kid's room sneak peek

let me start this post with - i really want to go on a vacation with jesse all by ourselves. . . for an entire week or longer. . . and somewhere romantic and exciting. is that asking too much?

so what does this have to do with luca and gia's room? well, we did decide to send the kids to cece and grandpa's house for a week, but instead of taking said trip, we stayed home and tackled our house. after living here for just over a year, our basement was still filled to exploding with unpacked boxes and unused furniture. it seemed to multiply every month. have you ever needed to look for something in an unpacked box, but instead of taking the time to actually put each item away, you rifle through the contents until you find your desired object? do that enough and things start travel to new locations, wrapping paper sits tucked here and there and everything becomes impossible to find. that was our basement. i don't feel guilty or embarrased - it was an incredibly busy and unpredictable year. but if we let it continue past this summer, we would be in trouble.

so it wasn't montreal like we had started to plan, nor anyplace european like we dreamed, but having jesse home from work and no children to tend to, was pretty amazing. we slept in every morning, ate great food, and saw the midnight show of the newest potter movie opening day. :)

so on top of tackling about 95% of the organization and unpacking in this place, we also spent some time sprucing up the kid's room. so much easier to work on with no little ones underfoot. we put up curtains, painted the headboards, put up shelves that now showcase their previously packed knicknacks, organized their closet, and added lots of fun and whimsy. other than paint, i think the ikea curtains are the only thing we bought for the room.

decorating for a shared boy-girl room is a challenge. but opening the door in the morning to their "parties" on gia's bed with every stuffed animal and toy in attendance is just one example of how much i love them in there together. it is so possible to give each their own space and mix individual personalities. so what if the nightstand has flowered oilcloth lining the cubby or a few framed spiderman comicbooks hang on the wall? my son can be man enough to like flowers and my daughter is not too girly to like superheroes.

in the above photo: the newly spraypainted bookends on the dresser. as always, i am the benefactor of a garage sale lovin' grandma and i knew that i could find a space for these snails someday. more photos to come - when the sun shines bright enough for some good shots.