The Bean's Room

If you know anything about my house, you know that it is small.  Years ago, when my daughter and grandchildren moved in, there were only two usable bedrooms with four of us needing a place to sleep.  (The third bedroom, tiny, was my computer/radio room.)  For a year, my granddaughter slept with me in my queen-sized water bed, and my grandson slept with his mother in a double bed in what once was Megan's room.  I was still teaching at the time.  Sleep was one of those elusive-but-necessary things.  So...with financial help from Meg, we remodeled the garage into a Grandma room--bedroom/computer/radio room.  We didn't really miss the garage because it hadn't been used for years due to too much junk being stored in it, but it sure was nice to have a room for each of us.  I moved into the garage; Megan moved into my old bedroom; Robin moved into what was once Meg's room; Ryan got the tiny room with the help of a loft bed. 

Megan and I, with a lot of help from friend Ryan Holly, spent three weeks and a bunch of money stripping wallpaper, painting walls, and generally repairing and redecorating to make nice spaces for everyone.  Robin's walls were pink--her request--with lots of little girl things.  Even though hers was the biggest of the two kid rooms, it seemed to have the least usable space because there was more in it.  Years of collecting itty-bitty little toy things took a toll.  The kids are only here for occasional visits now, but Robin's room never seemed to get clean, even after a visit.  Thus, since they are coming here for spring break in a week, I took a jaded eye to the room.  I felt like I needed to go through it, to sort through all of the little girl stuff to make room for the young lady that now will inhabit it.  What started out as a cleaning project rapidly became a redecorating project.  Why do I do these things to myself???

The furniture in Bean's room ("Bean" is Robin), was brand new when Meg was in 7th grade.  Loved it!  It was so pretty...but it was cheap.  When Meg got married, it graduated to be Robin's furniture in Muncie.  Unfortunately, Robin (and company) in her young years was "marker hungry" and marked it up horribly.  Plus, a couple of the wooden drawer knobs were broken.  It just looked awful, but Robin was using it.  When they moved back in with me, the furniture came back, much worse for wear...yet we had no choice but to use it.  Actually, there still is no choice.  I don't have the money to replace the furniture, but I do have the money to paint it.  (I'm not really into painted furniture because I don't think it holds up.  This is a cosmetic fix that SHOULD work for an occasional visitor, right?)

Okay...so I enlisted the help of a veritable worker bee, James, who is the husband of a former student.  James has a big heart and a tremendous work ethic.  And time.  He has lots of time.  Thus, James has painted the walls in the Bean's room...and has shampooed the carpets.  He will be over to help put the bedroom back together when I get done painting the furniture.  I have a vision for the way I want the room to look.

How DO I want the room to look?  It has lavendar walls.  The furniture will be rearranged.  There will be white priscilla curtains (on order) on both windows.  There will be a white desk (also on order) and a white task chair which her parents have purchased and will bring.  The bed frame, night stand, book shelves, and dresser will all be painted white.  I will put a white mock-down comforter on the bed to replace the little girl polka dot bedspread, and along the top of the bed will be a hot-pink body pillow.  I have purchased a little throw rug to draw in more colors.  Have purchased a clock radio/iPod docking station for next to the bed, a desk lamp, and have cleaned out a LOT of the little girl crap in favor of the 'tween stuff that Robin loves.  The thing that I think will actually make the room is a set of five square canvases with one letter of Robin's name per canvas, in imitation of a quilted wall hanging that Megan made for Robin when she was just a tot.  (Don't know what happened to that!  Robin learned to spell her name by looking at that hanging, and I'm really sorry it has been trashed...or whatever happened to it.) 

In short, I have spent WAY too much money on this bedroom, BUT I consider that it will be a nice guest room for a single guest when Robin isn't here.  Method to my madness.  (The only sleeping quarters for a couple is in the garage room where I no longer sleep.)  I just hope it all comes together in time to be a nice "reveal" for the Bean on Saturday when they get here. 

I live in this little house-on-a-slab.  If I can brighten a corner, what else do I have to spend my money on???