Anna's New Room

Project number 4 is complete!  Anna's room probably cost a little more than the boys' rooms but I still managed to makeover her room for around $350.  I didn't need to replace any of her furniture and some odds 'n' ends like the butterflies hanging from her canopy were things I already had on hand and my mom had the pink desk chair at her office.   Anna and I both love how it turned out and I think the purple and bright pink matches her personality so much better.  The room reflects her more now than it before when I made all the decisions about how it would look.  She will enjoy this much more and that makes me very happy!

Before

After

$60 - paint

$25 - butterfly chalkboard

$30 - quilt and sham

$40 - two throw pillows

$18 - sheet set

$60 - new ceiling fan and light

 

 $52 - cubeical

$21 - fabric bins

$15 - canvases and 2 bags of buttons for wall art

$16 - tulle fabric for canopy & fabric to recover hope chest

$18 - curtain rod

$8 - sheer curtains

$22 - rug

  

Cameron's new green and grey bedroom

I finished up my third bedroom project a few weeks ago and I think it's my favorite so far.  The emerald green Cameron chose for his room is his favorite color and it was a fun departure from the blues that the other boys chose.  

 BEFORE

Boring tan walls 

(this picture was taken after I bought his new bedding but he had a lime green comforter and gosh! it sure did clash with that khaki color)

AFTER

I love the grey and green!

The dinosaur wall decal is from Blik and the shelves and the super soft grey blanket and flannel sheets are from Target.

The white stripes on the grey walls are Duct Tape in white and the afghan was handmade by Brian's granny many, many years ago.

Boys' bedrooms - Spiderman room and Baseball room

A couple of months ago Landon and Parker agreed that they wanted to switch rooms.  Parker wanted the larger room and Landon likes the window, of all things, in Parker's old room.  I told them that as long as they were in agreement about the switch that it was fine with me but that they had to get their rooms clean enough to actually do it.  

Well, they got them clean and I got bitten by a crazy redecorating bug.  I figured as long as furniture was being moved that now was as good a time as any to do some painting.  I promised each child, even the ones not switching rooms, that they would all get "new" rooms but that they would have to be patient and give me a whole month per room to get things finished.

I got Landon's finished so quickly that I moved right on to Parker's room and both rooms were moved and redecorated within 3 weeks!  Phew!  Now I need a little breather...

Here are the Before and After pictures-

Oops!  I only had a 35mm lens available for the Before pics so you can barely see any of the room.

Landon's new room before:

 

Landon's new room after:

He went back and forth about between wanting racecars and Spiderman.  I got him to settle on Spiderman since we already had the large sticker.  None of the Spiderman elements in the room are permanent so in a year or two if he gets bored with it then it's easy to switch.  Even the cityscape is just a couple of foam boards I had cut with an exacto knife and stuck on with double sided tape.  My total money spent on this project was less than $100 = $24 (sheets) + $30 (1 gal of paint) + $18 (letters for his name) + $15 (painting supplies).

Parker's new room before:

 

Parker's new room after:

Parker wanted a "baseball room with just a touch of football".  $60 (paint) + $24 (curtains) + $22 (rug) + $7 (red dry-erase board) + $9 (hooks) + $17 (sports pillows) + $18 (red spray paint for bookcase) = $157 total.  Everything else I already had on hand like the shelves, curtain rod and all of his furniture.  Not too shabby.  Two rooms redecorated for $250!

I'm really proud of how they both turned out and it makes me immensely happy that both boys are in love with their new rooms!

Train Ride

Each Thursday during the summer our family has a Family Fun Day.  Brian takes the day off work and we doing something together.  Last week we went to Chattanooga, Tennessee.  We go up there nearly every year.  There is so much to do in Chattanooga and this year we decided to do at least one thing we hadn't done before.  We went to Rock City (which we did a couple years ago) and our new thing was riding a train at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.  I made this video from the pictures and video I took of our visit.  I decided just to "feature" Landon in this one.

You Capture - Busy

To say it has been busy around here would be a gross understatement.  In the span of one week I have:

made cupcakes for a group of ladies my mom meets with each week...

attended Cameron's last baseball game for the season 

(and maybe forever - he really doesn't like baseball) ...

had a family photo session with a precious family...

inspected a "worm house" that Anna built...

while Brian was getting filthy dirty at Warrior Dash with his friend Rob...

went to Anna's Field Day at school...

attended a rally at the capitol to support our charter schools and to express my disappointment in the court ruling that they are "unconstitutional"... 

went to Parker's Field Day at school...

went to Cameron's Field Day at school...

and watched Anna graduate from Kindergarten!

We graduate our kids in style with a luau!

Yeah, busy would be an understatement.

'D'

Anna is pretty much my only child that will let me take their picture lately.  She is such a sweet, beautiful girl.  She's my Doll.

You Capture - Youth

Prompt this week for You Capture at I Should Be Folding Laundry was: Youth.  That's not too hard to find around here with 4 little people running around and their parents (Brian & I) who rarely act their age.  And I waited to publish this post until tonight because I had lots of extra young people here at our house today and I got some great shots of most of them.  At lunch time today, while we were all sitting around the kitchen table, I said something about all "the kids in this house and one of the boys (age 11) declared that he wasn't "a kid".  I said, "If you aren't a kid, then what are you?"  He replied, "A young adult."  I told him he was close to being a young adult but that I thought he probably still fell under "the kid category."   But I think he may have proved me wrong by acting so maturely today and he helped with the smaller children and is one of the most polite "young men" I've ever met.  His mama is doing an amazing job!