Friday, September 7, 2007

He Has Been Evicted


When we bought our house 5 years ago, it was actually Sam who did the shopping. At the time, Spencer was just 6 months old and, I can honestly say, was one of the worst babies I have ever met. It wasn't really his fault, he had colic and acid reflux and was miserable, which made us miserable. Anyway, putting him on a plane to shop for houses was out of the question, so Sam went alone. We picked out several houses on the internet beforehand and then, with video camera in hand, Sam flew back to look. After looking for days, he finally found our house, really liked it and made an offer.

The first time I saw our new old house (1930) in person was the day we moved in. Well, Sam did a really good job and the house was great with two exceptions: the kitchen was minuscule and there was no closet space. Since moving in, we have remedied both problems. The old kitchen is now a bathroom and Sam and I have separate closets.

Originally, Sam and I shared the master bedroom closet, but, ultimately for the sake of our marriage, I evicted him. Yep, I kicked him out. We are similar in a lot of ways, but not when it comes to organizing, so out he went. He now has a very spacious closet, actually it is the biggest closet in the house, but it's in the basement. It really is not as bad as it sounds because the basement is finished and we now have a shower on the first level...remember, the old kitchen? With this set-up, I don't even go into his closet; I just put his clean folded laundry by the door and walk away. It sounds harsh I know, but it's really is for the best.

I thought we had everything resolved, but I have since learned that Spencer takes after his father in the organizing department. He tries hard to put things where I ask, but it turns out he is a saver. He saves everything and puts it in piles on his desk. When I say everything, I mean everything: wrappers, old school papers, bottle caps, rocks, paper scraps, stickers, everything. It drives me nuts, so kicked him out too. This took a bit more orchestrating because, with the beds the way they were, the boys didn't have room for a desk.

Sam had been wanting to get the boys bunk beds, but I was afraid one of them would get hurt. I must say that my fears began to subside as the desk problem grew. I started looking and decided I wanted a blue one, but I didn't want to spend $1,200 for a Pottery Barn one, so I got this new one from E-bay (I thought it looked safe with the nice tall railing) and painted it blue last weekend. Peace has been restored yet again.

Boy's Room Collage

Photos: Before, After, Fish pulls I found for the drawers, "The Desk" which goes with the dresser anyway

11 comments:

Mary said...

OMG, my daughter is the same as your son! Saves EVERYTHING!!! I love the blue bunk beds, and I think I have closet envy. :)

~~mary

Anonymous said...

I have seen your name around places I have visited and finally realized I had no idea who you were, so, here I am to introduce myself! Nice to meet you, my husband and I have done similar things to remedy the old house closet situation. He was even taking over a linen closet in the hall at one point. Now he also has a chest of drawers in our basement. You do what you have to do! :-)

Nice to meet you!

Kari (GrannySkywalker) said...

Man - don't I wish I had a basement. The joy of evicting your husband to it...something I could learn to love. lol
Love the bunk beds! Yeah, baby, I do. Sorry. Since I stuck Austin Powers on my blog today, I can't stop talking like him. Yeah - it's making EVERYONE in this house nervous - including ME. lol

Elle Jay Bee said...

Wow, I did a double-take!! i thought the picture of the blue bunk-beds was from Pottery barn...turns out it's actually your son's room!! I should have known...!! Love it!!

Sue said...

Great job on the bunk beds, looks just like the PB one. Love reading your stories as always, off to read more since I haven't been around much.

MKHKKH said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MKHKKH said...

The girls are begging us to bunk their beds, but I worry about the little one climbing the ladder. How is it working with Laney? Does she try to climb it? The paint looks great. A little elbow grease goes a long way.

Leeann said...

I love what you did and I love, love, love the color you chose. It looks FANTASTIC!! I think the quilts you have may be the same as in my son Chris's room.
Two thumbs up, in a circle, with snaps!
Leeann

Gina @ Feather Your Nest said...

Okay, where did you get those quilts?? I literally just looked at the 1000th online store looking for something similar! Then started going through my bloglines feeds and read this post! I also need 2 for bunk beds so the few I've found I liked were outrageously priced.

Mrs Furious said...

Ruby is a hoarder too! I wish you could see her desk... wait no I don't! This girl won't throw out anything!

Thimbleanna said...

Nice blue beds! I smiled at your hubby picking the house story -- we moved around alot when I was growing up and my Dad almost always went ahead and picked the house. And surprisingly, he usually did a great job. There's NO WAY, however, that I'd let my hubby do the same. LOL.