In Which... I had Enough!

On Friday, June 22nd.. I posted the photos of my daughter's bedroom that I had just finished painting. We started working on her bedroom (this phase) during April vacation (last full week of April) and I finished painting at the end of June. 2 months of back breaking work getting those walls repaired and prepped and new trim and blah blah blah. On Saturday June 23rd, the person who is going to sand and seal her floor came and gave us a quote and an estimate. He said it would be about a month. I, having just spent months painting.. and we won't talk about all the time spent prior to this working on the room to get it to here... wanted it done sooner. Like yesterday.


So we discussed the pros and cons of moving Ms. Thang back into her room, and decided it was better for everyone to leave her in the guest room. (Well, maybe not for my mom who was coming at the end of July, but it might be finished by then). Her room was already packed up. Her furniture was still in cartons down in the front room. It made sense. She was ok about it. She loved having the "big bed" in the guest room, and it made for a great story to tell her friends. "Look where I'm sleeping! Let me go show you my room, it's not done yet."

So a few weeks went by, and The Boy and I were out walking after dinner one night... and Our neighbor (the floor guy "on the side") stopped us and asked if we were in a rush to get the floor done. Every ounce of my being wanted to yell YES, WHY AREN'T YOU DONE YET?, but we said.. well.. no. He is tied up busy at work, this other house on the side job that he got asked to do first is taking longer than he thought.. and it would be a month and a half more. That put us at the end of August.

So, in typical "me style" I ranted and raved a bit. But the thing is, we don't have the skill or desire to refinish that floor. On top of that, we don't know anyone else who does floors. My great friend's husband is a contractor and he recommended this guy. This is who does HIS floors. So we waited some more. Ms. Thang camped out in her room on her mattress that we dragged out of my bedroom where it had been propped up against the wall for a few days while my mom was here. The furniture stayed in the middle of my front room. The room I had planned to paint this summer (sound familiar.. never got painted last summer either).

Every day I looked at it and wished it wasn't there. Every day I'd go stand in her doorway and try to get my vision of how it would look done back. I would think about the furniture that I'd selected ,and carefully measured to make sure would all fit. I'd think about all the stuff Ms. Thang purged when we cleared out her room and again when we packed it all up at the end of June when we realized it would be a while and I wanted it out of my room. I wondered how her room would look without all the "little girl stuff" she decided she was too old for. The other day I grumbled to The Boy about the furniture in the middle of the room, and he reminded me that it would be worth it.

Today, I decided I'd had enough. The furniture had been there too long. The room had sat empty too long. She had waited TOO LONG to have her "new purple room." So we moved her back in. Her furniture is back in. Her clothes are back in. Her stuff (minus her stuffed animals) is back in. Her walls are mostly empty. We are going to frame a painting she did last summer (see it here) to hang up, and I want to get a new bulletin board for above her desk (although T mentioned something about making one and I'm dying to see how hers comes out so I can shamelessly copy it). Her furniture fit as well as I knew it would. There is a dead space at the end of her bed, and I think a book case would be awesome there. We could use the bottom one or two shelves that would be mostly unaccessible for storage, and she could keep her books/cds etc on the rest. Currently they are in her closet. Now i just need to find a good bookcase.

She loves it! She grinned ear to ear. She had forgotten/didn't realize that I got her a sleigh bed and lit up like a 3 year old at Christmas when we unpacked it. She spent a half our up there when we were done sprawled on her bed reading. She's never had a new bed. She had her brothers crib, and his toddler bed.. and my old day bed. She had my SIL's old dresser. A cabinet that used to be my mom's. Other people's stuff. Now she has her own. We bought her a new lamp for her birthday, along with this cool girl that holds her jewelry. I tried to buy her an atomic alarm clock that was discontinued, so now instead she asked for some stuff for her desk. They have the coolest metal/flowery set at Target. Her desk chair came from the library. Mr. Man has one also. They are made locally at a place in Gardner, MA and I was going to paint it. I'm not sold on being able to match the colors, so I might just leave it. It might be an antique. Speaking of colors, the walls in the photos aren't *QUITE* the same as the walls in her room. Best representation I can get. Her walls are a little darker.

She asked me while we were putting her stuff away what would happen if the guy showed up tomorrow to do her floor. I told her I didn't think he would, but if he did it would be OK. I'd haul all that stuff back out again, but it would all have been worth it. She deserves to be in her room. She's waited long enough.