Room Makeover!

While the kids were away at M&D's I enjoyed a leisurely few days of bubble baths, bon bons and books. NOT! I had been prepping for this very moment for a looooooooooooong time! I redid Sweetie's bedroom in Dec 2012 and after hers was done, the other two finally decided they were ready to give up their teddy bear border!

After some intense discussions, they finally came to an agreement on a colour scheme. This is partly the reason for the long delay between their room makeover and Sweetie's!  They chose pink & purple and turquoise like Sweetie had in hers. I couldn't figure out a good way to work all three colours in there so decided to work with just pink & purple. Last summer I found half price comforter sets in those colours and snapped them up and stashed them away.

As March Break got closer, I started gathering my supplies and getting everything ready. Shopping during the last room makeover took too much of the weekend that they were away and I almost didn't finish in time! This time I was way ahead!

Or so I thought! Their room was so full of junk that it took the entire afternoon to empty things out of there! It took me the rest of the night to remove the wallpaper border. In the beginning it was a little sad "ohhhh this is what I brought them home to when they were released from the hospital!!!' and by midnight it had turned into "die you buggers, DIE!!!" Finally the room was empty and bare and ready to start painting Wed morning!

Taking a decorating break, I brought Murray to my circuit cardio training class at the gym. I thought he'd enjoy a change of pace in the exercise department and it's a fun group with an instructor that puts us through our paces. I'm always red faced by the end and it was nice to see Murray sweating hard too, he wasn't bored! After class we went to the restaurant next door for some delicious food. He got his precious salmon salad and I went for the steak and everything was delicious!

Painting on Wednesday was sloooooow! I forgot to have any crack fill stuff on hand to had to make one run out for that and then got started. I taped off the ceiling and all trim. Then I started blocking in my colours. Then I made a mistake on the layout and had two half walls the wrong colour. Then I tipped a bucket and made a biiiiiig mess. Luckily the disaster happened while I was standing on some plastic sheeting and the carpet was spared.... that time. There were a few direct hits with that hot pink but with some quick scrubbing and Varsol action, there's only a slight mauve tint in the bluish carpet and isn't noticeable without close inspection (don't do it! let's pretend it never happened!)

Around midnight I called it quits, I was tired and needed to get out of that wet paint smell! Murray had come in to assemble the bed and found the stink too much so by that time I'd definitely had enough.

This morning I put on the last coats of pink and packed up the paint supplies before lunch! Hooray! That only left a bit of decorating and I was home free! I thought I'd probably do some grocery shopping, then pick up a pizza and come home for dinner! Except that all those little things took longer than I expected and even with Murray making his own pancake supper, it was still 7pm before I'd hung the curtains and gotten some pictures for the before & after composites.

I asked Mum to have them get ready for bed there so they wouldn't need to do that after we got home. On the drive up I was excited but nervous too. I thought it looked great but would they???? Lovey is quite particular and hadn't approved the plans... could be dicey. Murray had gently cautioned me earlier, when I was just getting started, to not be disappointed if they didn't like it and to not take it too hard. With everything complete and all the hours and hours of preparation, googling, Pinteresting, and then the actual work itself, it would be impossible not to be disappointed if they didn't like it!!! I was sure Honey would be pleased, I'd included purple, that alone would rock her world. I'd left out the requested turquoise though and that could be enough to lose Lovey's vote! I decided that if she didn't like it, it was her problem not mine. That room was to die for!!! Once it was done, even Murray thought they'd both love it.

As I'd anticipated and hoped, Lovey dilly dallyed getting out of the van but Honey was first in the house. Perfect! I grabbed my camera and brought her down the hall and told her to cover her eyes and then I went to get in position! When she opened her eyes again, she was so startled that she didn't even see anything at first. It was just TOO different to take in at first glance. She wasn't long in deciding she loved it though and thanked me and hugged me repeatedly. "I've always wanted a mirror in my room!" she said. After a few minutes I scooted her out to the kitchen and told her to not say a word! Sweetie was on to us though and was loudly proclaiming "I KNOW WHAT IT IS!!!! I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!!! CAN I SEE????"  Thanks for keeping it on the downlow Sweetie!

Finally Lovey got herself untangled from her boots and came upstairs and came to see what the fuss was about. She was in love instantly! and was thrilled with everything, the extra space, the tidiness and all the new stuff. The grin splitting her face was ear to ear the rest of the night!

Now I'm off for a good night's rest. I seem to have developed an allergy to being overtired! I've been sneezing like crazy all day. Lots to do tomorrow that I've been neglecting since starting the redecorating! Grocery day was supposed to be Tuesday and I think we're down to one piece of fresh fruit in the house and I've done no baking so Murray's lunch is looking pretty grim for tomorrow!

Here are the before and afters. Looking at them side by side, it's unreal how cluttered it was before. We should have gotten rid of the unnecessary long before this!