Slowly, room by room, we are getting this old house fixed up how we like it. It's been two years this summer since we bought it, and I have to say, we've accomplished quite a bit. Of course, I wish we could just do it all at once and be done with it, but our budget and free time won't allow for that. We might get done just in time for kids to move out and to start all over again undoing their rooms. But that's a terrifying thought, so I'll just quit there.
Last summer when the two big boys went to camp, we received a heart-wrenching letter from Aidan about how much he missed home and how he wasn't fitting in with the other boys. As a parent you want things to always be okay for your kids, but that's obviously not how the world works, and not at all how they learn to deal with things. So, instead of hopping in a vehicle and racing 200+ miles to go pick him up like my mama bear's heart urged me to, I decided to do something nice for him as a surprise when he got home. He had been asking me to paint his room for so long I finally decided to do it.
The first time we saw this room while viewing the house, Aidan picked it as his own. As you can see, it boasted lovely striped carpeting in various shades of green. The room lies over the southeast corner of the kitchen, and is very much a "morning room" as it gets the full force of the sun in the mornings. I have no doubt Aidan picked the room because it contains the door onto the upper porch. The room also shares a walk-through closet with the neighboring bedroom, which immediately took away the option as a master bedroom for me. Since the boys generally end up sharing all their clothes, it made sense that those two rooms would be theirs. So the porch door was padlocked shut for safety, and it was declared Aidan's room, with a younger brother bunk-mate to be decided. The younger brother was initially Ian, but Liam's and Aidan's personalities ended up being more alike, thus resulting in a more peaceful set of roomies.
After we closed on the house, my Mom and my sister-in-law, Carly, came to help scrub it from top to bottom. I decided to rip up the ugly green carpet last minute, and Carly was a dear and humored me...she dove right in and helped me roll it up and dump it over the porch railing. The floor underneath was the norm for this house: painted soft wood, which we gave a good scrubbing.
After we moved in I ordered a few things for the walls from Hobby Lobby. Aidan loves baseball and Peanuts. This was pretty much how the room looked until July 2017 when I decided to do the surprise makeover.
Aidan had talked a lot before how he wanted a blue and yellow room, so the littles and I took a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a couple gallons of paint. Their ColorPlace brand in satin finish is my go-to paint, cheaper than most, and durable.
This is how it turned out! The blue is called Brittany Inn, the yellow is Lemon Ice (and is the same color I used in the front porch). The curtains were Liam approved, and were about $5 a panel at Wal-Mart, so $20 for both windows. I threw out the dusty, sticky yellow mini blinds that were in the windows and replaced them with new (less than $4 a set), installed inside the window trim rather than over it like before. Along the wall on the left there is now a large Minecraft poster, but Aidan wants me to paint a space-themed mural there. We'll see if I ever get around to that one. Liam is simply happy if he has a play sword to fall asleep with, and seems to care less what his surroundings look like. He is my minimalist child.
A few things have been rearranged since this photo was taken. That little blue bookcase was repainted white and gray and rehomed in Addie's room. The cedar chest now sits where the bookcase was, opening up room to walk around the trundle bed that Aidan sleeps on. It rolls under the double bed, but generally stays out most the time. We added Liam's name to the wall and hung the poster Aidan got for his birthday.
Aidan has had his share of mental struggles, and it helps him to have visual comforts while he falls asleep. I gave him my collection of framed holy cards from when I was in high school, and ordered him a nice, larger, colored crucifix overlooking the bedroom.
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