My mom has been my hard-working helper as Eric's room progressed. She really listened to my description of my vision for his room, and she helped to hunt and gather color swatches, was my sounding board as I sent her online links of wallpaper samples and crib bumpers, and made suggestions as to how to incorporate my love for red into the room. We work really well together, and it is so helpful to have someone with whom to brainstorm and refine. She also helped me paint the walls, the bookcase, the letters, and the shelf, and she wallpapered single-handedly. She hung up everything on the walls, and she has fielded calls made from the middle of aisles in Joann's as I debated with myself about various decorative elements. So many kudos to my mom!
Of course we involved Katie as much as possible. I have asked her for her opinion countless times, and we had her help paint.
I am so excited about his room and even more excited to bring him home to it. There are some finishing touches to be added: my mom is working on a valance, a quilt, and two cross stitches. Yet for the most part, we have now arrived at a point at which his room feels mostly complete.
Pictures follow:
Amie and Katie work on painting some of the walls green.
Katie helps to paint Eric's name letters, shelf, and bookcase red.
The entrance to Eric's room, as we walk through the door.
A view of Eric's room from the door. I wanted to choose bold colors for Eric and yet also to have his room reflect peacefulness and lightness...a balance of warm and cool colors.
Eric and I stand by his bookcase. The bookcase was one of our old brown ones, which we painted red. I love how it turned out, and it was very much cheaper than buying a new one. Eric owns only two books of his own so far: a book I bought for him the other day and a book I am passing down to him from my Uncle Eric (which Uncle Eric gave to me one Christmas). I tried to put some of Katie's baby books on the shelves, but she took them right back to her room as soon as she noticed them. :-)
A view from the mirror. We can see his hamper in this picture, as well as his tall light. I trimmed the shade in red ric-rac to give the red accents in this room more presence.
Katie and I in Eric's room.
A view of our glider/cozy chair corner. I trimmed the lamp in the same ribbon that we used to hang Eric's name letters. Katie picked out the blanket on the chair herself. My mom helped me assemble the glider and the changing table (what can't my mom do?? I don't know what I would have done without her on this project)! She is making two cross stitches for the walls by the glider and a valance for the window. Those will probably merit their own pictures later.
A view of Eric's changing table and his name letters. To the right of the changing table is the door again, so this picture takes us full circle.So again, a big thank you to my mom for all of her physical and intellectual help on this project! Now it is time to start filling the changing table with diapers and ointment and to enact the finishing touches!
