Pages

Sunday, November 1, 2009

The Wee Ski's Room | A Labor of Love


Welcome to the home of the Wee Ski.

Thomas's room has definitely been a work in progress. It is the same room that Jonathan grew up in. When Thomas was born, it was still filled with boxes and boxes of Jonathan's childhood - including elementary school, junior high, high school, college and from law school. Oh, and it had a treadmill and a full size punching bag. With the piano.

Doesn't every bedroom have a piano and a punching bag in it?

Maybe it should. It would produce a well-rounded, artistic child, but who could be a bruiser if necessary. Example: my husband.

Cleaning out the room has taken a number of hours - as Jonathan went through the boxes, I cleaned and organized, and we started to claim the room for the next generation. Some things made the transition - the piano, the Michael Jordan-signed basketball, a handful of toys, signed baseballs, and MJ cards in the closet. The cards which currently take up more space than Thomas's clothes. But I'm not complaining.

We have a few treasured hand-me-downs from family -- the crib is from Thomas's cousins Ian and Jared, who spent their wee years inside it. The rocker is from Liz Brownrice, who rocked her little ones in it when they were small.

We have a twin size bed, dresser and desk in there as well - so we replaced the mattress with one from my house, and cleaned out the drawers and shelves. Thomas has a treasure chest (from his great aunt Sue and great uncle Tim) for mementos and goodies that we've saved since he was born (and a few from earlier).

When Jonathan was younger, he played the piano for an elderly gentleman in town. When the time came for him to part with the piano, he called Jonathan to offer it to him. After all, it had originally been Jonathan's great grandma's piano (unbeknownst to him). It's one of the reasons we actually have two pianos in the house - both with sentimental value.

In the silver bucket, we have some incredibly beautiful handmade afghans that we received for Thomas's birth.

Jonathan's dad, Larry, had designed the painting of the room. With the help of an artist named Gladys, they painted the room for Jonathan as a four-year-old. You'll find Jonathan's initials painted into one of the trees below.

I so love that we have this history for Thomas to grow up in.

The walls with the furniture moved away - so you can see the whole mural.

And a few detail shots...






Jonathan's initials were originally hung here on the door, the "J" remains now. We added a "T", gifted from Grandma Mauss.


♥ ♥ An awesome gift from Grandpa Ski. ♥ ♥

5 comments:

KCina said...

So cool!!! ;-)

Keana C. said...

Oh this brings tears to my eyes. The room is perfect and I love how much history is in it for your family. What a great room!

Tai said...

OMG Shelley- Thomas' room is AWESOME!!!! How cool to grow up in a room with your very own cartoon on the wall!

My little brother and I shared a room when we were very young, and we had frog cartoon wallpaper, with frogs in various forms of activity. It was so fun to just stare at the wall for hours...

Jana said...

Shelley - I remember when Uncle Larry & Gladys were painting the room - it was so much fun stopping in to peek at the progress. Jonathan was so proud of the room. Wish you could have met Larry & Mary, you just fit in so perfectly with the family with your faith, your creativity & your sense of humor. I can just picture you and Larry getting the giggles over something :o). Thanks so much for all your blogging. It's great to be able to "see" you family and keep in touch over the miles.

Unknown said...

WOW. What a perfect room for a kid -- and what a great story behind it.

Link Within

Blog Widget by LinkWithin