This house is...

Do you remember the scene from the Poltergeist movie when Zelda Rubinstein (Tangina) announces that "this house...is clean"? Yeah, well this house... is complete.  Yesterday Kristen and I painted the very last room of my house that hadn't been painted since I moved in.  Or as I like to call it, Haven's room.  I bought the colors well over a year ago when I purchased the colors for my daughter's room.  I didn't know at that time that I would actually need it as soon as I did!  I just wanted to get it painted because I figured I would be too busy once she arrived to paint another room.  So much time has passed since I bought the paint that I really wasn't sure I was going to like it, but I do...I really, really do!

Kristen has been such a great friend.  There are very few people that truly understand what it is like to go through this process and wait and wait and wait some more for your child.  Not only that, but we like all the same things.  How hard is it to find someone you have that much in common?  It's very hard! 

I love her visits for many reasons, but primarily because she encourages me to shop, which is something I just don't do.  I'm so focused on saving, saving, saving.  Honestly, if it weren't for her, neither of my kids would have any clothes or toys in their rooms.  This time she saw the cutest little thing...I couldn't pass it up. It's a name train!

It's ma and babe matching socks.  My fondest memory of my grandmother was of her jewelry box, especially her dragonfly jewelry.  For some reason it fascinated me as a child and although she has been gone for 10 years, I think she would have really enjoyed sharing this journey with me to see her great-grandkids.  So, now I collect dragonfly items because it reminds me of her. 

And now the room before:

The bed is actually a futon that I had folded out for Kristen to sleep on.  I plan on leaving it in the room when Haven comes home.  The bookcase is going to stay (after I have it bolted to the wall).  I will keep this toys and books on the lower levels and I will have little baskets on the upper levels for his clothes.  The desk I will be selling and I will try to find a small crib to put in there instead.

During:

Done:

Although you can't see it in the photo, the ceiling is actually a lighter shade of the wall color.  It really is gorgeous.  It now feels like a very warm room and other boyish nursery colors (like brown and green) will easily fit into the room.  I'm still planning on doing a jungle theme, but I haven't figured out exactly how I want to do that.  I'd love to do a mural at some point, but I'm not sure I have enough talent for that.  I'll keep you updated, but at least I have the first (and biggest) step out of the way.

As I told promised Kristen, this is the last room of mine you'll ever have to paint! 

I also got one final finishing touch for my daughter's room.  You'll have to check her blog later today to see what I added.