I was so thrilled to find big bags of beads for $1 at the antique shop.  Each girl got her own bag, and when home chose colors.  Anna chose red, and Emma the blues.  I actually prefer Emma’s choice.  Emma was having much more fun spilling the beads all over the floor for our foraging baby to find, so I relocated them to a jar with a lid. 

Much better.

There were these funky little hardware pieces in a basket in the back.  25-cents each or whatever I wanted to pay, as the store-keeper informed me.

They are very cool for Josh’s room.  And in keeping with his vintage, thrifted look.

He has lots of books to store.  I like these wire baskets from Goodwill.

These are mostly non-fiction books, as I have found Josh to prefer learning about “real” people and places, to fiction.

Pat’s old dresser, we painted red.

Shower-curtain for the window.

Another favorite art-piece: Josh brought home from school last year.

A place for all those little pieces.

Original art, by Josh:).  He painted this in the weeks before Will’s arrival.  And it depicts him walking with his new brother.  I will keep this forever.  These canvas tablets are much cheaper than stretched canvases, and easy for kids to work with.

Art by my Dad’s uncle.  Most of my father’s relatives were painters.  So, we have boxes of art-work in our basement and all of my siblings and I have been able to choose through the years which pieces we would like to keep for our families.

Art by my uncle Ron (www.roncowle.com).  Pat bought me this painting a few years back.  It has always been one I admired.  My uncle and his wife are wildly talented.  Check out his sculpture-work… reminds me to pick up Sculpey at the craft store next time I am there.  (That is how my uncle taught his sons to scuplt).  My aunt sews and quilts and raises vegetables and flowers.  And she paints exquisitely too. 

Badminton Raquets I found at an antique store: $1 each.  Turned over they say Made in Japan.  That alone dates them to post-WWII, my Mom thinks.  Imagine a time when mass importing came from Japan and not China.  Kinda hard to believe!

The room is clean for a moment.  A blink of the eye.  

Actually, Josh is my cleanliest-minded child.  He thrives on order, and is task-minded.  His sisters believe in a philosophy of free-thinking with their rooms.  They can happily dwell in an environment of chaos, without feeling stress at all.  And they believe that the more little pieces scattered about for me to step on, the better.

I’m holding out hope that my boys will keep the house straight.  Who would have thought?