The Fun of a Room Refresh

My middle kid wants to move. Despite being close to school. Despite being close to grandparents. Despite having some adored neighborhood friends. She wants to move. And she brings it up fairly often.

I’ve explained our proximity to good things. I’ve told her we’re never going to move because of a little thing I can’t explain at a seven-year-old’s level called interest rates. I’ve told her that moving when she was five months old and her sister was under two was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I’m never doing it again. But I hadn’t really asked her why she wants to move.

As it turns out, what she was really looking for was a change.

Now, as an Enneagram One, I do not like change. I like to pick what I think is right and stick with it. And I also like our house a lot (though to be fair, I would change our kitchen in a heartbeat if given an extensive renovation budget). So it hadn’t ever occurred to me that wanting to mix things up a little might be behind this desire to move. Or that I could nip this request in the bud with a simple room refresh.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Once I identified the actual problem, I suggested that we could find a small change we could make together. (No, getting her own room wasn’t an option.) I was thinking like a little desk update. She was thinking painting their shared room (which is a bonus room with funky ceilings and lots of random nooks.)

I started the compromise process with nightstands. It really was past time to get the girls a place other than a basket on the floor to keep books. She countered with nightstands plus rearranging the layout of the room. So we went with nightstands and lamps and rearranging the layout of the room.

The Shopping

The next day, I picked the girls up from school with the offer to “just go look” at TJ Maxx. They jumped at the offer. And of course, since I wasn’t planning to make a purchase yet, we found exactly what I was looking for: two matching white nightstands with cute little baskets (similar to this). I sent my oldest back for another cart and loaded them right up.

Then we went in search of lamps. Once again, the crowded aisles of randomness did not disappoint. We found adorable matching lamps with floral shades that matched the color scheme we already have in their room. I liked that they have switches on the cord, making them easier to reach when the girls are in bed. I also liked that we can plug them into a timer so lights-out happens on time.

After the impromptu purchases, I realized that I had created quite a Saturday morning project for myself. Which brings me to…

The Challenge

Part of the “before.” They are into making “hammocks” right now.

My husband had been out of town when all this discussion occurred. So he wisely excused himself from the narrative, at least for Saturday, claiming “other plans.” But I work out. I have muscles. I can move furniture. And that’s exactly what I did.

The hardest part was probably keeping the toddler occupied. But once he saw the basket of baby doll toys get pulled out, he decided to play “baby school.” He was fresh off his first week of preschool, and it was super cute to see him try to recreate the experience at home. This kept him busy for quite a while with the only downside being he spread his school out in the middle of the floor and got very upset if anyone touched it.

The girls’ beds had been set up in a little nook of their room. I liked this setup because it left a lot of open space in the middle of the room for “shows” and “gymnastics.” (On second thought, that was a terrible idea.) My spatial awareness is not great, so I was hoping that if we pulled the beds out of the nook, we could have the whole nook as a play space. It didn’t quite work out that way, but I think it will still be ok.

Also, as you can see, the room was generally in need of a reset. They are pretty good about picking up daily, but some areas were starting to slide. Literally.

The Process

I started by having the girls take all their baskets out of the cubbies to make the shelf lighter. We also moved as much off the floor as possible. I ran the vacuum over areas of the carpet that didn’t recognize this appliance. And then we started moving things around.

I got the beds shifted while I encouraged the girls to sort through various baskets and areas of clutter. We developed some mid-project regret syndrome at about this point:

The pile in the middle is “baby school.”

This is when I introduced the milkshake bribe into the equation. And things picked up from there. We got baskets sorted. We got American Girl dolls lined up. We straightened books. We moved the tote full of furniture away from the bookcase so the toddler would stop using it as a stepstool to mess with the clock. We finished vacuuming.

My apologies to Molly for posting this.

Look at those vacuum lines!

The Finishing Touches

Once the room was organized, we set up the nightstands and lamps. I gave the girls free rein to put whatever they wanted in their drawers and baskets, and I loved seeing their personalities come out in their choices. My oldest daughter filled her baskets with books and journals. My middle kid stuffed every toy, trinket, and bracelet she could into hers.

I added the lamps and told them they could pick ONE item to live on top of the nightstand with the lamp. I was so tickled by what my middle daughter chose:

Doesn’t everyone need a Minnie Mouse rotary phone on their nightstand?

She wanted to take her hammock down (change!). My older daughter left hers up, so I didn’t get the pristine final pictures I would have liked. But it makes her happy!

I’m just happy we didn’t have to move. And we (mostly) had fun completing this room refresh project together. It was a lot cheaper than whatever the interest rates are these days. And it actually is fun to see their room laid out in a different way! Now if only I could do the same in my kitchen…

Little Golden Book

One of my favorite Little Golden Books is Baby’s House, illustrated by Mary Blair of Disney fame. It’s not Baby School, but it is a pretty great house that Baby’s mom and dad probably don’t want to move out of. After all, Mary Blair designed it.

What’s your stance on change? What lengths would you go to in order to avoid moving? What’s your favorite way to do a fun room refresh? Let me know in the comments—I love hearing from you!

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