Absolutely no acid was taken on this trip.
|28.Jun.2010Back in January we began painting in Emelie’s room. We began with an small, inset, desk area – the color was Behr’s Atomic Tangerine.
The paint job was excruciatingly slow. The tan, chalky paint blown-in by the contractor mixed like a powder with the first layer of paint. The second layer didn’t look much smoother.
Finally, the third layer was agreeable, but by then we (and by “we”, I mean “ME”) were SICK OF IT!
Jeff, the hero he ALWAYS IS, gave us a 24-hour break while he stepped-in to sand the wall on the other side of Em’s room. This wall was designated a chalkboard – yes, the ENTIRE WALL.
For those of you who followed me when we lived in our other home – we did the same thing to a kitchen wall.
The Atomic Tangerine and floor-to-ceiling chalkboard wall were completed.
At that very point in time all the creative juice, youth-like energy and “free” time oozed out of my very existence and I took a 5 month siesta.
In the meantime, Emelie’s room retained cans of paint, paint supplies and a ladder. I gotta hand it to the girl, she can handle clutter and disarray in a way her Momma never can.
Fast forward to this past Friday evening. I went to bed with a promise to Emelie (and myself) that SATURDAY would be the day we would COMPLETE the remaining walls. What color? Behr’s Intense Teal.
My first impression when Emelie selected her room swatches was that Punky Brewster herself could not have vomited up this palette of colors.
That said, anything (and I do mean anything) would have been better than the tan walls that have surrounded us this past year.
And so it began.
Furniture was moved and painter’s tape went up. We performed our fancy clear painter’s caulk trick for miraculously straight lines on extremely textured walls.
As Emelie so descriptively tells people who visit, “My walls have zits.”
Ahhhh…teenagers; gotta love’em!
The ladder, once more, was put to use for something other than a clothes rack.
Seeing the colors come together so well made me almost feel bad I ever questioned Emelie’s sanity.
I even cancelled our appointment to get her eyes checked.
My concern that the room would be too dark was quickly dismissed.
I tend to forget how much light pours in through the three tall windows in Em’s room.
We moved this circular mirror from another room in the house, hung up some of Emelie’s hats, and a few other things…
A late night trip to Target turned-up a comforter, some black, cotton-jersey sheets, and an LED reading light.
I can’t remember a single trip to Target that couldn’t “turn up” something.
Target is so dependable.
I curse Target.
The apple green dry goods pantry has now moved to the schoolroom.
In its place is the school room table…now modified with a package of colored Sharpies.
Toward the end of last year, Emelie began working through her studies in her own room. She already expressed an interest in continuing that into this year – this table is long enough to do schoolwork at one end and have a sewing machine/crafting supplies going on at the other end.
Next up is Meredith’s room – we’ve got the walls lathered in pink, but apparently she has plans to add in some red and zebra print. WHOOHOO!
Oh my.
I have plans for our my schoolroom too.
Oh what a colorful summer this will be!
29 Comments
Pam
so so so fun!!!! once i move into my own house i know who i’ll be running to for paint advice! :p
bethany actually
You mentioned Punky Brewster and my heart went pitter-pat. I used to LOVE Punky Brewster. Ah, the 80s. :-)
The Wife of a Dairyman
Just LOVE the color combination of the orange and teal….great pick:) And what a lovely, room…tons of space and light! Thanks for sharing :)
cheri s
woowee! Your home looks amazing! I love how you encourage your kids to be individuals, and embrace them for who they are!
Tori
Those colors really do complement each other surprisingly well. We have a lot of painting to do in our house still as well. Most of the walls are pale yellow…they just don’t do it for me! Hopefully this summer…
Naomi
it’s cool that you allow your kids’ tastes to rule their rooms. i like the colours emelie chose, even if i wouldn’t have chosen them for me. i want a yellow/goldish room, the colours one would find in the mediterranian area, for my bedroom some day.
Lee
I echo Naomi’s sentiments (except for the gold :). Good for you for letting her do her own thing.
Amy
what a great room! where’d you find her bed frame? it’s just the ticket for our spare room downstairs.
OMSH
Amy – The bedframe was made by her daddy. :)
Mom2Seven
You are braver than I am at putting color on walls. My walls remain neutral, and I add color with fabric instead. I find it easier for me to change fabric than to re-paint an entire room. Sometimes I wish I could bring myself to add some color, but every time I do it, I regret it. I guess Emelie has better taste in paint than I do!
Kiersten
FABULOUS!!!!! My mom wouldn’t let me paint my room when I was a kid… pretty sure it is the source of all my problems as an adult :)
Did that comforter come in king size??? I love it!!
OMSH
Kiersten – It is available in Full/Queen, but I don’t think King was there. So sorry. :(
Poppa Ken
I love your room Emilie!!!! I took a peek yesterday while you were at the pool and I was sitting your TV repairman. Great job! Great color selection! There’s more creativity going on in your room than in most business offices around the world. You Rule Girl! Of course you know, you inherited this gift from your mother.
PK
Lindy Leigh 56
I love it! Good for you…I painted on wall of my room zebra stripes when I was a teen…I turned out okay :)
bethany
Love it! I had zebra stripes in my teens too, with a cow reclining on one of them (long story). Had a teal/lime room once too, which gave great dreams. Colorful summer indeed, enjoy!!
s
ok, I live under a rock, but what kind of window shades are those? They seem to float vs just to top down…
LOVE the colors of the room – what a creative daughter and an awesome mom to let that creativity blossom!
OMSH
S – You don’t live under a rock; I only discovered these when I started looking at blinds. They are honeycomb shades and they open top-down or bottom-up. There are very thin, and very strong, cords that suspend it all. You can view them in the pleated shades gallery at Budget Blinds.
Jen
Oooooooo! I LOVE it!!
That girl’s got some good taste.
Michelle
Absolutely awesome.
Annie
Hey!
I LOVE the colors and the way the room came together. We are getting ready to move and will be tackling some painting jobs in our new house.
I looked at the photos of the striped walls on Flickr, but was a bit confused about the clear, paintable caulk. Did you just smear it on the edge of the tape you were painting on and then it came up with the tape?
If you don’t want to explain and would rather just take a trip to FL to paint with me, that would be most agreeable!
Thanks!
Annie
OMSH
Annie – You tape off your lines and then squeeze out a bit of the clear painter’s caulk on your finger and smear it right over the edge of the tape – about 1/4″ over the edge of the tape on the textured service.
When you paint, you will paint up to and over the edge of the painter’s tape about 1/4″. After you’ve painted, slowly pull the painter’s tape off.
It takes painter’s caulk a while to dry, but you don’t want to leave the tape on overnight – for the clean line, you still want the paint to be somewhat wet when the tape is removed.
Hope that helps!
Heather G
love it! And WOW what an artist she is!!!!!
Amy
I love, love, love, love it!!! Did I say enough loves??? OMG it is so cute!! Great choice, Emelie!!
Can’t wait for the photos of Meredith’s room! Sounds like it will be rockin adorable, too ;-)
Heather @ Side of Sneakers
I absolutely love her room!! I think the colors are great- I don’t know what that says about me ;) and the HUGE chalkboard is just awesome. I painted EVERY single room in my house when I moved in- I really wish someone had told me that caulk tip. AHH!!
Becca
I absolutely LOVE those colors together! When we painted our youth room at church, we choose like 10 different color combinations for the youth to choose from and it was a resounding win for that same teal with a neon-like lime green. I thought it would be awful, but it’s actually quite perky and bright, which is good for a basement room with no windows :-D
kim @ mommyknows
The room looks great Emelie.
The post title made me laugh! #1 –> like you’d take acid and #2 –> like you need it.
Dana Carlton
Oh, I love Emelie’s room! We are about to re-model my 13year old daughter’s room. She has requested orange(her favorite color since the 3rd grade)red and black. I love the chalkboard wall, maybe we could do that to add some black. We are also starting our first year of homeschooling. I love the table/desk in Emelie’s room and your school room. May I ask what they are and did you have glass cut to fit over the top? Love your blog. Thank you.
nancypants
Oh my. I love it. How fun a personality is she?! And I can’t believe how she has grown (I haven’t been here in a while). She is a young LADY now and so pretty. :^D You must be one proud Mama. And so cool for letting your kids express themselves in their room design. I love it.
Beth @ Moose In My Yard
How on earth did you find a comforter that had the exact colors of your walls in it? You must have had the comforter first, or you are incredibly lucky. Love it. I wish I were as liberal with letting my kids pick paint colors. I let them pick the color, but I told them that I got to pick the particular shade of that color :)