Friday, December 30, 2011

The Saga of the Boy's Room

How did that title grab you? Could you hear the music of impending doom? Lol! I don't know about your boys but ours can demolish a room in less time than it takes me to imagine all they could do to it. When we have to clean out their room it is not a simple task of folding clothes, vacuuming & picking up a few toys while little birds sing happily in the background. No. It's more like put on your hazmat suit, bring the bulldozer & make sure you have plenty of bleach & a gas mask. You think I'm joking. Ask my husband. He will assure you I am not. It took 4 days but it's finally done. I am amazed & relieved. It took the entire family working together to make it happen. Thank God for team work & perseverance on my husband's part. I'm so pleased with the results!
This is a long post but I hope you enjoy the journey!
P.S With the exception of the black laundry baskets, the bed frames, one mattress & the reg. pillows everything were items we already owned. Some for a very long time. Lol. The mattress was a Groupon deal we purchased almost a year ago. Fabulous deal of $50 for $200 mattress or set!

Dave keeps a smile on his face as he uses a generic Magic Eraser to get crayon & pencil off of the wall. (Those things are FANTASTIC!)

Bugsy helped scrub too. After all he was one of the "artists".

Boo was not as happy as the others to join in. But she did anyway.

Elvis hard at work.

Being silly as we get ready to set up furniture.

What can I say here? Like father, like son.



Muscles came in to help Dave move furniture.

Trying different arrangements for the new beds. Dave knows this is the only way I can figure out exactly where I want them.

Surfing

He was a little off the wall with excitement! Lol!

Moving beds again.

And again.

Hey! Don't take my picture!

I guess Mama wasn't listening too well about that picture taking thing. Lol.

I think we finally found THE arrangement!

One dresser returns to the room.

Should we put the bookshelf here?

The cubbies go into the corner.

Folding clothes, purging clothes, hanging up clothes. This took a LONG time.

We labeled the drawers. Hopefully this will help to keep them neat & tidy.

The beds are all set up & ready to be made.

The boys spent their first night in their new beds last night.

Today we finished up the room. There were still toys to sort & put away, some clothes to hang up & a few other odds and ends.

The boys were ECSTATIC to get a TV in their room. We bought one for $20 locally. They are only allowed to watch approved DVD's & videos on it before they go to bed at night. We thought this might make their transition from sleeping in the family room (their choice) to their room a bit easier. It was one of their Christmas presents. =0)

Their newly organized & cleaned closet.
From top to bottom it is now clean & organized!

The cubbies are all set up with clothes & church shoes. Each boy has their own organized dresser too. The shelf you see here is Bugsy's shelf loaded with his special toys, treasures & books.

The hampers are in this corner too.

On the wall opposite the window there are these built in shelves in the corner. They hold special treasures on the top & some special toys and hats on the bottom.

A view of their completed room. Bugy's comforter was still in the laundry.

A view from the doorway.

Under Bugsy's Bed
We purposely chose to have the beds be up off of the floor so we could have storage underneath. The boy's room is narrow & this extra storage is sorely needed. I was excited to find some black laundry baskets at Walmart for under $3 each. They seem to fit in the room better & add inexpensive storage.

The GeoTraxs the boys were given by a generous friend fit perfectly underneath Elvis' bed.


Bugsy's bed

Elvis' bed.

The view from the other side of the room.

And one more view.

Happy again about the new-to-them TV. We actually gave them the TV from our room & took the other b/c it was too big for their dresser. =0) They didn't care. They were simply excited to have it in their room!
(Yes, all of our televisions are older & the old fashioned kind. No flat screens here! We don't mind one bit!)

Elvis' shelves. I think this shows a lot about who he is.

Everyone was tired & some were acting a bit silly. =)


Daddy hooking up the little DVD player.


She loves to crawl into beds & snuggle in.

They watched an episode of Clone Wars to "toast" their new room.

The family room was done as well. The couch was cleaned out & under, the books were organized, all the junk came out of the corners & the toys were sorted & purged. Can you hear my sigh of relief?

Nice & neat. At least for tonight. Lol.
(In case you are wondering the baskets are clothes that we are either getting rid of or storing. Those baskets will be out of my way before the weekend is over. Yahoo!)

This TV seems HUMUNGOUS to me! This is our $20 deal. I'm very, very happy with it & feel blessed to have found it.

Before I wrap this up I want to tell you a little about the boy's new beds. We knew the boys needed beds but all the ones we looked at were either way too flimsy for our active boys or way out of our price range. Bunks beds weren't an option as this nervous Mama didn't like the close proximity to the ceiling fan. We decided to have Dave make beds for them. We talked about a simple & sturdy design. Dave consulted our talented friend Joe & came up with a specific design. The plan was that Dave would buy the lumber, bring it over to Joe's workshop & they would make the beds together. Joe, out of his generous heart, insisted that Dave stay home the few nights he wasn't working & Joe would cut out all the pieces for the beds. Wow. What a gift! Dave brought them home when they were ready. He painted (with Sweet Pea's help), and put them together when we were ready to set up their room. I am beyond pleased with how they turned out. It's exactly what I had pictured in my mind. I'm so proud of both Dave & Joe! Many thanks to Joe too! You are a great friend!



Hey There!

I hope to get Christmas & before Christmas photos posted in the near future. We have been incredibly busy as I'm certain most if not all of you have been too. Dave & I have both been working outside the home in addition to the usual Christmas hustle & bustle. I have been working childcare jobs & worked a week of TKD camp. Dave is still working both his full time job & his part time job. His part time has increased in hours. No surprise as it's in retail & it's the busy season. =0)

This week after Christmas we have been scrambling to get the house in some sort of order. I had hoped to do a big clean out & organize project this summer but was too busy working jobs outside the home & planning school. Summer? What was that? Anyway, I am going to post some pics to show you what we've been up to this week. It will be nice to start the New Year with some organization in the house. Yay! How about you? Are there any projects you have been working on?


Thursday, December 8, 2011

Gingerbread Houses

Last year after Christmas we bought these gingerbread house kits. Boo bought her own & I bought one for the boys to share. Sweet Pea didn't want one & Princess was too young. It's taken us almost a year but they have finally been made. To be honest I'm glad we waited because it's more fun as a prelude to Christmas.

Bugs starts to frost the house. Elvis sulks because Bugs gets to go first. Lol.


Boo is hard at work on her house.

A snow covered roof.

My 3 men.
Elvis joins in & is now a happy boy.


The purchase.


Princess wanted to join in too.

Bugsy's favorite part was the candy.
He swiped quite a few pieces when we weren't looking. LOL!

Boo carefully plans her design.


Taking turns.



Ta-dah!
She added some more later too.

Proud artists.
*******
These were such fun!
I may have to find some on clearance again this year & hide them away for next year. =0)