Empty Nestin - Decorating

Decorating has been my distraction lately.  Now that the girls are off to college, I’m looking at their rooms with fresh eyes.  Since they took most of their stuff with them, I need to make their rooms cute again. 

Britt’s room was pretty easy,  all I had to do was walk around my house and grab a few things, such as the lovely bottles left to us by Brad’s grandmother, a huge starfish from a long ago Bahamas trip, some great seashells, and voila.  Beachy Bedroom!
 

  


Stephi’s room still has a lot of her stuff, but there are gaps.  I was sitting there when one of her garden photos grabbed my attention.  THAT’S IT!!  I'll use Stephi’s GARDEN PHOTOS! 

Stephi is a great amateur photographer with a great eye!  I love her work so much there are several on the walls throughout our house.  Here are two I want to put on her walls.

 
 
I kept walking by, and finally opened the door to Joshua’s room.  We’ve changed little things over the last 3 ½ years, but it's still Josh.   Since it is the largest kids bedroom, with a large bed, his room has always been our guest room.  That meant throwing Josh out from time to time, but he didn’t mind. 

These days, I keep wondering if we should leave it as the room of a "forever 12 year old boy", or update it a bit like we have updated the girls rooms. 

I would like to make it welcoming and peaceful, though I don’t know if that’s possible; The four of us are split on what to do.

 
I looked at Peyton Manning's jersey!  Josh was such a huge  Peyton Manning fan.  He wrote how happy he was to get to see Peyton and the Colts play the Washington Redskins. 

I’m so happy Josh and Brad had that night together!  When we lose a love one, we tend to hone in on regrets.  In this case, we got something right.

As it should, although I object at times, life has moved on around us, and so has Peyton who is now a Denver Bronco.  I changed Joshua's Colts bedspread right after his funeral, which was pretty traumatic for all of us.  Last week, I changed the window valance to match the bedding, which  I admit, brought on some anxiety on my part. 

After all of this, there was still one thing I just had to do!  Something was missing.….a Broncos banner.  I went online and ordered a pennant to go on the wall opposite of the Colts banner. 

Who knew how emotional it would be to fill these three rooms?!  Just yesterday, it seems,  I was getting after the Newmanettes to keep a path clear from bed to door. 

Oh how I miss the messes, the smells, and the sounds!
  
 I sat down on the edge of the bed after I tacked the banner on the wall, and found my eyes full of the tears I couldn't stop, but when they finally did stop, I stood up, put fresh sheets on the bed, and thanked God that there are three rooms that hold treasures and memories of my three children.


“A child enters your home and for the next twenty or so years makes so much noise you can hardly stand it. Then the child departs, leaving the house so silent you think you are going mad.” -- John Andrew Holmes

Hugs,

Sherri