i’m so lucky to have a special room full of my favorite things. a place to play, a creative space. but until recently my room has been a frustrating mess. this past year it has been rearranged, reorganized, messed up,cleaned and then messed up again. with my busy schedule it had become my dumping spot. when people would visit i would close the door tight and announce that my room was closed to the public.
jon understands how badly i want a cool clean studio. as a special treat he often cleans it for me. it is always a surprise, just like the "while you were out" tv show. this has been my anniversary, birthday and valentine gifts. he has often cleaned it "just because" for no special reason. i have gone to bed at 1:00am frustrated with my mess and the next morning awakened to a perfectly clean room. the room redo is usually accompanied with flowers and sweet note encouraging me to be more creative. telling me to give more time to myself. each time he does this my heart melts and i feel like one very lucky girl!
problem is a few days later, it’s a big mess all over again! since i haven’t set it up and i don’t know where things go, it just becomes the mess it was before. i recently bought a book on how to make charms by sally jean. inside there were photos of her studio. it was full of romance, shiny details and antique blue treasures. ideas and inspiration started to brew. i leaped into a room redo without much thought or planning. i pulled furniture and favorite things from other rooms. i dug through boxes in the basement. i saved my distressed dresser from the giveaway pile. i went to the thrift store and antique store to find containers. and i treated myself to a yummy candle, a new rug and a turquoise mirror.
am feeling a little nerdy about posting photos of my room. but I was so excited, i felt the need to share. am proud to report that it has been 10 days and my room is still organized. am a bit worried about messing it up again. but i’m eager for a different kind of mess. no more clothes and shoes, bags of books and piles of bills. am ready for a fabulous creative mess of pretty paper scraps, sticky brushes and sweet photographs.
while cleaning away last week, i thought about my childhood room. it was usually a disaster zone. my mom would let it go for so long. then the hammer would come down. she would take everything in my room and make a huge pile right in the middle. once she even posted a notice on my door from the "gilson health department". the letter informed me that my room had been condemned until the pile was cleared and the room was clean. it stated "if the tenant (ms. heather gilson) does not comply she will be put on restriction until further notice." the huge pile and official notice completely freaked me out! i started cleaning immediately. i arranged my stuffed animals and plastic model horses on my bookshelf. on the walls i hung my latch hook horse rug and michael jackson poster. i even tidied up my fort under the bed. once it was all done i asked if i could eat dinner alone in my new room. as i sat in my little rocking chair with dinner in my lap, watching my very own fuzzy black and white television, i admired my new room. i thought about how much i enjoyed having it clean and how i wished it could magically stay like that forever.
(i kind of feel like that little girl right now.)