I decided yesterday I was ready to go buy the paint for Chickie's room. I'm going to paint one accent wall. (I don't really like painting walls, so one wall is preferable to four!) I was also planning on painting butterflies and flowers to match her Dora bedding.
I asked Chickie what color she wanted the wall to be. She told me purple, which somehow is a color that doesn't appear at all in her colorful bedding. But she really wanted it, and I figured that while it may not match her valance and comforter, at least it won't clash.
"And you want butterflies and flowers on the wall, right?" I asked.
"Well, Mommy," she said, "You already put butterflies and flowers on the curtains." Apparently this meant they shouldn't be on the wall, because she continued, "I want dinosaurs on the wall."
Dora...and dinosaurs? I groaned inwardly, trying to decide if I should stick with the flowers and butterflies, which actually make sense, or indulge her rather eclectic taste. I tabled the issue for a little while.
On the way to the store to get paint, I decided to ask an open-ended question, to see if perhaps her opinions had changed again. "What do you want me to paint on the wall?" I asked her.
"I want letters," she said. That's fine; I was planning to paint her name, which just so happens to be comprised of letters. "And dinosaurs, and trees, and flowers, and butterflies." She paused. "Oh, and I want you to paint a blue car too, Mommy!"
Who was the idiot that thought of asking her an open-ended question? Since I am not a surrealist mural artist, I told her, "Chickie, that's going to be too much painting." Realizing that there could indeed be a worse theme than Dora and dinosaurs (namely, Dora and everything else), I asked, "Do you want flowers and butterflies, or dinosaurs?"
"Dinosaurs!" she replied happily.
So behind her Dora bed will be a purple wall that doesn't match anything else in the room, and on it will be painted dinosaurs. But they will be dinosaurs in lovely shades of pink, turqoise, green, orange, and yellow...the colors that just happen to appear on that bedding. Score 1 for Mom's sense of order. (And score about a million for Chickie's sense of creativity.)
The room won't win any decorating contests, but if it's a place where my girly tomboy feels at home, I'll be happy!
11 comments:
Sounds wonderful! Encouraging our girls to like what they want without making them think something is "too boy" is one of the best things we can do for them. Paige has a pirate princess fort in her room. She also has a workbench next to a doll house. And wants to wear a princess crown to tae kwon do class. Encourage it and take lots of pictures. When she has a little girl who wants cars painted on a pink wall you can remind her of the dinosaurs on her purple wall.
When you mentioned this yesterday on Twitter, teasing us with the whole "will I or won't I?", I have to say I was pretty sure Chickie would get some dinosaurs. Good for you.
Though, another way to perhaps encourage her creativity would be to get some of those clingy creatures that can be moved about (and removed once she decides she'd rather have monkeys on her walls). Then she can "help" with the decorating.
Oooh, or a chalkboard paint wall! Do they make those in purple?
But, really, it's all just paint. And yay that Chickie is getting what she wants.
Love it! Chickie's gonna be a fabulously creative, well-rounded super-girl! And I'm pretty sure that Dora has SOME episode that includes dinosaurs, doesn't she?
ElleBee--She probably has some dinosaurs in that versatile Backpack of hers. ;-)
I use those wall stickers they sell at Target. Easy on, easy off, and not too crazy. Have fun!!!!! Sounds like it's going to be colorful and fun in there:)
You are such an awesome mom. How many other kids' parents actually do what they want in their rooms? You rock. ;-D
Very Lovely...but as I was reading this, I was thinking, I wonder what shade of Purple....Lavender, perhaps!
If you still want to paint, but don't want to get the wall clings, you can stretch some muslin (or any kind of fabric, really) into some embroidery hoops and paint your images on there. No heavy frame and/or glass to worry about hanging on the wall...and you can do different sizes to mix things up.
:)
That's awesome. It shows her personality for sure. Good luck with painting that.
Have you seen The Last Lecture? It's amazing. In it, he talks about how his parents let him paint his room however he wanted....way to go, mom! She'll remember it forever!
Sounds like how Miss J dresses herself! I think its great you just went with it! Post a pic of the result :) I'll bet Chickie is one happy and proud little girl!
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