Skip to main content

Modes of Play

Charlie got a new video game called Minecraft.  It is a rare innocent game where players can build worlds and houses and other fun stuff by 'mining' their way to crafting and building houses.  You can also play in two modes: Survival or Creative.  Not to go all philosophical, but I feel like this is such an analogy on life.  Right now I am definitely operating in Survival mode.  (I can't even think of the word that I should be using for analogy - my brain just isn't working.)  No matter how many buttons I hit, I can't get out of the Survival mode.  As desperate as I am to be in Creative mode, it just won't let me in.  But I know it will come around again and I'll be ready.
The good news is that a few weeks back I was in Creative mode and I captured it in pictures.  Here is a project that Annie and I worked on December 26.  It took about all day and I don't know why I underestimated the power of contact paper to really work me out.  (I didn't learn that day either because another kitchen project involved contact paper too!  More on that later this week...hopefully:)
Annie is using my old dresser from when I was little.  Yes, it's been around the block, so to speak.  So here it is before:


This is the way it was since she was a baby and I painted it with her monogram in the middle.  She has outgrown this look.  There isn't usually a staple gun out on her dresser either.

After trying to sand it with a sander I got out the scraper and it worked relatively quickly.

Underneath it all you can still see the brown flower decals my mother added to it when I was little.  She wonders how I come up with ideas - she was the original creative mom!

We are going for a more modern look, so we used The Macbeth Collections designs shelf liner, aka contact paper, which I picked up at HomeGoods for about $4.  


It took a lot of work to get it smooth and close to even on the drawers. :)

Then we covered the top, put the drawer pulls back on and voila!
We are going to look for different pulls though... We did top it off with a mirror painted to match.  I'll try to post that pictures later.  



So here is how it looks with her new rug, (HomeGoods, $39!!) and the basket that held her gifts at Christmas.  

 
As if that didn't take long enough, we decided to tackle her closet.  (If this is the door, can you IMAGINE what the inside looked like?!)
All cleaned out and ORGANIZED!

Contact paper as wallpaper.
This was another fun thing we did using paper cupcake holders from, you guessed it, HomeGoods.  By poking a small hole in the center you can push through a light from a light string.  I don't know how you find these particular cupcake holders because I threw the box away, but these are not just wrappers, there is a base that makes a cup.

It casts a magical glow over her new "big girl" room.   And I have to admit that she more than just a big girl, she's becoming a young lady.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What Is Grief?

 What is grief? It is standing in the shower and  you are suddenly crying and then you are sobbing. And you barely thought about it in the two days since you heard  your Uncle Rich passed. You thought about your dad and your cousins and your aunt and how sad they must be and you checked in on your dad. "I'm so so sorry." And you went to work and you did what you had to do. And now you are ready for another day and you are thinking of all the things and then you are crying and you are little again and vulnerable  and your heart hurts. And you remember everyone. Medford Lakes and a swimming pool and laughing so hard  and dancing around a Christmas tree and fireworks by the lake at night. And you can see his face and all their faces smiling Aunts and uncles and cousins and brothers who aren't here. And you remember his voice, deep and laughing, and you remember his kindness and his advice. "Are you taking vitamin C, Joannie?" You see all their faces and you mis...

Extra Layers

 I love this time of year, the After time. Don't get me wrong. I love the holidays too. Having the kids home for weeks and sharing their daily lives again is awesome. I love the decor and the celebrations and the food and even all the preparation in the kitchen and in the stores, collecting and gathering and creating. It's wonderful - the most wonderful time of the year. But what I really appreciate is this After time of year, the time after the grandiose holidays and the days before the spring air begins to breeze in. Winter - the Heart of Winter. The cold wind blows. The sun is low. The days are short. I don't even mind the darkness, it's a good excuse to go to bed early and wrap myself in books and tea and a heating pad. (I can't help it - I'm not young anymore.) And what calls to us is extra layers. Extra blankets on the bed. Extra sweaters and woolen mittens. Thick socks and furry slippers. A cozy wrap, a long scarf. Oatmeal in the morning. A bowl of hot so...

Changing Seasons

Today is the first day back to school after break.   We are breaking into my mother’s house to steal an Ugly Sweater at 5 in the morning because it is Ugly Sweater Day and we have driven home from a gathering through the night up and down hilly, unlit, back roads where we saw a family of deer who spoke to us to tell us we were on the wrong road and they directed us back to a traffic-filled highway and on the roof we have tied some old evergreen branches that we will try to form into a tree because we forgot to get a Christmas tree when we had to take my son to the emergency room because he was spouting blood from his finger and while we were there my other son had a bloody nose and they were going to take him into surgery… But then I woke up.   The first day of school is not until tomorrow.   Today is January 4.   It is the Changing of Seasons around here.    Changing from the season of sleeping in and wearing pajamas, drinking 5 cups of coffee, some w...