“My new room!”

I suppose one thing my grandson, Felix, should quickly learn about his Gram is that I enjoy an occasional room makeover. (pause while family laughs) There is something wildly creative about taking a perfectly good room layout and trying something a little different.

Not long after moving into our current home, we turned a spare bedroom into Felix’s room so he would have a place to play and sleep when he came over. It was vintage-leaning with antique toys for decorations and equestrian-themed wallpaper on the walls.

When he walks in our house, he goes straight to his room to play and read. Just how I imagined a grandchild’s visit to be.

Then one morning this month I woke up with a different idea.

Felix has a fantastic daycare he attends with a lot of really cool toys. At his house he has a playroom filled with all the gadgets and toys that come with the first child, first grandchild, and first great-grandchild in the family! He will never be lacking in the toy and book department -ha!

My idea was to focus on a different area of childhood. Maybe the room at our house for Felix could be more topic-centric than a general toy/book/play/sleep room. If there’s one thing I’ve really been looking forward to with Felix – it is doing crafts together! I immediately went to work on FELIX’S ART ROOM.

Many of the crafts are ‘too old’ for Felix. That’s a relative suggestion, in my opinion. Learning to be comfortable around items is a part of the growing up process. And art supplies are certainly among the things that have boundaries and danger and specific times and places with which to work with them. I wanted a place to hang his art for the confidence boost that comes with something created then displayed as a gallery. Design wise, I wanted a foundational white so the colors popped happily.

Felix spent the night with us over the weekend. I told him to go check out his new room and from that moment on that’s how he referred to it… “Could you turn on the light in my new room?”, as we watched tv in a nearby room. “Can we go color in my new room?” “Where is my Elmo? Is he in my new room?”

He seemed smitten.

Using a chair from his IKEA table and chair set, I hung one of the chairs on hooks for a bedside table. The chair can still be lifted off the hooks and used.

For decor I used handprints from 1967 when a neighbor friend made prints of mine and my sister’s hands. I also used a mug that Felix’s aunt made in elementary school art class.

We colored. And painted. And did dot markers. And made a dinosaur canvas. There was plenty of chalk art too. Surely I’ve waited most of my adult life for this very moment. Trying new things with him and figuring out what worked and what could be tweaked as he ages.

What a fun project (I’m always down for a paper chain moment!) and even better than working on the room was Felix’s reaction to it. Creating together in a space that elevates the idea of art and creation was a shared joy.