Birthday Bedroom Makeover--

My daughter's ninth birthday is this week, quite conveniently right after the week of Spring Break. Convenient, I say, because she spent Spring Break with her cousins, grandmother, aunt and uncle away from home in New York, giving my wife and I time to work some magic in her room. She's about three quarters "tomboy," and one quarter little girl (though she chastises me if ever I call her "girlie girl"). When we moved here, she ended up with the prettiest room in the house: a striped rose and cream wallpaper with roses and leaves all throughout-- a perfect girl's room-- but not for her. I put aside the pink and princess stencils one last time that we had hoped to use when we found them on clearance ages ago-- though she is my little princess to me, she wouldn't appreciate it in her room.

She's a sports enthusiast (her aunt was so excited that she watched all the Rangers games with her!), but more the participant than the fan, and her favorite color is blue (definitely NOT pink), but she also likes purple and butterflies, and her favorite song is "Butterfly Kisses," so the challenge is to incorporate all that into the decoration for her room.

It was sad to have to take down that pretty wall paper (but the project will make for some GOOD articles for you!), but we wanted to make the room to suit her. We would have gotten more input from her, but when the mamma first mentioned the project, our daughter said "If you're going to do my room, surprise me with it..." So much for getting her input!

She came home last night-- we were hoping to have it all done, but it's not quite there yet. Luckily though, I locked the door on my way out (her brother has this annoying habit of barging into her room and taking things-- so we gave her a keyed lock), and the key is not where it's supposed to be. So on the way home we told her she'll have to sleep on the couch (and not spoil the surprise she wanted) until we can find the key-- she's still young enough to fall for that (and it IS true that the door is locked and the key is misplaced...). Now can we keep up the ruse until her birthday on Wednesday?

We managed to incorporate the blue, the butterflies, "Butterfly Kisses," purple, soccer and gymnastics, and (HOPEFULLY!) we won't even leave too much of a mess on the floor, and the best part is, the mamma and I didn't kill each other in the process!

I look forward to sharing the details next time--

Jim

P.S.-- it's important to remember that Home Reno and Repair CAN be a source of marital disputes-- but I do marriage counseling as well, so beware, and don't forget to seek help in THAT area of "home reno and repair" too! Stay tuned for relationship advice as well...