The Boys' Rooms - More Than Just Rooms

Today, I thought it would be fun to join Kelly's Korner Blog's Show Us Your Life theme for this week. Which is "Show Us Your Nurseries and Kids' Rooms."

For those that are visiting my blog for the first time, let me give you a little background as to why the rooms are so bare.

Our laundry room is located in the center of our second floor. After a day of winter cleaning and redecorating our home from the holiday season over to spring season, I decided to finish a couple of loads of laundry in our laundry room (which is located in the center of our second story) to finalize the pristine state my home was in. I put in a load of laundry to dry and told my husband I was going out to get dinner (since I didn't want to muck up my stove after scrubbing it down for over an hour). About 30 minutes later I received a call while I was waiting for our dinner and it was my husband who said something that will forever engrave itself into my memories and essentially changed our lives, "the house is on fire." So simple, yet so strong.

Confused, worried, and understandably upset I drove home with tears running down my face, my words spilling out of my mouth in incomprehensible to anyone other than myself. The seemingly short 15 minute drive home seemed liked an eternity as I hit every single red light. I waited helplessly as I watched fire engines continuously race past me.

As I turned into our adjacent street, I popped out of my car and screamed, "where are my children!" One by one they walked out of concerned neighbors homes. I held them tightly as I breathlessly cried over their shoulders. It was a moment - a scene really - that only a mother could appreciate. My children were okay. My family was okay.

I composed myself well enough, and walked down the sidewalk, past the fire engines situated by my home. And there, I saw the home I built for the past 4 years burn into flames.

It was a dryer malfunction in conjunction with poor ventilation. It was 30 minutes that changed our lives forever. It was the fire that displaced our family for 8 months.

But now, we're close to completion of our home. As a mother, I have every intention to make our home a happy home, to brighten each wall with new memories, to erase the one memory that devastated our family.

I get a lot of crap from the hubs and friends on how bright these rooms are, but if you could understand the psychological turmoil rendered on my kids and my intent to ensure that they feel safe in our home you can understand why I have chosen to bravely go bold and bright, an interior designs faux pas on subtlety. With the hubs, his remarks slide off my back, this is the result of responding to me, "I don't care." when asked, "what do you think?" The lack of participation in the rebuilt of our room, warrants all authority to me. For the folks that quiver at the colors and cringe at the thought of going bright, are folks that don't live in my home. Who don't have to stare at the rooms and think, my sons could have been there sleeping and it would have been too late.

Eight months ago, my sister stayed with us for a short while, but since then has moved on to her own home. Now we've converted her room into my two youngest boys' room. The walls are blanketed in an ocean blue, boasting three windows that the morning sun beams through. Wrought iron rods will bolster up cascading sheer white drapes during the day and beige solar panels will keep the room cool as they sleep. The walls will be bordered in dinosaur shapes and the beds will be blanketed with white covers that sport dinosaur prints in yellow, orange, red, and green. A star night light will hang above their dresser to guide them out if ever needed and the dinosaurs will give them a sense of protection. The room will be playful and inviting, yet serene and calming when needed.

This room used to be my youngest son's nursery. the once sage green and vanilla white walls with bordered espresso lines are now replaced with a tangelo orange, accented by a red that ironically boasts the name Flame. This room is diagonal to the laundry room, the room that received the second most fire damage. Now, it'll be my oldest son's room - an hommage to Skaters. The walls will have shadows of Skaters in taupe and brown around the room, so as he lays in his bed at night, it will seem like he's laying at the base of a skater's ramp watching the skaters whiz by him. This is my hope.

Every room in my home is decorated with my heart. Every splash of color reflects my hopes and dreams for my children. Every fixture and piece of furniture is a promise that I will closely watch them and be there.