "One Morning In Maine." I cut up the book, saved the best pictures, glued them to cheap mat board with spray adhesive, and put them on the wall. Very fun.
And last but not least is our wall-o-books. These are Ikea expedit shelves, which David and his dad and BIL spent a week putting together (along with the Billy shelves in our room). They also help break up the blue walls, and each shelf is deep enough and tall enough that I can put puzzles and games and other random stuff on the shelves. Homeschooling stuff is closer to the top, and along the bottom row are baskets hiding coloring stuff, crafting materials, musical instruments, and our bird-watching items. The step-stool is also Ikea (I've never been this close to an Ikea--they really are wonderful) that I painted a fun color. As you can see, Rose has figured out that the big kids are not the only ones who can climb it to get to what they want.
The one area I did not show you is the little closet in the corner, which houses bins of toys. I like to rotate toys--only have two or three things out at a time that the kids can play with, and every month or so, switch them up for something else. The keeps the toys fresh, and makes rainy mornings super fun when we go switch them out.
5 comments:
Anna, I love everything about this room. I actually love the idea of a room this blue, though I'm sure it could be intense if I were actually living in it. One of the things I'm most looking forward to about buying a house someday is getting to paint darker colors (like the green in your old bathroom that I always admired) on the walls. I am so done with white walls and beige carpet.
Anyway, in all your free time (!), would you share how you did the silhouettes? They look professional to me! What a fun idea for a playroom! And I am a big fan of One Morning in Maine and your use of it on the wall. Spray adhesive...that's not something I've used before. I need to do something teapot related on Lizzie's side of the big kids' room because it's all very robots-and-rockets right now, and you've got me thinking.
And I want to come over and browse your bookshelves--they look so inviting! We haven't gotten to ikea out here yet, but we need more bookshelves, too.
I'm so impressed at how much you've accomplished in the house thusfar--with two more kids in tow than me, to boot! Praying for all the other details--church, doctors, friends--to fall in place soon.
Much love, Emily
As a lover of all things beige and white, I have to say that I adore what you've done with this room and I especially love the blue walls!! The color invites children to come and stay a bit, read books, build a tower, cook up a cake in the kitchen. The silhouettes are wonderful as are the pics from One Morning in Maine. My mother in law just sent me that book and the kids ask for it constantly. Did David have trouble making the top section of the expedit shelves stable? Our expedit shelves have been such a great organizing tool and I'm interested in adding two more layers on top like you did...The custom bulletin boards are genius!! Can you post another picture one you get them up and have stuff posted to them?
Were the older girls interested in helping you with any of these decorating projects? Can't wait to see more pics of the house!
About hanging pictures on plaster walls, the trim around the top of your walls (right up at the ceiling) might be a picture rail. If so, there are metal (kind of S-shaped) gismos that hook on, and then you dangle a cable (with pretty ribbon) to suspend your pictures. You can always add a picture rail to your wall, secured at studs, if you can find them. (Restoration Hardware, maybe? Just Google it.)
Wondering how you guys are after the storm??? It hit Richmond harder than expected! Hope you all are safe, warm and dry!
Emily--I'm hoping to put up pictures when I redo the silhouettes (but I have to do them to make that happen :)
B--David screwed the top sections to the wall, and they're also set-back slightly (maybe 1/2 inch?) on top of the bottom ones. No, the girls don't help with projects. I do them in the evening as a sanity-enhancing activity.
Kristen--God was very gracious to us--no damage! Things are pretty flooded around here, and Carver's first day of school has been postponed over a week, and we're not even sure whether it'll start next week like it's supposed to. But we live at the top of a hill, and our basement didn't even have any extra water in it. How did you guys do??
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