The New Bedrooms!

Sorry for the delay, things are usually quite busy around here. But, now, I am pleased to present….the NEW BEDROOMS!

First, the girls’ room, a view from the doorway:Notice that Charlotte the horse got a good spot. We also ditched Giggles’ changing table, so now we keep her diapers in the bottom drawer of this dresser, and stuff the changing pad and diaper pail between the dresser and the wall. Tight, but it works.

Now, a closeup of Giggles’ crib area: She got most of the wall decals, since she cannot be trusted with shelves and other pretty things above her bed. Someday…but not yet. Mamaw made that bedskirt from a twin size one. Its pink tulle over satin. Giggles also got a new pillow, but she hates it. She lets me put it in the bed, but she refuses to sleep on it. She likes the one Grandma made her months ago. Mamaw also took a twin sized bedsheet that matches Geetles and cut it down for Giggles’ crib. They don’t make matching bedding for cribs and twin size beds…but you can make it yourself if you are handy! Giggles will be getting a new quilt, but again, we are not sure she will agree to use it. She sort of likes the old quilt Mamaw made her when she was born. We kept the previous curtains from Giggles old room, so the quilt actually matches those. Our plan is to take the pillow sham that came with Geetle’s quilt from Target and use the design on the sham as the center panel of a quilt for Giggles. It will be cute. I bet she will like it; I think it has an owl and a bird on it, just like her wall decals.

Here is the view from Giggles’ crib. We figured she would spend alot of time taking in this view, so we worked hard to make sure that this room was still conducive for sleeping! Giggles loves Geetle, thinks she is the most interesting person on the planet. We did not want to send them to bed and find Giggles standing at the crib rail staring at Geetle hours later. We also wanted to give Geetle a space that was cool and special…(Ok, that was sort of more important than the Giggles-staring thing). So, we bought this very awesome ceiling curtain track at IKEA. We surrounded Geetle’s bed on 2 sides, giving her a little tent. The curtains are also from IKEA originally…more recently I pinched them from Aunt Shel at the family garage sale. (oh, did I forget to pay? sorry about that.) She pulls the curtains every night and reads before bed. This room has a ceiling fan, so we were careful of the bed placement. We also taped the curtain to the corner of the bed, at the point in which it is nearest to the fan…just in case.

She really, really, really wanted those 2 white shelves above her bed. She is very proud of her treasure boxes and picture frames. She also hung her wall decals in this area.

Geetle’s other requested area was a bulletin board. We were able to use the nightstand from Giggles’ old room in this area too. This is right at the foot of her bed. I also hung a clock in both new bedrooms, so that we can get ready to learn about telling time.

We did worry about Giggles getting hurt while she played in here. The kids do not play in their rooms much, but it is where we have Sister Reading Time. Geetle’s bed is the worst for a baby sister. It has a headboard and footboard of hard wood, just about 5 inches above the mattress. Giggles already whacked herself silly once and had to go to the emergency room. Our solution was to put pipe insulation along the headboard and footboard, secured with screaming yellow duct tape (feel free to use whatever color your 6 year old picks out.)

So, that’s the girls’ room. They share the closet. Giggles uses the dresser. Geetle uses the drawers under her bed. The giant white bookcase now has everything from “Elmo Uses the Potty” to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” So far, so good. Our only issue is that Geetle is banned from her room while Giggles naps, but that is not a huge problem. School starts soon, and they don’t really play in there much anyway.

Now….on to the boy room! This room is much smaller, so don’t expect alot of different angles in this photo shoot!

First, a shot from the doorway, looking at his awesome new bed. The bed is an IKEA bunkbed that we cut the bottom legs off of, making the bottom bunk flat on the floor. We did this for 2 reasons. First…small room…with a ceiling fan. Second, he does not need a second bed. He needs, and wants, a nest. So, the bottom bunk, minus the mattress, creates a nice little boxed in space that we can pile with pillows. A nest for burrowing, which he loves to do. By the way, that baby is NOT allowed up there…EVER. We do not want her to get the idea that there is any reason to be up there. She kind of already knows, but we are not doing anything to encourage it. The idea that we might find her up there someday petrifies us.

The nest is filled with 9 (so far) pillows that I made from orange flannel and blue sheets, to match the bedspread. It also has a giant giraffe and a pillow made from one of Pookie’s really soft outgrown shirts. One corner of the nest has a white bookcase. Right now, it has no back. We are trying to fix that. We also think we will hang a curtain around the nest, for more hidey-hole-ness. But, he likes it the way it is so far. Our plan was to get him a lantern, the pillows, some books and let him really hole up in there.

We bought a magnetic bulletin board for Pookie. He is not really into keeping and hanging up papers, like Geetle is. But he is VERY into drawing on an easel. With magnets to hold the paper in place, this makes a nice easel for him. The markers are in empty veggie cans, in an IKEA spice rack.

On his shelves, we put some of his favorite toys, the ones he has such a hardtime guarding from Giggles. We want him to be able to come up here and play alone, with no Giggles stealing his stuff. He totally gets it. First day. Totally. Ran up there to hide from her right off the bat. Played in peace for the first time in months. The green bookcase will be painted white and will hold more of his stuff…as soon as I get to it.

Pookie is a creature of habit. The first night, when it was time for bed, he went right into Geetle/Giggles bedroom and started rifling thru Giggles’ dresser, which used to be his, looking for his pajamas. Luckily, he accepts change, once its introduced and he sees that its mandatory. His new dresser, Giggles’ old one has handles with a place to label the drawers. So, we took a minute and labeled them and gave him a tour. Now, he is fine with it. I suspect he will not even bat an eye when I paint the dresser white next week.

As of right now, we are on Night 3 of sleeping in the new rooms. Geetle is 100% acclimated. She opens and closes the curtains to her liking. She gets inside her bedtent to get dressed, if the mood strikes. She spent 30 minutes playing in there this morning while I got Giggles ready.

Giggles is about 75% acclimated. Last night she whined and whimpered for a long time after lights-out. I went into check on her and found her standing in the crib, head on the rail, almost asleep. I guess she was trying to get Geetle’s attention and did not know how to get back to the mattress. I flattened her out and she went right to sleep. Pookie is 95% acclimated. He knows its his room, and he likes it. But he is not entirely back to his old routines. He usually gets up by 6 am. He would fling open the door of the room he shared with Geetle, tromp down the hall singing Veggie Tales at the top of his lungs and go down to the dining room to play at the table (his old “keep that short old Giggles out of my stuff” site). These mornings, we find him sitting on his bed, wide awake, not doing anything, looking like he is waiting for us to “let him out.” I suspect that will not last long.

Our only problem, yet to be solved, is what to do about story time. We used to split it up. I read to Giggles in her old room, then put her to bed. While I did that, BAGD read to Pookie and Geetle in their old room, always on Geetle’s bed, something that takes alot longer than Giggles’ story time. Now that Geetle and Giggles share a room, we have been having Pookie come to Geetle’s bed to listen, same as always. But, while they read, Giggles is supposed to sit quietly in her crib. She does….somewhat. But she also shrieks and talks while they are trying to read.

So, the room switch is a success. Many thanks to Uncle JB and Aunt Bean who kept the kids while we made it happen. Also many thanks to Mamaw who helped us make it happen over those 36 hours. She painted, she sewed, she decorated for pretty much 1 day and a half straight. Finally, many thanks to BAGD who happily walked around with a tool box saying “what’s next?” over and over as I pointed him towards curtain brackets that needed hanging, chairs that needed moved, and beds that needed assembling. Never once did he ask me why I felt it necessary to change the closet door knobs in the girls room or hang 4 hooks in the closet for Pookie’s one belt.

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