Since Torrey Has Been Gone for 5 Days ...

Torrey has been at camp for the last 5 days. Dean just left to bring her home. We sure have missed her ... but, we have been busy, busy, busy since she has been gone!

Torrey's room has been "yuck" for quite awhile. When we moved to Texas 3 years ago, we had her room painted blue ... not because it was her favorite color, but because it matched her bedding. And, I was still in charge of telling her what she did and did not like. Ahh, the good old days!

Torrey turned 12 and realized she had "signature colors" ... and they did not involve blue. At all. Which led to perhaps one of our biggest decorating disasters ... painting her room pink ... because pink and green are her signature colors. It was so bad, I never took a picture of her room ... no one needs to see that!

We knew we were going to repaint her room ... especially once we decided we weren't moving. (WHAT?! I forgot to tell you? That is it's own post ... ) Somehow I convinced Dean that it would ONLY be a couple of gallons of paint. HA!While we were in Florida, Jennifer and I visited a scrapbook store where I found this paper and knew right away that the colors would be perfect ... since it featured Torrey's "signature colors". I couldn't wait to show her ... and, was thrilled when she agreed.

Now, to find bedding ... for half of a millisecond I actually toyed with the idea of making it myself. I have been looking for something (anything!) pink and green for about a year and hadn't found anything I loved enough to bring to Torrey for final approval (oh how I miss the days of me actually being able to tell her what she likes!) And custom bedding is CRAZY expensive. As everything was falling into place I went back to this website and found this ...
(Insert the Hallelujah Chorus here.) The perfect bedding to go with her walls. Which are painted the perfect green. I wanted to cry when I brought the bedding up last night ... Where were you, perfect bedding, last year before the pink paint of the summer of 2008?!

Now, just so you know, the back wall was supposed to have a really cool harlequin pattern painted on it, but we quickly realized that instead of going up one shade to a darker paint we should have gone up 3 or 4 ... there wasn't enough of a contrast so we nixed the idea. It just may have sent Dean and I over the edge anyway!
Here is a close up of her perfect bedding. The perfect amount of pink. The perfect amount of green. Teenagery for Torrey. Grown uppy for Mommy. Perfect!
We have had these letters from Pottery Barn since Torrey was 4. I love anything with her name on it ... partly because her name is hard to find and partly because I love her name.
I found this desk at Target. It matched her other furniture and was the right size. So love the fact that Target has made it its mission to knock off Pottery Barn Kids! HA! (We have a little pink and white stool on order from Target.com ... it will go perfectly with the desk and her room.)
Even her closet got a face lift. Had to ... there was pink paint in there as well!
And, it appears that Daisy Mae enjoys her new home as well. Torrey and Dean came home with this mammoth cage about 2 months ago (I cried ... not because of the size, but because it meant the hamster was staying!) and it was so big it was sitting on her floor. Dean and I picked her up a little shelf while we were at Target ... it is the perfect size and it is able to hold her food and bedding.

So, I guess it cost more than a few gallons of paint ... because when we started this odyssey, Torrey had a twin-size bed. Somehow little girl wound up with a queen-sized bed (that is so so so comfortable!), new bedding, a new desk and a new shelf for the hamster I don't like. We still need to find a few pink thingys to finish out the room ... but, I think she is going to love it!

Which brings me to the reason Dean and I are the best parents EVER ... she has no clue she is coming home to a brand new bedroom. She knows she is getting a new bed and she knows we are going to paint her room and she knew about the bedding (had to get approval ... remember?!), but we told her we would do it when she goes on her Mission Trip to San Antonio next month. Can't wait to see the look on her face ... I will try to get a picture!