where i spent my weekend

Melanie and I spent an extraordinary amount of time painting this little closet. What compelled us years ago to paint it the same color as the room?!! never again. The closet will remain white forever and ever. It took an eternity to paint.

See the little door in the bottom left of the photo? Years ago the girls talked Dave into building a secret passageway between their rooms. The door is in the back of their closets. It is a double door system so no one can barge through unless they both unlock their doors. They are a little too old to crawl through their secret door much anymore, but once in a while I hear them laughing together and I know where they are. The best thing about it is that they built it during a week that Rachel and Brady were out of town at a summer camp and the girls were able to keep it a secret from them for about 6 months.

Anyway, Melanie was tired of her "little girl lavender" room and we decided to make a color change. It went from lavender to a bold teal with lots of white trim. I was very unsure about the color when she picked it out, and I was very unsure about it when we opened the can. But once it was on the walls, we both LOVE it. She's got a lot of white accessories with a splash of bright red to go with it.

We also updated her little girl furniture and bought a new dresser at IKEA. You know that their furniture is sold unassembled, don't you? I guess I kind of knew that but forgot that detail until I saw the box on the shelf. The box definitely was not the size of the dresser we saw on display in the showroom. Did you know they don't actually have written directions for the furniture at IKEA? The box comes with 37 pieces of wood, a pile of drawer slides, and millions of screws, bolts, and hinges. And no written directions. However, the ingenious system they have devised is an entire set of instructions all in pictures.

I always think we have a pretty smart family when it comes to making things, building things, assembling, repairing etc. I have come to the sad conclusion that only 5 of the 6 of us really are mechanically inclined and spatially gifted. Fortunately, Melanie took charge and I just handed her the tools. I guess that has always been my role whenever we have work projects around here. I always feel kind of smart too because I do get to hold the tools (and I know the names of most of them). But if I were to be honest, I am the weakest link. Usually when we have work projects, you will find Dave in most of the photos. However, he runs for the hills when it's time to paint. He hates to paint. This is where he spent his weekend: That's right. In California. That's how much he didn't want to paint.