Sweet 16 Room Reveal

I am so tired.  

You know how it's hard to find a present for a teenager?   Well, I had the not-so-brilliant idea that for our daughter's special day, we'd gift her with a room makeover.  We'd have her friends here for a sleepover and they could walk her up to the third floor to share in her excitement.  Really, it wasn't such a bad idea, it was just a bad idea to give myself only 2 weeks to get it done.  Painting, sewing, shopping, refinishing furniture, building doors, framing pictures, hanging light fixtures, the whole shebang.  In addition to being a mom to five kids.  The night before the big reveal party, we were working until three am and then were up at six.  Those "reality" programs when they finish a whole room in a weekend?  Some corners are being cut, I guarantee that.

Lucy had picked out the paint colors--Benjamin Moore Summer Shower for the ceiling and top part of the walls and Chantilly Lace for the lower walls and trim.  She mentioned that she wanted something sophisticated and maybe European and maybe with a touch of bling.  Once we got things going, she was banished from the third floor until last night.

I'll first show you where this room was in 2005.

When we moved in, Lucy's attic bedroom was forest green with dark blue carpeting and except for the slanted attic ceiling, had not much character.  Lyle added trim around the room where the ceiling met the walls, built 4 adorable little cubbies, installed a built-in desk and window seat, and cut into the wall to add a closet in the wasted space under the eaves.

I painted the room cream and sage green, and made pillows and curtains.

Then in 2006 our giant dog Olaf had some sort of major intestinal distress and exploded onto Lucy's carpet.  There are some things that are so terrible, they just can't be cleaned.  This was one of those things.

Our "big" kids (who were so little back then!) helped us remove the carpet and tack strips and we did some research to find a cheap non-carpet option for the room.   We wound up buying plain old pine shelving boards which we screwed into the floor and then plugged, sanded, and tung oiled.  We have loved this unique, rustic floor.  Since it's such a soft wood, it's not something I'd use in a room that get lots of traffic, but in a third floor bedroom, it was perfect.

The armoire in the room was something I'd painted and distressed and crackle-finished and since we were doing this room re-do on the cheap, I decided to refinish it.

This took a LOT longer than I anticipated!  First, even with the electric orbital sander, getting off all the old crackled paint took hours.  Then the painting (Benjamin Moore Province Blue) needed several coats, and then the varnish.  Oh, the varnish.  I'd read that when painting furniture, it's better to do a matte finish with the paint and then add the shine afterward with the varnish. I had no idea that varnish is much trickier, stickier, and smellier than paint.  And that if a stray hair or fly or dust or whatever happens to fall onto your furniture during the varnishing process, it's a royal pain to remove it.  It did turn out fantastic, even if I did lose some brain cells due to fumes.

The other big project was the closet door.  Curtains were fine, but I knew that a sliding barn door would be better.  Barn door hardware can be ridiculously expensive, but Lyle accomplished the whole project for about $100 by going to our local farm store.  The track is very industrial looking, but since he covered it in trim, no one will be the wiser.  I had Lyle add the mirror just for the practical reason that Lucy wanted a mirror, but hadn't anticipated how much it opened up the room.

I have to say, I'm pretty proud of this chair.  I priced out chairs all over our county and couldn't find anything new that was within budget.  I found this one at an antique/thrift store for $20.  It was very sturdy and well-built, but the wood finish and fabric were seriously bringing it down.  I had decided that some pops of yellow in the room would be a nice touch, so I spray painted and recovered the seat and absolutely love it.

I also spray painted a little table we already had and then took the lid of the spray paint can with me to the framing shop to get mats cut.   There's a HUGE difference in price depending on where you go.  One framing shop said one mat would be $23.  ONE mat!  I found an awesome little local shop that charged only about $6-7 per mat, and even cut them while I waited.  Maria at Old Town Framing is awesome!

I knew I didn't want to spend very much on artwork, so I looked on-line for some non-copyrighted images that would work in the room.  Lucy had mentioned wanting the Eiffel Tower, and I found the most amazing vintage pictures of the 1900 Paris Exposition.

I absolutely love them--the colors, the women walking with parasols under the Eiffel tower, the old-world look.  On the left is the Belgian Pavilion at the exposition, and then of course the Eiffel Tower, and then on the right is the United States Pavilion.  I love the old world's fairs.

My friend, Teresa helped me cut out the fabric for the window seat and I made a pillow with the chair fabric.  I still have some other pillows to make, but with my not-so-realistic time crunch, those didn't get done.   The curtains were from Target and then I used the extra that was cut from the length to make the Euro cushions for the bed.

On the bed wall, I initially painted it white, but then the white headboard was kind of lost, so I painted the headboard blue, which was a bad idea, and then I painted 3 coats of white to cover the ill-advised blue and then I painted the walls on either side of the now-white-again headboard the same Province Blue as the armoire.  And I was happy.  Or maybe just too tired to re-think it for the umpteenth time.  The duvet cover came from Ikea as did the plug-in wall sconces.  I still need to tack down the cords so they look a little neater and get some side tables and rethink the old dust ruffle.

But the absent throw pillows and the lack of side tables weren't huge issues for the big reveal.  What WAS incredibly frustrating was another item from Ikea.....

The chandelier.  

Gorgeous, but I had NO idea that the bulbs were something so funky that they cannot be found anywhere locally.  The party guests were coming in an hour and we were calling everywhere to find E12 bulbs.  No luck and Ikea is an hour and a half away.  Sweden's even farther.  So, it was disappointing that for the big room reveal, at night of course, there was no light from the chandelier.

But she noticed all the other little touches and was completely blown away by the transformation.  

She adores the room (even with the low light that was stinky for picture-taking) and her friends were giggly and adorable and added to the fun.  

Fun that went late into the night.

     

Now I'm going to sleep.

Artists have struggled with this for centuries

Cholita hung this up as a visual for her Family Home Evening lesson last night 

but was quick to point out:

"I'm not really sure if this is exactly what he looks like."

My guess is that "Hevinle Fothr" is as happy with her attempt as he is with any of the masters.

Operation Tweenybopper: Room Reveal

I'd call Rose's room about 80% done.  Most of the big stuff is done.  The walls are painted, the beds are made, pillows sewn.  We just need to recover lampshades (still puzzling over that one), make or buy curtains, make her a desk, and hang things on the wall.  O.K., so maybe 60% done.

Anyway, I loved her room in its previous state.  It was blue and pink and oh so little girly.

The quilt behind the bed was a "round robin" quilt.  I made the middle square and then it was passed on to 4 of Lyle's sisters who made additional borders.  I'll aways love it.

But sigh.

It was deemed way too little girlish and since this room was done 8 years ago, when our tween was a mere toddler, I agreed that it was time for an update.  

For convenience sake, I insisted on keeping both beds, even though it's now just a room for one.

  

 I also wanted to keep the sweet scalloped trim that Lyle had made. 

Little girlish though it may be, it would be a pain to replace, so it was staying.

Other than that, Rose was master of her domain.

She wanted a purple room.

I cringed.

I tried to talk up a very pale lavender.

Nope.  She wanted bright colors.

One day at the local plant nursery (of all places), we saw some very bright modern-looking floral prints that she loved and were our inspiration for the rest of the room.

Seeing how bright the pictures were, Rose agreed that maybe a lighter paint color would be better.

We held up her pictures in front of many different purple paint chips at the Benjamin Moore store.

I didn't even show her the paint names until she'd picked because I know she wouldn't have chosen something called "Winter Gray". 

But she did, and I love it.

And I pity the person who picks that color expecting gray,

because it's most assuredly purple,

but in a pleasing sort of way.

Lucy and I held up her pictures in a variety of configurations,

feeling like we were participating in a game of Twister,

and Rose mercifully decided quickly that she liked this grouping the best.

Obviously I still need to get the darn lamp shades for the wall sconces recovered,

but it's coming along.

I made the raspberry colored throw pillows and found the fleecy purple pillows at Costco.

The purple basket between the beds is from Ross and Rose stores all of her writing supplies there so she can scribble down middle-of-the-night story inspirations.

We love our tweenager and thankfully she adores her new room, incomplete though it may be.

The Times, They are A-Changin'

There's change with every new school year, generally good, getting-organized, moving into Fall type changes.

But in the change department, the 2012/2013 school year, puts all other years to shame.

The biggest change happened one week ago today.

When we dropped our oldest off at BYU Idaho for college.

We'd been in move-out mode for a few weeks, going through certificates, old jerseys, yearbooks, ancient stuffed animals, all things that could make a mother get a little misty-eyed.

The siblings?  Well, you'll notice some pink items hanging in his closet.  Cholita and XiXi had effectively moved into his room before he'd moved out.  With 5 kids, when a bedroom becomes available, it's big news.

Rose is now the sole occupant of her own room down the hall......more on that later.

I wish I'd gotten photos of moving Bruder into his apartment, but it was such a busy, blur of a day--moving boxes, organizing, grocery shopping, buying books--that the camera never left the car.

He did send me this photo of him and his roommate in the college broadcasting center.  

I texted him that I hoped that they weren't matching on purpose.

He responded, "No, it was an accident, but the girls think it's adorable."

In this week that he's been gone, we've noticed a few things:

*We have leftovers for the first time in years!

*I do far less laundry.

*The house is quieter.

*We laugh just a little bit less.

We miss him.

Moving on.

This one is also at a new school--the high school!  She turns 16 next month and has been in driver's ed. and now that Bruder is away from home, she has begun her "rule and reign" as the oldest.

She promises to be nice to her subjects.

Big changes for our writer girl too.  She is now at the middle school and thankfully loving it.

With our big room swap, Rose is thrilled with her new tweenager room, which we'll reveal as soon as I figure out a way to re-cover some lamp shades. (Any advice from experienced seamstresses would be appreciated!)

Cholita thinks the location of her new room is great, at the top of the stairs and right next door to a bathroom!  For the first time, she's at school all day and gets to bring a lunchbox!

And last but not least, XiXi.

He's a kindergartener now and loving the top bunk of the bunk bed.  Downstairs, we hear a loud thud every morning as he insists on bypassing the ladder.

He's not relishing being the only boy in the family (besides Dad, of course), and is hanging out more with Franklin.

Five kids, five different schools.

I have to keep my schedule with me at all times because I can't keep things like this in my head:

Cholita's bus arrives at 4:17, except on Wednesdays when it comes at 3:37,

Lucy's bus comes at 3:03, except on Thursdays when it comes at 1:33,

Rose's bus comes at 2:58, except when it comes at 2:08....

In a nutshell, everyone is growing up too fast.

But it's good.

Saying goodbye to Bruder, I didn't shed a tear.

Lyle complimented me on steeling myself, but I just didn't feel it.

 He's ready.  It's time.  He's in a great place.

And then before we'd even stopped for the night,

he sent a text that said, "Thanks.  I love you guys."

And then I cried!

Cholita is Seven!

Our sweet little birthday girl can beat a dead horse like nobody's business.   The days leading up to her big day were filled with questions:

Have you gotten my birthday list?  Has everyone in the family gotten my list?  Do you think that two people might get me the same thing?   If they do, how do I not hurt someone's feelings?  Have you all told each other what you're getting me so that doesn't happen?  What if I don't like my presents?  

You get the idea.  Much to her relief, she did not get two of the same present and she was gifted with several presents from her list.  XiXi bought her a Rapunzel wig, Rose bought her candy and a Rapunzel doll (yes, she's a big Tangled fan), and Mom and Dad got her a tiara and clip-on earrings....big dangly, gaudy clip-on earrings that she's already campaigning to wear to school.

I was especially impressed with the homemade presents from the big kids.  Lucy made her several items for her dolls: the throw pillows on the doll bed, the black dress (made from a sock), the adorable crocheted collar, several headbands, a doll bag, and inside the dollbag....

Just what every doll needs.....

a laptop.

I especially loved the bathtub, complete with a homemade loofah.

Bruder, who leaves for college day after tomorrow, spent many hours making Cholita an impressive bow and arrow set, just her size! 

She concentrates,

 let's it fly,

and has hit the bullseye more than once!

With her lost teeth and permanent ones coming in, she suddenly looks so much older.  

In so many ways, she's 7, going on about 14.

Happy birthday Cholita girl!

We love you to pieces!

Star Spangled Lucy

Tonight our Lucy had the honor and privilege of singing the national anthem at the

 Little League World Series!  

For this special event, she felt a new outfit was in order.

We found a beautiful dress and cardigan, but they were pricey.

Under the circumstances though, it felt almost unpatriotic NOT to buy them,

so to the cash register we went, only to find out that they were both 50% off.

So she bought shoes too.

It was a good day at the mall.

Arriving at the ballpark, how cool did we feel to have our own VIP parking?

Very cool.

Lucy rarely gets stage fright, or field fright, I guess.

But she was feeling it tonight.

I found a great spot to videotape her, had everything ready,

and when she walked up to the head of the V formed by the 2 teams and the umpires,

she stood in probably the only place in the whole ballpark where she was COMPLETELY blocked!

I couldn't see her at all.

I'm sure she looked gorgeous.

She sounded gorgeous and we were very proud.

We stayed for the game of Greenville, North Carolina against Waite Pass, Minnesota.

They grow 13 year-olds big in North Carolina and they were the victors.

It was a great night at the ball park.

It Doesn't Get Easier....

With teen driver....

Number Two.

Cutie Patootie Haircut

Cholita has gone through some hair challenges.  First of all, her hair grows strongly forward......like so strongly forward, a ponytail is nearly impossible.  Bobby pins are no match for it.  Gel laughs in its face.  You can style her hair to the side, but to the back?  No way, no how.

So we figured that of necessity, she'd have a lifetime of bangs.  And with her hair, you couldn't just do a wisp of bangs, oh no.  The whole top of her head feel forward and insisted on becoming part of the bang crowd.

Which was adorable, so it was all good.

Then she started cutting her own hair, which was not good.  

The bangs grew at lightening speed, much faster than the rest of her hair, which meant frequent trips to the salon to keep it out of her eyes.....or sometimes I picked up the scissors myself, with results similar to Cholita's.

So back in the beginning of the year, we began the long and somewhat messy process of growing out the bangs with the eventual goal being a cute little bob.

And as of this weekend....voila!  The cute little bob.

I love it from the back

and from the side.

And from every angle, we love this girl......even if her new style makes her look a tad too grown up!

And guess how much I paid for this cutie patootie look?

Zero!

Well, except for a tip.

I took the three youngest to JC Penney's for their free kid's cuts in August,

and they all stepped out looking very chic.

What a bargain!

Six Years of Cholita

What a fantastic day.

Six years ago Jin QiuJu was carried into the Civil Affairs Office in Nanning, in the arms of the orphanage accountant, and decided immediately that she'd found her family.   

She especially adored her BaBa.

And still does.

And in some miraculous feat of clothing,

Our girl can still squeeze into the same outfit she wore as a 10 month old.

She may be tiny in body, but this girl is big in spirit.  

We couldn't possibly love her more.

Five!

Our birthday guy, Mr. XiXi!

As is typically the case at our house, the guest of honor was not on their best behavior on their big day.  

Too much excitement, too much sugar,

Too aware that their mother would most likely not put them in the Time Out chair on their birthday,

for goodness sake.

But he pulled it together for his requested dinner of spicy noodles with bok choy, garden strawberries, and stuffed mushrooms.  And of course he was an absolute angel come present time.

His littlest big sister bought him a PlayDough milkshake set,

Rose and Bruder went in together on a remote controlled car,

biggest big sister bought him a pirate set,

and Mom and Dad gifted him with a Hot Wheels garage.

His sisters decorated his peach cake with various cars and XiXi beamed for the birthday song.

Happy birthday sweet boy!  We love you to pieces!

(and tomorrow, if you repeatedly stick your dirty feet in your sister's face to make her scream, well, your free pass is over!)