My Tween Room Makeover- Bye Bye Little Girl. Sniff Sniff

Hi friends, how are we doing this morning? Great weekend here with a surprise birthday party for my soul sister Rebecca, and then decking the halls. I have to say, I’m not really feeling the whole Christmas decorating thing this year. Not sure why exactly, but it was fun to see the tree up, and the kids were really excited to decorate. I also got to drink some Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate this weekend, which made it kind of spectacular.

We may or may not have painted four rooms in our home within a six-week period. But there’s a good reason. A superb reason. My husband started a new job six weeks ago, and since then, he’s been home. Let me explain.

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Before, he used to work about 60-hour weeks, plus every single Saturday, for six long years. We hardly ever saw him, and we pushed aside projects because we only had one weekend day together as a family. But now that he has Saturdays off, it has been amazing. Especially for the Home Depot paint department.

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My oldest daughter has had her room three different colors in seven years. When we first moved in, it was a really pretty shade of lavender on the bottom, with some wallpaper chair rail. I think it was the previous owner’s baby’s room, and it was lovely. We made sure that was Annie’s room, because she was five years old when we moved in, and it was perfect for her.

Here’s the only picture I can find of the color. Warning: this is a pregnancy picture, and the photographer was a seven-year-old who knew nothing about flattering angles.

Then, in 2007, she wanted a change—she wanted blue. I was pregnant and hormonal and thought, YES. SHE NEEDS A BLUE ROOM. LET’S LET HER PICK IT OUT! The color was Bibiddy Bobbidy Blue. It was nice, but really, REALLY blue. She loved it, though, and that was all that mattered.
“I never wanna change my room, Mommy!”

Again, the only picture I can find is of the room color without her in it—I don’t like posting pictures of my kids.

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It’s a terrible picture, but can you see the blue?

Then, in 2009, she said, “Blue isn’t really a girl color, mommmmmm.”

Next, she picked out this pink—Diva Pink or Glamour Pink…very pink. Like Pepto and Bismol threw up violently all over her walls. But she loved it.
“I never want to change my room! Like, ever.”

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I took this pre-painting because Annie’s room is never this clean, sweet child. This brings us to the summer of 2012.
“I hate my room color, mom.”
And I get it—it was violently pink. Even the color pink would think it was way too pink.

So I told her, “Annie, the next color you pick will need to last until you go to college. So choose wisely.”

First, she thought she wanted lime green. Then olive green. Finally, she settled on the yellow family: Summer Harvest by Behr.

My first instinct was to tell her it might be too yellow, but then I stopped. It’s HER room. She wanted this color until she leaves for college. Therefore, when she comes to me mid-junior year in high school and says, “Mom, I hate this yellow!”, I can say, “Honey, you chose it. Sometimes life hands you a bad hand, and you just have to play it. That hand is called Summer Harvest by Behr.”

So off to Home Depot we went again!

Hi John!
Hi Pat!
The kids are good. How’s the wife? Did you finally get that wart lanced?

Here are the before pictures:

 

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See how this pink made the room darker than that light blue? It was so dark in here, and then we made the mistake of getting thermal curtains that make the room warmer. It was like night in here. At noon.

So off came the pink, and on went the yellow.

And here is the after:

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