When it comes to my kids and their bedrooms, I've always wanted something "special" for them starting with the nursery. The one thing I did NOT want when they graduated to "big kid" rooms is anything even remotely resembling a character theme. When Ryan graduated from the nursery to his first big kid room he was absolutely fascinated with all things airplane related so we chose appropriate paint colors, wainscoting and linens that were suitably non-character but fit into the color scheme. The "theme" was carried predominantly with a cute little wallpaper border, a throw pillow and a couple of small prints for the walls. It was great except for the clouds I painted on the walls but that's a whole other story to be told another day.
Then came the day when we found out we had another baby on the way and it was time to do another nursery and of course, being me, I wanted a new kind of special. Thank goodness we had a girl so I had a great excuse! I spent so much time perusing Internet websites and catalogs that the poor child was here before her nursery was put together! Daddy and Nana were painting white bead board and bubblegum pink walls while I snuggled the baby on the couch downstairs and worried excessively about the paint fumes. It turned out beautiful and our accent on that room was the carousel horses. We never found enough accessories to really pull that off and before we knew it, yet another girl was on the way. She didn't fare so well since she got the existing nursery with the carousel horses gone and the fairies installed but again that's a whole other story. So on to Marielle's big kid room, my vision realized in cherry furniture, sage and mauve wall colors, shabby chic linens and lace curtains.
Everyone was so happy with their rooms and then Kaitlyn outgrew both her crib and her toddler bed. She was adamant about her big kid room however, unlike the other two who really had no choice. I was fine with fairies, I already have a "theme" of fairies and planned on just evolving that into a more mature look. Kaitlyn however had a completely different idea and was successful in wearing me down to get her Tinkerbell Room. "Anything to get her to sleep in her bed instead of mine" I thought as I dropped the items in the shopping cart. I had NO idea of the nuclear explosion of outrage I was about to unleash at home. I had NO idea that characters were so important. Today, I as I was doing laundry, I realized I'm a full fledged convert as I put Tinkerbell sheets in the washer alongside the new Hannah Montana set that Marielle just had to have and wondered whether or not the Transformers comforter would fit in the washer at all. They are so much happier to climb into bed now... except for Kaitlyn. She still prefers the 1000 thread count sheets on Mommy and Daddy's bed but still grins ear to ear as she helps me make her Tinkerbell bed every morning.
