Color-Stubborn Blindness.

I hope you had a spectacular day yesterday!

July 4th is a day we love to celebrate at our house,

freedom so sacrificially won;

and fireworks are the highlight for the kids, of course.
 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~



I told her I would redo her room.

After all,

this was the furniture piece I painted when I was pregnant with her...

 when I didn't know if she was a boy or girl,

but had a strong inkling that she was was a boy.

If you are ever with me,

don't trust my strong inklings...

or my sense of direction, for that matter.

Regardless,

the piece of furniture was a dump-find from an aunt.

It was very helpful and held a good amount of things,

but the doors' hinges had given up

and the drawers had become hostile,

giving me a tug-of-war anytime I decided I needed to open them.

 

When I found this piece at the second-hand furniture store,

I knew it would work better for what we needed.

And she liked it, too,

which hadn't happened with all the other possibilities I had found on Craigslist.

She's very particular,

this one.

Very definite with her likes and dislikes.

"What color are we going to paint things in your room?"

I asked, a bit timidly.

 "I want one wall bright blue,

one wall pink,

and the ceiling purple,"

she said, without hesitation.

 I knew I was in for some difficulties.

I want to let her be herself, feel like she's picking out the things she loves

for the room she will love.

This is what I have waited for since the day she was born,

planning and creating

"her room"

just the way she'd love it.

But my expectations were just that:

mine.

Letting go and letting her be who she is

isn't what I had dreamed of when I had envisioned us creating her room together.

 "It's her room,"

I heard my mother say.

I knew she was right,

but still...

purple ceiling?

I agreed to do the furniture in the colors she wanted.

The walls we'd have to see about later.

Perhaps we could just leave the walls and paint the floor.

I bit my tongue and began working,

per her precise information and decisions.
She wanted horses on the doors,
and picked this horse when I pulled up images on the internet.

He was on a piece of vintage material,
so I printed him up,

scanned him into a program,

enlarged him,

then printed him out, writing with chalk on the backside.

I made another, but reversed the image.

After tracing the picture where I wanted it,

I painted in the lines,
"white horse, purple spots, pink and blue tail and mane,"
yes, ma'am.

As I worked,

I suddenly saw my daughter shining through.

The colors were good together:

fun, vibrant, full of life and energy

and love for simple things.

 It was hard to admit,

but she was right.

Had I done it the way I wanted,

it would have been me,

not her,

and she was so much better for her room.

The horse doors were very hard to open and close.

I hoped a trick I had heard long ago would work:

I broke off a piece of wax from a burned down candle...

and rubbed it on the edge of the door

as well as into the track.

This made them open and close again with ease.

I can't wait to finish the other pieces for her room...

It's going to be a cheerful one!

~*~*~*~*~*~

Thank you to all who linked up last week
for my party








<center><a href="http://pumpkinpiepainter.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Pumpkin,Pie,Painter" src="http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/k573/FarmersWyfe/IMG_0356.jpg"/></a></center>

It is fun to get a peek into what you've got going on.

Last week,

the most visited link was 

Family-Room-Makeover

Emma's husband and son laid beautiful hardwood flooring and,

after years of waiting,

she got some lovely new furniture.

It's always fun to have a long-awaited dream fulfilled, isn't it?

(This was my last link up party).

Linking up to these great parties myself:

Raisinghomemakers.com
Homespunhappenings
Firefliesandjellybeans.com
Nominimalisthere
Gnowfglins.com
Savvysouthernstyle

themodestmomblog.com

Homesteadrevival.blogspot.com

Betweennapsontheporch.net