A Letter To My Grown Son

Sometimes you wonder, did I raise him right? Did I teach him well?  When no one is looking, does he do the right thing?  This child of mine whose room is a wreck, who sometimes sleeps until noon, whose hair needs a little work. The child who stays up too late, leaves the milk out, who's mischievous grin means you've just been pranked.

That one who always carries his phone but doesn't always answer your texts, who leaves all the lights on when he leaves for work, the one who "is a grown-up now, MOM…."

Yes, son, yes you are.  

When you told me what you did, I was a little shocked, and thankful nothing bad had happened.  You are too young to see the danger, but what you saw was more.  

You saw a man in the rain, curled up in the corner against a building.  You didn't look away like I do.  You didn't make assumptions. You saw his suffering. You talked to him, found out his story, you took him in your car.  You gave him words of encouragement and drove him to a hotel. You put him up for a night with the small amount of money a college kid has. 

You saw him.

Maybe all that man needed was to be heard, to feel that he mattered, to truly be seen. You showed him compassion. You looked into his eyes and didn't turn away.  You saw a worthy soul despite his dirty exterior.

The years have made me callous and I wince when I think that I probably would have kept on walking. Been afraid even. Sizing up his situation without even hearing his one word.  Even with my flawed example, you have flourished and I am proud. 

'Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.’

You saw him.

Yes, you are now grown, my son with the pure heart.

And I truly see you. 

Don't tell him, but this kid has Elizabeth wrapped around his finger.

Love you guys!  

Love,

Elizabeth

A Boy's Room- Bear's Bunkhouse

I found out Bear was a climber when he was 2.  I'd been occupied with his brother for a few and then I couldn't find him (I know, bad mom).  Then I spotted him, he was sitting on top of the refrigerator, eating out of a family size bag of Lay's potato chips. When I held out my arms to coax him down, he dumped the whole bag of chips on my head.  Turns out he's not fond of sharing me with his bro.

When we were picking out bedrooms in the house plan, Bear specifically wanted the room closest to his dad and me.  Right across the hall.  It was the smallest room in the house, but had tall ceilings, a walk-in closet and his own bathroom.  I decided since he wouldn't have much room in there, we'd build up instead of out, perfect for a climber!  

I was afraid to put in a twin bed because that I think Bear is going to end up a big guy and I didn't want him to outgrow it too quickly.  A queen would have swallowed up all the space in the room, and a full is the same length as a twin so that could still end up being too short.  Ugh.  Then I discovered another size I'd never heard of - an extra long full!  It's perfect, the length of a queen and the width of a full!  Who knew!  Sheets can only be bought online with no cute prints that I've found, but I can deal with that. 

My original plan (it only changed twenty times!) was to put in two beds end to end but two wouldn't fit.  Not even two twin sized. So I thought it'd be fun to enclose the top, put a ladder on the end and make it a bunk/playhouse area.  The two panels at the very top can be opened and the hinge can be put in a locked position so it stays open if Bear wants.  The bottom ones are stationary. 

Sorry no pics from the inside. Last time I was in there I got stuck and couldn't get down.  It took an additional ladder and two people to get me out.  Thank goodness it wasn't the fire dept.

I had a desk built at the end of the bed.  Sometimes it's a catch all, but it's great for all his stuff!  

You see that furby in the basket?  I dislike that guy. A lot. 

Same goes for the large drawers under his bed.  Huge amount of books, etc. in there!  And it stays hidden, hooray!

Shiplap is on the back wall behind the bed and desk.  I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed shiplap.  I love the look but had never considered the durability. We have it in our hallway leading to the garage also and it's great because kids can ramble down the hall, backpack, etc., hitting the wall and no problem, no damage!  Plus it's so easy to wipe down if it does get handprints or whatever.  (I'm usually afraid of the 'whatever'). Joanna Gaines knew what she was talking about!

I'm not sure where the obsession came from with the British flag, but obviously it's all over the room. I admit it's too much but there's a lot of cute flag stuff out there!   I found the rug on Etsy here (love Etsy!).  They had some fun handmade Turkish rugs to choose from and actually ship it from Turkey.  I was a little leery, wondering if it would really get here without my money mysteriously disappearing, but it all worked out. The only downside is it's a very low pile, so it's not super cozy.

The British flag pillows on the bed and desk chair came from antique shops but are new. The flag over the desk isn't quite the British flag but I stumbled across it in Texas at an antique nautical store.  I love nautical stuff and this place was unbelievable with old portholes, huge rope knots, etc. They had a ton of large old flags and they were only about $10 each.  I looked on their site, pieceofship.com, and they said they are running out of the flags made of the grain sack type material like the one I have, so I hope they have not upped the price.  A lot of them are nylon now but I believe you could still find some grain sack ones there if you are looking. (I've heard of them being used to reupholster chairs, how cute is that?!) Everything else in here is from antique stores, HomeGoods, TJ Maxx or Burke's and most are under $30ish each with a few exceptions. The office chair was an antique store find that I painted and it was also in the $30 range. I love to decorate on the thrift if I can!

Moving on....The ladder.  Y'all I couldn't resist.  Hubby thought I'd lost my mind.  I changed this room up a bizillion times until I thought the builder was going to wring my neck  :) Above Bear's room is a large bonus room, about 14' x 45'.  I talked hubs into finishing it for a guestroom/playroom for the boys.  I'm so glad I did because I ended up with more usable space upstairs and it doubles as a guest room.  Private with one exception.  There's a trapdoor.

I'd have a slide instead of stairs if I could, ...oooh and a hidden room with one of those bookcases that covers the door and only moves if you pull the light sconce... but a trapdoor was as far as I could take it, guys.  There's reality.  Called the Husband.  Who would actually like to pay for electricity and running water instead of a slide.  Sigh.  (In all fairness, he did think a hidden room would be cool, yet that darn factor of budget kept getting in the way).  I'm not sure how everyone in those Scooby Doo episodes afforded all those secret rooms.  

I'm rambling.  Back to the ladder and trapdoor.   

The ladder leads to a trapdoor in the floor of the playroom, so when guests stay, they are thrilled when Bear pops his head through the floor to say good morning!  It's always a little interesting around here.  When our foreign exchange student stayed in that room for nine months, we had to totally ban the use of the trapdoor.  Bless her heart, the relationship between Germany and America will never be the same.

The landing at the top just below the trapdoor. The mini ladder was added after the build when we figured out it was difficult to make it up through the trapdoor.  I really don't want to squish myself in there to paint it so I'm going all rebel and not doing it.  

The room from the landing. I didn't know if I was going to make it down from here.

Trapdoor in guest room.  Fun times unless you're the guest...

One thing that always got me about looking at pics when we were building is that I never knew the dimensions, so I never knew if the designs would work in my space. I'll end with all the dimensions just in case you are interested.

Our builder surprised me and came up with the design for the ladder himself.  

The ceilings are 12' high.  If the bed was lowered, this design would still work with an 8' ceiling height.

The room is 12'3" by 11'5", with the bed along the 12'3 wall.

The height of the platform where the mattress sits is 28".  Because of the high mattress, the end result was much higher than we anticipated and even I have to use the stepstool to get onto the bed.  Although it was a mistake, it's kind of fun to have a bed so high.  On the downside, later if it's used as a guest room (I anticipate Bear taking over his older brother's room at some point) not all guests will be thrilled with literally climbing into bed.  (Though these kind of people probably would not have appreciated a hidden room either, so I'm not sure we can be friends).  The platform of the upper bunk is at roughly 7 1/2' which leaves about four and a half feet of head room in the upper area. The desk is 5'4" wide and two feet deep.

I hope this is helpful for anyone building their own bunks or just a fun, quirky room.  We've had a lot of good times here so far!  

Elizabeth

Edited to add:   - I've had some questions about the lighting and floors.  The light fixture and flooring were suggested by a local designer who chose all the flooring and all but a couple of lights in the house.  Unfortunately, I don't have the brand name of the light but the floors are hickory.  If I come across the brands we used I will add them in a future post.

I don't like that furby guy either.