She'd like walls in purple or turquoise. I tell her she should have been born in the seventies.
She'd like a sunshine yellow room. And I start questioning myself. Can she really be mine? Could there have been a mix up in the hospital where I had her?
 | |
| Make it stop! |
She has no interest in a vintage farmhouse style bedroom.
She doesn't believe in pale and interesting. She'd like her furniture to be hot pink.
 |
| Gah! |
I can't do it.
I'd like it to be grey.
She's appalled.
I threaten her. ''Don't you want to have your bedroom in a magazine?''
It seems this is not high on the agenda of a seven year old.
So my poor child is deprived of wild colourschemes. When she has her own place I'll gladly go over and paint it as garishly as she likes. I tell her this. But she's seven. She doesn't ever want to leave home. She's going to stay with us forever and marry daddy.
''What about an ice palace room like the girl in 'Frozen'?'' she says.
Hmm. This means white and cream doesn't it? ''Yes I think we could look into that..''
Damn it. It's purple.
''And silver furniture?'' she says.
Well that's grey isn't it? I think we could manage that. Wilkinsons even do a grey paint called 'A touch of silver.' I know it's not what she means but it's not really totally incorrect is it? I'll apologise for misunderstanding her when the furniture is all finished. It'll look so nice she might even like it.
For those of you who think I'm really mean, I HATED my 1930's brown bedroom set as a child. I LONGED to paint it. Replacing it or painting it was out of the question.
It probably made me who I am today!
And I did manage to compromise on one small thing. Her ceiling light is a beautiful vintage glass shade.
Very farmhousey. She wanted a chandelier. And even though I think it's way over the top in such a simple looking room, and what we had was far better, and I'm allergic to bling, I found one on ebay. It even has icicles.
See? I'm mother of the year after all.
Happy Easter.
Stop being mean and give your daughter what she wants. It is Her room and she has to sleep in it. It will be Your room again when she leaves home. All my three had their own colour scheme. I didn't like it, but tough cookies, I got over it. Please remember she is 7 and not 27.
ReplyDeleteI'm not being mean to you, I love your blog, style, and the fact that you do it yourself and don't 'get a man in'. It is one of my regrets that I have no talent or skill in this area (and the fact I live in a house I hate).
Susan x
PS - okay maybe not hot pink, but the 'Frozen' colours are nice.
I know you're right. Perhaps we could do what she wants after the magazine shoot? I think that's the problem, it needs to reflect my taste until then.
DeleteBut definitely no yellow or hot pink!
as a kid, after the Beatles wallpaper I swapped bedrooms with my brother and had an orange bedroom, I'd bought the paint at a local shop. Then we moved house, my new bedroom had green striped wallpaper and I was very unhappy. After a row with the parents one day I painted a 9 foot long red dragon on one wall in oil paints. Much to my surprise they were impressed. Then I found some weird blue metallic paper in a derelict hospital and covered some of the walls with that. The next phase I was 15 and demanded an all black bedroom, which was refused , I compromised on brown and rust wallpaper ( bit like a Wimpy bar...)
ReplyDeleteAnyway ... nowadays most of my walls are white but I have explosions of colour all over the place, but not the bedrooms, sleep is too important. It's the difference between bedrooms being like a bedsit, your little world when you are a kid, and just a bedroom when you have a whole house to play with.
How about getting a bedspread and curtains, maybe a rug in pinks and purples that you can whisk off ( to wash lol) at certain times.
Looking forward to the magazine shoot, and news of the kitchen ♥
Your childhood sounds quite idyllic to me. Well, the part about wandering around a derelict hospital! Gosh, you've had some mad bedrooms.
DeleteMy daughter doesn't play in her bedroom at all. We have all the toys stored in the living room and she likes to be around us. It's just for sleeping.
Hmm, perhaps a madly coloured throw? Or a small cushion? I am one big meanie.
I'm with you Em.......even the fruit from my loins is not going to get colour :-) xxx
ReplyDeleteA woman who understands me!
DeleteGo on you meanie....let her have a yellow bedroom, just keep the door closed. Love the glass lightshade.
ReplyDeleteYeah, so did I. (sniff) I've just remembered the upstairs lighting all needs re wiring so the chandelier installation will be delayed a bit. Honest!
DeleteWhy don't you tell her that everything has to start out white so that you have a blank canvas to begin with (do you see where I'm going here?) ... and then 'take your time' deciding on just the right paint for her - after all she'd want it to be 'just right' wouldn't she?! Hopefully this will give you time enough for the magazine shoot by which time she might have even grown to like it! Oh the perils of being a mum - good luck! Jane x
ReplyDeleteWell, it kind of does have to start out white really so you can see what's going to work. So that's happening anyway. Good idea to stall it all. I think that will happen quite naturally as I need to do the kitchen as a matter of urgency for my product launch. Thanks Jane.
DeleteGah! I completely sympathise! I am currently in the process of trying to decide on a colour scheme before redecorating both my girl's bedroom's. It's so hard! My six year old has been fairly easy, although she insists on having pink walls (ugh) I think I have successfully fobbed her off with very pale pink. You know, so pale it's pretty much white sort of pink.
ReplyDeleteStrangely it's the two year old's room I am having issues with. Her woodwork HAS to go from brown to grey, no question. And yes, we'll call it silver! But her walls? Gah! How am I supposed to know what she'll like? What goes with grey really nicely in not very girly little girl's bedrooms? Someone (helpfully) suggested pale yellow, but I can't help but worry that it's come out looking like your picture above, which (no offence) is my idea of hell - and yours too by the sounds! I'm not sure I can stomach lilac, it's a dangerous colour, so close to the dreaded purple. This shizz is HARD. Really hard.
We are supermother's for asking their opinion surely? And if they have bad taste, surely teaching them early to like the good stuff is a life lesson?
Good luck my dear. And if you crack it, tell us how!!
Kate x
Just Pirouette and Carry On...
Oh dear. With grey, I'd have suggested lilac too. You have to have grey? Because white goes with everything. And as an added bonus it's white!
DeleteI think the mistake may be in asking their opinion in the first place. In my day the furniture was inherited, the grey carpet and lino where the carpet was too small was re used. My dad made the bunk beds and no one would have dreamt of asking for my input or indeed changing anything. But that's a lame excuse really as decorating is what I do.
Definitely gah!
I'm in the let her have some colour camp, Emma Kate. It's her room, you don't have to like it, or any time in there, and you have your say over the rest of the house. Now the magazine photo shoot thing is just a red herring, be honest! You don't want anything but white anywhere, before or after those photos are taken! Some things we take charge of, as parents, because we have to, we have a perspective and an awareness of consequences that kids cannot have. But colours on walls or bed linen or light fittings? There's no need to assert Mummy Knows Best about these things. They (I am scared to write this, you might hate me, so I am whispering) don't much matter. There, said it! You can unfollow me now, I will understand... xxxx
ReplyDeleteHaha! The magazine thing isn't a red herring! And I was approached last week to go on telly with my house! Imagine the shame I'd feel if it was yellow! Anyway, I'm not doing it (yet).
ReplyDeleteBut I might be a control freak.
I might send C off to live with Vix.
Has she got a dolls house to decorate? I was crazy about my dolls houses and spent hours decorating them and moving the furniture about ( sign of things to come) I saw some good make your own dolls houses out of cabinets on pinterest... all I need is a little girl now.
ReplyDeleteShe's not really interested in decorating dolls houses. Nice idea though!
DeleteTV show (congrats!) or magazine, or not, I think it would do justice to your substantial creative talents if you helped your daughter decorate her room in a way that suits her personality and tastes, not yours. That's where the real challenge comes in! And you'll be helping her to foster her own creative vision too. :)
ReplyDeleteMy nephew wanted his room painted BLACK. Understandingly, my sister was appalled. She compromised with a dark blue, and all sorts of cool stars and planets on the walls. He loved it.
Meanwhile, my twin sis and I grew up in a Pepto Bismol pink room (our choice). Pink bedspreads, pink walls. Mom must have cringed every time she came in the room, but we loved it.
Xoxo
Yes but a lot of her tastes are very fleeting! If I do what she wants I will be painting it all out every 6 months. We WILL find common ground, I'm sure. It's just going to take time. And at seven she doesn't really have vision for how it will work with what we've got. Just random ideas. I'm not buying her an antique bed with a half tester over it!
DeleteI think boys may be easier!!! xxx
You have made me laugh, I am with you though we live in a tactically White House, I redecorated my daughters room a few months ago and insisted it all stayed white but I did allow one wall in pink, I chose it carefully to match the Cath Kidston fabric I bought to make her blinds and I introduced the splashes of oink colour with crochet and fabric cushions, maybe you could make yellow cushions for her bed?
ReplyDeleteShe saw the picture I posted above and now dislikes yellow! Result! I think I need to find the WORST examples of what she wants to change her mind!
DeleteHow about if you buy her something like this, fix it to the ceiling temporarily, and remove it for the photoshoot? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Purple-Princess-Bed-Canopy-Mosquito-Net-Fits-Single-to-Double-Beds-/160982163073 Much easier to change when she gets bored too :) xxx
ReplyDeleteShe would LOVE that! My problem is A. Doesn't go with the bed. B. We don't live in the Carribean. But yes, I see what you're saying. And they also come in white! xxx
DeleteI left home to get married at the age of 19. Until I decorated the bedroom in the house hubby and I had bought, I had never had any input into how my bedroom should be decorated. Heck, for a lot of my childhood I lived in army quarters, so my parents didn't have a say in how things should be decorated let alone me as a child!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about how transient children's tastes can be regarding colours etc, which is one of the reasons why I didn't give my children carte blanche about their rooms.
A little guided input perhaps is what I should be aiming for then. I'm glad it's not just me!
DeleteI know sod all about parenting but I say give the poor girl some colour.
ReplyDeleteMy Mum liked fine antiques and William Morris prints but my childhood bedroom had psychedelic wallpaper and Victorian furniture she'd stripped and repainted in hot pink gloss to please me.
Wouldn't it be ironic if we ended up in the same issue of the magazine? xxx
I do want to add colour! It's just got to be the right colour and the right dose of it. Your mum sounds lovely.
DeleteI'm not quite magazine ready but you are so I think you'll be well before me! It's very flattering isn't it? xxx
If I see a house in a magazine where the child's room is in exactly the same grown-up style as the parents, I tend to wonder if the parent is, dare I say it, a control freak. I do feel sorry for the child. To be honest, barbie pink little girls rooms make me want to heave; I would want to scream whilst painting my child's room that colour (if I had a child) but hey, that's what you get when you have children, along with sleepless nights, lego, nappies, dragon shaped cakes and vile coloured cartoon character duvet covers. Children develop taste when they get older; let the poor kid have a purple/pink/diamante monstrosity and she'll love you all the more! If I lived nearby, I'd bring you a bottle of gin and a pair of sunglasses to get you thrugh it! Best wishes.
ReplyDeleteOh I am most definitely a control freak! I'm out and proud!
DeleteI just can't help wondering if there's some middle ground we can both be happy with... We'll get there. (Without the diamantes though!)
I feel for you - I let my daughter have hot pink and glitter by the following year she hated it as much as I did and wanted silver and turquiose it took 4 coats of silver whisper (I think it was called) to cover it. It's now pale grey including the bedside table, wardrobe and drawers with lots of mirrors and (as she also loved turquoise) turquoise and silver bunting made from handmade paper various bits including a turquoise mirrored photo frame to give her the colour she wanted without actually painting the walls etc. Obviously a year later she now wants a vintage Union Jack style room ....
ReplyDeleteAh, tell her Union Jacks are a bit last year! I can see it would be exactly the same with my daughter! She's very fickle with her tastes. Also, if you don't want to re decorate every year you have to think of something that they can grow into. Like a school uniform two sizes too big. So if we go all sophisticated paleness, surely that will last til she's 25? xx
DeleteMom of the year for SURE!!! She'll thank you later.
ReplyDeleteI hope so! Thank you.
Delete