The Playroom Project

It seems that it wouldn't be a "break" if it didn't involve a project! I had 10 days off work, certainly there would be a project... lest not forget the 4 Christmas celebrations, no preschool, and Carie was working - which meant another 20 little fingers in addition to our 30. :)

We were feeling so great about our Christmas "readiness", maybe even a little cocky one might say. We felt ready in all areas except, as usual, our Holiday Greetings and that didn't seem to be coming together as we had hoped. So, as you can see, we didn't force the issue and finally a month later our holiday greeting was completed.

But in the mean time we (or maybe I just should say "I") decided to tackle a fairly decent sized project... the play room. It was a mess, in more ways than one, and I dreaded the thought of adding to that mess in the coming days.

So, it is the Friday afternoon (late afternoon - after all, it was a "work" day) before Christmas and I gut the play room. All toys and shelving, anything and everything that was attached and unattached were piled into the previously clean and organized family room. Oh... and in approximately 40 hours we begin our marathon Christmas season with a full day of celebrations. Yes, we could have easily just shut the playroom door and went on with our lives. But, moving on...

I then prepped for painting. It was then that I was informed on what color I should paint the playroom! Unfortunately the girls' idea on paint colors didn't match to what we already had. I was just going for a face lift, they had grander ideas. Oh, and I was going to use my nifty newish paint sprayer that I had not a CLUE how to use. Brilliant, right? (Yes, you accurately read the sarcasm)

By nights end I had the entire playroom painted and all we had left to do was cleanup. The paint sprayer worked really pretty decent! Yeah, I should wait to toot my own horn until it is all done!

Then the boy woke up and puked... massive amounts. The girls mastered this; the boy though is not normally a puker. Well, you can see where this is going. After everyone and everything got cleaned up from the boy’s stomach exploding everywhere, I rocked the boy while Carie graciously cleaned up my paint mess. But in the end the painting was done, the boy was fine, and the girls slept through it all!

Saturday we spent a fair amount of the day recovering, sorting through toys, cautiously eliminating some items, cleaning, organizing, and returning others to the improved space. Their chalkboards were finally hung on the wall and we created an "art gallery" that will display the many projects that flow through our house.

At the end of the day it all turned out great and it has stayed that way since then. All I could wish for would be a bit more space, oh and somehow magically have the rest of the house follow suit. Carie is working on her magic wand techniques!

A glimpse of the finished product... (The area is kinda an odd shape, essentially an "L" shape. The long hallway is pictured. The room, or base of the L, is off to the left of the space in the first picture.)