Lupine's room. The magic realm of a four-year old. Ethereal magical fairyland.
I spent some time in her space last weekend cleaning, simplifying, and rearranging. And it is wholly transformed. I moved out many "treasures" that have yet to be missed and rearranged a bit.
In Lupine's room you will find...
~ Costumes in the closet, organized on pegs beneath a shelf for shoes.
~ Dolls: arranged on a single playstand beside her dresser. Too many, but we're whittling the crowd down, one by one.
~ Play Kitchen: the play food is gone but I left a single jar of acorns and Lulu added a jar of wooden beads. Two pans. Four tea cups. She cleans it up herself when she is done playing. I'd say we hit the magic combination there, seeing as when we had a wooden refrigerator full of wooden food she told me "I'm just too young to put it all away. It is always a mess."
~ Girl Treasures: On her dresser top are her adored music boxes and ceramic figurines.
But that is all. I moved out the matryoshka dolls that I loved but were always toppling onto the floor. I quietly removed her jewelery box that was constantly vomiting its contents onto the table and floor. I removed the superfluous decorations and opted for a fair trade greeting card from the coop in a second hand frame. That $5 card was the most expensive part of her room reworking. Even the curtains were free, an old bed sheet and some vintage fabric from my stash.
Her bed is an antique Jenny Lind bed that has been in my parents' basement for as long as I can remember. My mom offered it to me and I warned her that I was going to paint it pink. She gave it to me anyway, despite her antique-savvy better sense. (Thanks, Mom.) And the bed itself is just an old futon on a wooden frame pushed against the wall to hold the headboard in place. Who says we need fancy new things?
I have spared you the before photographs, but it wasn't pretty. And now? We have not cleaned in a week. Really. When your things are precious and few you take care of them. Even at four.
P.S. The walls are Benjamin Moore Hibiscus, the bed and ceiling are Benjamin Moore Pink Piggy (or Little Piggy... I don't recall).