We banished the blues!

Last month I blogged about PARKER'S BLUE ROOM . It had been driving me crazy for a long, long time. I FINALLY finished it up today. Parker and I had some heated debate about what color the room should be. He wanted red but I'm thinking that in a boy's bedroom it might lead to some kind of crazy color-induced behavior. When he drinks red Kool-Aid he acts like he's hopped up on crack! Don't studies show that red promotes passion? Not necessary for an almost 8 year old! Then he wanted camouflage. He really meant that the walls should be painted camo. Ummm.....no. So we agreed on a shade of tannish green. Except that when I went to get the paint (good old Walmart Colorplace, in case you wondered) I decided to go a shade lighter than what we agreed. I came home and put some up on the wall and Parker flipped. He said it was too yellow. I didn't even tell him that it wasn't what he picked. He knew. He's no fool. So we went back to Walmart and I begged the paint guy to do whatever he had to to make that paint darker and greener. It took some finagling, but he did it. Happy Parker. Relieved Mom. And you know what, the little rat was right. It did look better. On our way out of Walmart that night, we found these camo comforter/shams for $30 per set so we went ahead and purchased them. Wouldn't have been my choice, but I'm trying to let those kind of details go so that I can convince him to do other things. Like the license plates! I've had the plates for at least 5 years and have been dying to use them. (There's a story to how I got them but I'll save that for tomorrow.) He finally agreed that it would be cool after seeing it on the 0h-so-awful Drake and Josh. Haven't seen it? Lucky, lucky you!

Anyway, welcome to Parker's new and improved room. This is the view from the door. I know the plates look dirty, but I promise they are clean--just beat up. I tacked them up with upholstrey tacks.
I don't know about the red sheets because I think it looks a little Christmasy, but they are staying for now. Also, the license plates aren't as shiny as they appear to be--they are just picking up the reflection.

Hey Tracy, do you recognize these shelves. I got them from her garage sale pile that is sitting in my garage.

Parker didn't want to part with the paper dolls that I made him, so I just painted the frame.

Look Trace, there's another of your cast offs! This thingy is taking the place of a nightstand.

The plaid, metal breadbox on the bookcase holds all of my precious mementos of Parker's life--like cards, baby shoes, etc.

Here's a close up of the thingy. Thanks Tracy!

And I think this is my most favorite thing of all. The window mistreatment! (Thank you, thank you, thank you Nester because without your edict to go forth and "mistreat" I would not have had the inspiration or guts to go ahead and try this.) I'm sure I'm not the first person to do this but I personally haven't seen it done. It came to me when I was trying to think of something cool for the window and I was THRILLED when I counted and saw that I had enough plates to do it. Parker loves it and so do I. Amazingly, it isn't nearly as heavy as it looks. Old license plates are much, much thinner than new ones.

I just wired them together through their conveniently place holes and then taped the back for added support. The blue tape is the first time I did it, but when I hung it, they were a little wonky, so I went back and taped every seam. I hung them from the curtain rod with 2 inch binder rings.

So, there it is. I'm happy and more importantly, Parker is happy!

I thought I would go ahead and add the story of how I came to have all these plates. My parents enjoy going antiquing and going to auctions so I put them on the hunt for old license plates. They would find one here or there, but they were usually a few bucks each which would end up being pricey for how many I wanted. My mom mentioned my quest to my aunt who just happened to know that one of my cousins had a box of old license plates sitting around. It was in a whole box of junk that she bought at an auction. So.......she gave them to me. They were exactly what I wanted--old, colorful and a little beat up--and best of all, they are all from Illinois. I also used some newer ones that have special meaning--like the first plates I had on my car and my dad's Veteran plates. We went to an antique mall last week and I saw several boxes of plates but they were pretty pricey. ***Edited for a great idea. Parker just came up with a fabulous idea for another use for license plates. A headboard! You could just tack them right onto the wall behind the bed and have yourself a very cool and unique headboard. I'm mildy concerned about his interest in home decorating but totally amped about his good idea! Now Jack is working on ideas for his room.....hmmm.....this should be interesting.