Ms. Ellaneous crafts a life: It all started with a closet.

It all started with a closet.

We have been home for a week and we are about to leave, again. On Wednesday we pick the kids, A1-3, up from camp, back home, and pack A1 for France the next day! We will be inundated with stories from camp, requests for "media" of all sorts, and laundry, but for now we are organized. The command center for all school/sports activities is empty and ready to filled with the myriad of permission slips and forms.

And that's where it all started. Once I tackled that bad boy, everywhere I turned begged to be cleaned and changed. This happens to me every once in awhile and frankly, no space is safe. The room screaming the loudest was A3's.

I have been promising A3 (now 11) that we would re-do her room. I've been promising for about six months. She has grown out of the princess pink and requested a more sophisticated color, green, specifically a deep, bright green, bordering on turquoise. I couldn't quite get to that color but we did paint her room green. We only had the weekend. I felt like we were on "Trading Spaces" except it was our space, our design, our labor, and our money. So, basically it was just the time crunch. Well, that and the "SURPRISE, we totally re-decorated your room while you were at camp!" part. I hope she doesn't cry, like the "What did you do to my room!?" cry.

The princess pink, with Wexley looking nervous.

Of course I neglected to take a "before' with all of her stuff everywhere. I was a woman with a mission.

After.

The "cubby".

After painting all morning, cleaning brushes etc., we made a late afternoon run to IKEA. That meant Sunday was spent with thousands of little wooden thingys, a rubber mallet and screws, screws, screws. I was the smiley IKEA helper pictured prominently in the instructions.

After A3's room, we purged the "baby" and unused toys out of A4's room, moved the furniture around, and voila, another room organized. That's about the time the weekend, and our energy ran out. I did have just a bit more for a final touch...