One of our summer projects was to paint Grace's room. She wanted a little change from the yellow walls Lucy had for so long.
And I discovered that when you mention the possibility of painting a room to 6, 8 and 11-year-0ld girls their eyes pop open in incredibly eager anticipation envisioning themselves painting real walls. And, well, I'll just say it's very difficult to turn those gleeful, hopeful expressions down.
I mean, painting a room seems dreamy to a kid...I remember.
I figured they were excited enough about it that they would at least stick out the beginning part, and that made it worth it to start the project.
So we tried a couple different colors we thought would go with Grace's new duvet cover. Grace wanted blue, so we chose a couple shades of the most pale blue we could possibly come up with to pick between.
But they didn't quite turn out pale blue. The swatches we painted turned out looking more like the blue cotton candy you get at amusement parks. I knew enough from previous painting projects that that blue swatch was going to be a little on the bright side. 
But you know what? Those puppy-dog eyes looking up at me pleading to please let them start painting, and the fact that I just wasn't in the mood to walk the aisles of Home Depot again did me in. We mixed the two paints we had hoping to tone it down a little, and got to work.
Can you tell how excited they were?
I really thought they'd get tired and leave me to paint that darn room for the third time since we've lived in this house all by myself, but they stuck it out...
...from afternoon until way after dark.
And they were excited the whole time.
Their little bodies were covered in paint by the end, but surprisingly the carpet came out spotless (thanks to some good plastic and drop cloths) and we only had one pair of jeans as a casualty from the job (and thanks to a little rubbing alcohol they actually came out ok in the end).
Did I mention how much fun we had? Seriously. I do realize that in doing this project there were about a hundred scenarios that in a split second could have ruined it all, but somehow the stars were aligned in just the right way, because it was one of those "moments" I think we'll always remember.
Claire ran around and kept asking what she could do to help for hours. She was our "drink-getter" and trash remover. Grace and Elle pretty much rolled every single wall while I edged it all.
(Grace's hair is wet in that pic. above because she accidentally rubbed her head against a wall while trying to load up the roller with paint. Luckily it washed out without too much trouble.)
So here's the finished product all put back together:
These pictures don't quite show how bright it is, but the excitement of it all made me get past the worry that it was going to be fluorescent, even when I saw it the first time from the stairs and gasped because it looked electric blue from there. But either I'm getting used to it or the furniture has made it look a little toned down because it's grown on me and Grace adores it, so I guess that's what counts.
Let's get one more closer look at that duvet-cover:
There we go. (We're sewing those green embellishment things on the pillows tomorrow, and then we have to figure out what in the world to put on the walls.)
I love this extra touch of color Denise suggested might be fun on the lamps too:
On the topic of home stuff, a very sweet and talented blogger just let me know that she featured my little home-spruce-up project on her DIY blog last weekend here. (Thank you so much, Roeshel!!)
Now if I can just get stuff organized around here. I've been employing Grace and Elle as my secretaries. I could get used to having two secretaries around...if only I could put them in charge of sorting through my D.C. pictures....hmmmm...maybe that's a good idea...Labels: our house
Can you tell how excited they were?
I really thought they'd get tired and leave me to paint that darn room for the third time since we've lived in this house all by myself, but they stuck it out...
...from afternoon until way after dark.
And they were excited the whole time.
Did I mention how much fun we had? Seriously. I do realize that in doing this project there were about a hundred scenarios that in a split second could have ruined it all, but somehow the stars were aligned in just the right way, because it was one of those "moments" I think we'll always remember.
(Grace's hair is wet in that pic. above because she accidentally rubbed her head against a wall while trying to load up the roller with paint. Luckily it washed out without too much trouble.)
These pictures don't quite show how bright it is, but the excitement of it all made me get past the worry that it was going to be fluorescent, even when I saw it the first time from the stairs and gasped because it looked electric blue from there. But either I'm getting used to it or the furniture has made it look a little toned down because it's grown on me and Grace adores it, so I guess that's what counts.
There we go. (We're sewing those green embellishment things on the pillows tomorrow, and then we have to figure out what in the world to put on the walls.)
I love this extra touch of color Denise suggested might be fun on the lamps too:
On the topic of home stuff, a very sweet and talented blogger just let me know that she featured my little home-spruce-up project on her DIY blog last weekend here. (Thank you so much, Roeshel!!)