Vida. Risa. Amor.

It seems I'm back in the "project-mode" of life again. Since it was literally pouring buckets of rain all last week I took the opportunity to start part one of the "Palacios-Kids-Trading-Spaces" project. Our home has 4 bedrooms and the only one by itself downstairs happens to be Josie's bedroom. We have slowly come to the realization that for a dozen different safety reasons, and the rare and probably unlikely chance she might figure out how to sneak out someday, we'd rather have our teenage-almost-high-schooler-daughter upstairs! Another reason is that teenage boys are now the new crowd of "friends" these days and a "hang-out" room wouldn't be such a bad idea in a hope to draw kids over to our part of the neighborhood once in a while. The end set up will be that the girls will share a room, the boys will share a room, and the downstairs room will become an "everybody room"...(that design plan is still a mystery at this point).

Painting is fun for me, so the best way to start was to repaint the boys bedroom. The color of Aydan's choice was an-in-your-face-red; (not a one coat kind of job red either). Paint is really not cheap these days but we lucked out in that our color of choice was free paint my sister wasn't going to be using. Once the painting was completed in every sitting / squatting / standing / reaching position known to man, about 4 big pieces of furniture had to be switched. I know I'm not strong, but I do have determination. Your back will thank you later if you take the drawers out first, THEN move the dressers. Mattresses are not light to lift out of a form fitting top bunk bed either by the way. The squeaky bed Lanie had been sleeping on was a 90's IKEA loft bed that is "shockingly" no longer sold in their stores anymore. The 4 inch hexagon screw key thing they give you for the 150 screws just doesn't quite cut it....in fact, I don't even think there's a good name for that loser, failure of a tool. It's awesome when you keep dropping the thing on the floor when you're standing on a ladder and you can't find it. Halfway through the process, I remembered about a drill bit I could have used instead. Some of the screws have had to be replaced as they have been bent quite literally in half or stripped from the drill or pounded on by a hammer in desperation from the several times we've assembled and disassembled it. This bed and I have had these frustrating issues over the years and I told it that the next time we took it apart, that it was the very last time it would be a bed in the Palacios house. It is now waiting in the garage for our next garage sale. Adios cama feya...que te via bien. The boys bunk beds are newer and are also from IKEA, but luckily my sidekick helper Lanie and I had it taken apart and put back together within an hour or so...(minus a few swear words here and there...I really took the time to let all the uncooperative screws and my failure of a drill know what I thought about them...there was even a lengthy "speech" on my opinion that all the people who design IKEA bunk beds need to be fired). My Lanie loves me anyway.

I have a strong need for all my furniture in each of the bedrooms to coordinate, so after a few cans of black spray paint I was proud to match Aydan's desk and shelves to the color scheme. Swapping the stuff in closets probably should have been saved for another rainy day but since I like to see the whole finished project I pressed on...I just had to get that vacuum out to suck up all the dust build up...the treasures you find! Vacuuming is my favorite thing next to organizing...next to suntanning...next to Diet Chery Coke...
I just love to vacuum. My family knows.

My boys are pretty easy to please and they are super excited about their "new" room. I learned that I probably should have waited for my man's help on the furniture but since he was working another 60 hour week and because of the fact that we know we don't get along when we move furniture together, I just decided to go for it. When I get it in my head I want to do something, I usually don't like to wait, and waiting for help is even harder. I also don't think I'd recommend attempting a project of this size again when all the kids are home. Living off of frozen pizza, ramen noodles, and macaroni and cheese can really only fuel you so far in life. Next week I'll work on the girls room and I already know they have a list of opinions on paint colors, bed spreads, curtains, and furniture arrangements....(wonder who they got that from!)