In a previouse entry I had made it sound like I had very little to do with the house we lived in. In some aspects that is the case. However, with time and patience I was able to do a few things here and there to add my touch.
The two younger boys were sharing a room when I first married my hubby. Our house had very little storage, and walking int their room made this very much apparent. Many times I would find their things spilling out into the rest of the house. It drove me crazy...them too now that I think of it. I would get on them about keeping their things in their room while they were not in use, and I think they would look at their room and think: "Yeah, but where do we put it? It is out of our way here."
After racking my brains I remembered how in college I had had a bed on stilts. Under the bed I had a small dresser and a bunch of storage. I ran this idea past my husband, he liked it. The boys would still have plenty of room to play.
We presented the idea to the boys. One agreed to "try" it. The other however would have nothing to do with the idea.
My husband and I went and bought some blocks, dressers and shelves to put under both of the beds, just in case the one against it changed his mind. When we returned home we went to work on the first bed. The child agreed that it was pretty cool and invited his sibling in to see it. When the second one saw what a difference it made he opted for the transformation too.
What was funny to me was that the child who put up the most opposition in the whole thing ended up getting his own room a year later and asked to keep all of the stuff to lift his bed off the ground. It was more of a thumbs up for me than anything.
One other example of me being able to make some of the space "mine" was in the living room. I had mentioned the wall paper and my feelings towards it in a previous entry. We had vaulted ceilings in the living room that reached up to ten feet. The wall with the vaultiness was bare. I was trying to think of things I could do without tearing down the paper since that was not an option.
At one point my hubby had talked about building a library down stairs. While it all sounded good I kept thinking "everyone congregates to the living room, for homework, family time, reading, etc. It was the comfy room of the house. This brilliant idea formed in my mind of how I could hide some of the wallpaper in that room! Why not put a library in the living room. It was an elongated room and wouldn't make it awkward, in fact I thought it might enhance the room.
Once again I presented the idea to my hubby. At first I don't think he was real excited cause he had really liked the idea of the library down stairs. I mentioned how the older of the two boys sharing a room might not mind a room of his own. The space planed for the library would make a nice space for this son to stretch and be himself. With that my husband joined me and ran with the idea.
We presented it to the boys. They thought it would ruin the living room if we added bookshelves. But when it was mentioned that one of the boys would be getting a room of his own out of this idea, it became a little bit more of a warmer idea.
When we actually had the shelves put together and the books on display, the boy who put up the greatest resistance to the idea confided to me "You know, this actually looks good, and makes the room feel welcoming." Wow! I wasn't expecting that, I could have flown around to room several times without touching ground!
I just didn't want you to feel like I was left feeling imprisoned during the time we lived in that home. I was able to make a few things feel like "mine". There are some things I miss about living out there. I miss looking out the back window and seeing the chickens pecking at the ground. I sometimes miss the drive, it was a time to clear my mind when I drove to town on my own. I miss the neighbors and their country warmth. However, it is nice to be where I am now.
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