Autumn asks: Is Cherry Limeaide a color?

Apparently it is if you are a 12 year old girl with a new room to decorate.

When Songbird told me she wanted to paint her room green, I thought this was going to be a good thing. I love green! She loves green! But then I found out that the green she loves, and the green I love...are at opposite ends of the green color realm. Wow. When we went looking at paint chips, she kept pulling out this crazy florescent green that made my eyes cross. Are you SURE? Really SURE this is the color you want??? It will take MANY coats to paint over if you don't like it. You're SURE?

Yes, she was very sure. And, she wants to accent everything with cherry red. Really. Sounds kind of like a Christmas tree. Hmm. She insists this is what she wants. And we have NOTHING in these colors to work with. Great.

I bought the paint and went to work. Got the first coat on and shuddered. I had to wait a couple of days before beginning the next coat just to give my eyes a break. Then, as the second coat went on and began to dry...I began to like this new color. It looked good. How did she do that? And a cool side effect of the color was it brightened the hallway also just from the reflected light! That was pretty funny.

Next we had to find a bed for her little bitty room since we put old bed in Mighty Mouses room. Of course she picked a rather expensive daybed...that she understands she must use until the day she dies, so I get my money's worth. Brat.

Then we looked at what she already had, and bought a couple of cans of cherry red spray paint. The curtain rod, iron hook, square shelves from the bathroom, and her heart shelf all got a coat or two or three. It was coming together.


I had her watercolors from China framed.

We had already framed her horse ink print with some red velvet paper and a frame from Michaels -- that would go great.

Then I found a watercolor she did in art class of a branch or plant or something and slapped a cheap frame on that with some red poster board behind it.

And the best part was that her GS painting looks great with the green.


I have to share about the Girl Scout painting. In Nebraska GS's can sign up to work with a local artist once a year to make a piece of art that is auctioned off to raise money for the council. Songbird wanted to paint so she and 6 other girls were assigned to a painter. The girls picked a magazine photo that was then cut into 7 strips by the artist. Each girl was given a strip, the canvas and she chose her own paints from the artists supplies, and was sent home to work on their strip for a month- without ever seeing what the other girls were doing. Then we returned the canvas to the artist, and she put it all together and framed it. The neat part is that Songbird did one end, and her best bud did the other. At the auction Songbird tried to talk us into bidding on the painting, but it was just too expensive for our blood. But, a week after the auction I called the council and inquired about how much the painting went for out of curiosity. And wouldn't you know, it went for the starting price...but the person that bid had not picked it up. A few weeks later they called me and asked me if I wanted it for the list price. Songbird had a birthday coming up so I went ahead and bought it. I can't even begin to describe the screams of surprise and delight when she unwrapped it. Now she owns this piece of art with her best buds work on it also. Really neat.

Anyways, now we had an idea of what to shop for. So we took a trip to Ikea. I find it funny how American's love Ikea. We shopped at them overseas. I don't think most people here know that Ikea is pretty much Kmart overseas. Really. Anyways, we found a $4 red trash can, a $12 comforter cover and some red pillows for next to nothing.

And this is Bo...her baby. That sleeps on her bed. Under the covers. Doesn't he look like a rat?

I digress. Then we found a green CD holder at the outlet mall (Bombay Company) and 2 more little CD holders for $1 each at Gardenridge.


We also hung her silk umbrella and found a red paper lantern from China.


The window I did spend some money on. JCPenney has this line called the "carwash" line. If you look at the curtain it looks like the strips of fabric from a drive-thru car wash. She really like that so I went ahead and got them when they were having a 50% off sale.



Not nearly as cheap as Mighty Mouses room because of the bed. And I have to admit that I don't look forward to having to cover that color up when we move...but it did turn out rather cool. Nice job kid.

Now if I could just get her to keep it cleaned up.....