Writers Gonna Write

Jen Fulwiler, blogger extraordinaire at Conversion Diary, is trying to get back into the swing of blogging after writing a full length, legitimate book.  If I ever wrote a book, I'd probably have to give up blogging because I would have thrown my computer out the window trying to write the aforementioned book.

Jen makes the same excellent point that one of my literature professors made to me, lo these many moons ago: the way to excel at writing is to write.  Start writing the junkiest junk and it will eventually turn into something better than drivel.  The trick is to keep going. 

(Which is also a maxim that can be extrapolated to every other part of life.  But I digress. Already.)

I always want to post here, but then I think: ehh, who wants to hear about the haps around here?  I succumb to the thought that I don't the perfect post content or deep thoughts or well-groomed children or a fantastic home remodel or anything interesting to tell.   

So I'm joining Jen's challenge because if I keep writing, maybe I'll have deep thoughts to share.  At least that's the hope.  

If not, there's always pictures and that's what you get today.  Baby steps, because I wouldn't want to burn out on the first day, would I? 

While I don't have a fantastic house/room remodel, we have been working quite hard to complete the Great Room Switch of '13.

Our house has 4 bedrooms for 9 people.  As it stood a few weeks ago, Fiver and Bun shared a room, Francie and Baby shared a room, Sally and Mopsy shared a room, and Septimus bunked with us.

It was becoming apparent that Francie sharing with Baby was not working out because Baby goes to bed at 6:30.  Francie was effectively locked out of her room until she went to bed much later, even though she still had a lot of homework to do.

When we found out that Francie would be in all honors classes in high school, and we heard about some of the work load, we knew she was going to need a quiet room in which to work. Most days it seems more likely to find gold buried under the house than to find a quiet room here, so we worked out a solution.

Francie would move into the smallest bedroom alone and then Sally, Mopsy, and Baby would share a room (The Girls' Dormitory).  The boys would stay where they were, and eventually Septimus will join them (The Boys' Dormitory).

Since we didn't need to move any furniture, just people, I thought it would be a simple job to repaint the Girls' Dorm and move people over.  I thought we could knock it out in a weekend.

It's like I've never lived here a day in my life.  

But it's done now, and the residents are happy with their accommodations. Especially Francie, who gets the coveted Single Occupancy Status.  

The Before Pictures:

This was Francie and Baby's room, which was a very sunny yellow.  It's not a huge room, but it gets great light and has a deep closet.   There was a crib, a set of bunk beds, and one dresser with a mirror.  

And a metric ton of Francie's junk.  I found papers from 1st grade. 

The bunk beds, crib and dresser pushed together.

View from the hallway

A mere fraction of all the trinkets Francie saved

Cave drawings from the Early Sally Era
(Sally and Francie used to share  this room.)

Cave drawing from the Early Sally Era clearly depicting the demise of a clan
member.

Getting ready to paint.  Sally wanted blue, Mopsy wanted pink, and Baby didn't
have an opinion that we could understand, so we compromised and went with purple.

The After Pictures:

With the new paint and some major clean out, the Girls' Dorm became a very sweet room for little girls.   The color is Sherwin-Williams "Enchant" - just right for little princesses.

View from the hallway

Crib, dresser, and room door,
view from the corner window

Sally is a very deep, very wiggly sleeper, so she still needs a rail.
Mopsy sleeps in one position all night.
Maybe I should just switch them.

The closet (to the right of the crib) is very deep, but narrow, and the door
opened in to the closet and cut down on the usable space considerably.
We removed the door and hung gauzy curtains.  It optimizes space and the
girls have been using it as a "dressing room." 

Found that purple rug in the children's section at Target.  I wanted green, but I didn't want to spend
a lot of green, so I went with what they had.  I still think it looks nice.

Happy dorm residents

Bonus Teen Room photos:

I didn't take any shots of this right right before we moved the little girls out, but this is what Francie's room looks like.  Her room is very small, but it's just enough for her.   We kept the apple green paint, which looks very nice with her pick spread and hot pink rug.  She also gets the best view since her window overlooks the forest and stream in the back of the house.

The top bunk is for guests.
Or folded laundry.

Now I just need to get my own room . . . .