She also has been through what I've just gone through and has a son a few years older than Charlie. Having just moved to a new house and feeling a bit of pressure on myself to provide my son with a space to call his own right away, I understood the importance and desire for her to want to give that to Aaron too.
I also love kids rooms. I'm pretty sure I wrote a blog about Charlie's bed that we built him a few years back. It was so fun and he is still using part of that bed in this house. Kids rooms give us the opportunity to be kids again and even better is listening to their ideas. Charlie loves paint chips, he picks one out every time we go to the Hardware store. He has clear vision of what he wants most of the time. He also wanted to help paint (even though the perfectionist in me just about had breakdown when he did). It's so interesting to watch their minds work. That said, I'm also a bit of a realist and recognize he is only 6 so his tastes will change. For this reason, I'm not ready to commit to mural status in his room. His favourite hockey team might change again this year depending on who wins the Stanley Cup. So for now, I was lucky enough to find decals of one of his favourite movies.
For Aaron's room though, we decided on a mural. Aaron is die-hard Blue Jays fan. And I think it's safe to say, that ain't going to change. He also loves the Pittsburgh Penguins. To Brenda's credit, she came up with this entire idea. She found a comforter set and it tied the colours together perfectly. These two logos couldn't have worked better across the room from each other. They are primary colours (as we went with the retro colours for the Penguins logo). They both feature strong triangular shapes too. The only point of concern was how big to paint them. Brenda said she trusted me, but she was nervous. I may have freaked her out intentionally by leading her to believe the logos would be 5' wide or it wouldn't be worth it. Hahaha! But I get her being nervous - you hand someone your house keys, some brightly coloured cans of paint and say you'll be home in two days - that could be hard.
In my head I knew this was going to look so sweet though. Sometimes it's frustrating to not be able to show people what I see in my head. Because all I could think was Aaron is one lucky kid. This is going to look awesome! Not just the mural but all the other touches and decor that Brenda sourced out to be able to surprise him with this. Pretty cool.
I was lucky enough to get some help from another friend, Michelle, for the weekend while Brenda was away with Aaron. It was super fun. We spent Friday night tracing the logos on to the wall. And, yes, for those of you who wondered how the image got on the wall, I used a projector. We were back first thing Saturday to lay down a few base coats and again on Sunday to finish it off. We cleaned up and left so Brenda could come home and surprise Aaron. How cool?! I might still be there if it wasn't for Michelle. She was a great help and of course it was fun hanging out with her.
My favourite part of the whole thing was the phone call I got from Brenda when I got home. I know how grateful she is for everything. And even though I haven't talked to Aaron yet (who does owe me a hug), I know what it means to him too from what Brenda has told me. There is a sense of pride for both of them and I'm nothing but honoured to be able to have been apart of it. Because I know what it was like to have Charlie come home and show him his room. To see that stunned look on their face and that sparkle in their eyes. It's priceless. And even if they want to play it cool, you just know their going crazy inside. They feel special and it's just as awesome as a parent to know you've made your kid feel that.
So, here are the pics. Enjoy.
