All That's Left is the Finishing Up

Chris and I love to do our own home improvement projects. I have to say that this has taught me the kind of patience that I didn't think I could ever have. (I come from a mother who the night they move into a new house has everything in its correct place AND the pictures hanging on the walls!!) It is rewarding to see the ideas in my head come to fruition with lots of work and time. However, there are a handful of projects that we have done that just need a few finishing touches -- maybe a piece of tile to complete the tub surround, or the caulking of the crown moulding that we put up a year or two ago, or the floor of the garage redo -- you know, we just need to "finish up"!

Colby has been a part of every project we have done in this house. He loves working side by side with his daddy and has more of his daddy in him than me. The biggest part of me he has is his want for everything to be just so. He also has a picture in his mind of what he wants things to look like at the end. He is particular and a neat-freak and I am so glad I have a kindred spirit in my house!! Anyway, Colby has learned patience like no other through the years of projects and has been asking for two years to have a "big boy" room. No, we weren't making our seven year old sleep in a crib -- he had a great red twin-sized bed with a plain blue comforter on it. Granted the rest of his room was still decorated in the jungle theme from when he was born, but hey, it was cute! And I really got great use out of that bumper from his crib when I realized it would stretch all the way across his windows and make a great valance!!

About six months ago we went and bought him a bedroom set that was exactly what he envisioned. When it came time to decide how to "decorate" this room, his daddy came out of him in full force. He wanted a Corvette room! With a little searching through Chris's magazines, I found a nice, neutral comforter set with Corvettes on it. We found a few Corvette posters to frame; but, then my ideas started coming and of course they were going to take some thought and TIME!! What are we going to use for curtains? Wouldn't a picture of dad's car from the back and cut in half and framed look cool over the headboard? How about some Chevy metal signs to hang around the room?

Well, the valances were made using the bedskirt of the comforter set. I cut it up, bought checkered flag material and sewed (yes, I sewed!) ties on top to hang the valance up by. I also sewed a pillow with the remaining checkered fabric. Yeah for me!! I think it turned out really cute -- and I can now tell my dad that I have used my sewing machine for three whole projects!!

The pictures of Chris's car were a little bit of a challenge and that was what was holding up the "finishing up" part of the room. After giving the car it's pre-photo session wash job, Colby and Chris found a great place to park it and took lots of photos of it. Then we had to work with the photo and make sure it could be cut exactly in the center. It of course had to be custom glued onto foam board and a custom acrylic top needed to be cut and then special clips found (As I have said before, Chris sometimes hates my ideas I am sure: they are never easy!!) before we could hang it above his bed. I will have to say it looks awesome and Colby is very proud of his big boy room. This is good because I might not redecorate his room until he moves out!!

Although he was quick to remind us what needed to be finished, Colby was very patient and we finally truly finished up his room two weeks ago!! So, here are some pictures of before and after.

BEFORE:


AFTER:



A close-up of the comforter: