My Dressing Room

It's been a year since I mentioned this little room in my house.  The last time I visited this topic, I was trying to decide what color to paint it. This was the last room I finally repainted, and I ended up going with BM Classic Gray walls and my usual BM Simply White on the trim. I painted this room last April or May, but then when I took my after photos, I cringed a little about sharing photos of my clothes. It just looks like a mess, even when it's clean. So I just didn't say anything about it.

But here it is. This is where I get dressed in the morning. I decided to finally share these photos because this room is next on the list to get its carpet torn out and its hardwood floors painted white. I'll have to empty everything out of this room in order to do this, and lately I've been tossing around the idea of turning this room from a dressing room to a craft room instead. It's nice to have a whole room dedicated to my process of getting ready in the morning, but I kind of think I would enjoy a craft room more.

It's not a bad space though, yes? I get up before Rand does every morning, so this provides a place where I can turn on all the lights and get ready for work without waking him up. I also love having all my clothes, shoes, bags, and scarves out where I can see them.

I love this tiny little room. It has four windows, three of which are unlike any others in the house. They are on hinges and used to swing into the room and attach to hooks on the ceiling. Unfortunately, they could no longer attach to the ceiling because the ceiling fan was in the way, and they were incredibly drafty. It was like standing in front of an air conditioner in the winter months just to be near those windows. We didn't really even use this room for that reason, so sadly, I caulked up those three beautiful windows. Caulk is removable, so they could be restored sometime in the future, but for now, this room is much warmer and functional, so I'm glad I did it. The fourth window is a double-hung window like we have throughout the rest of the house.

This dressing table rarely looks like this. It is usually piled high with clothes and whatever I empty out of my pockets each night (usually things my students have given to me). I love having a place to sit when I put on make up and fix my hair.

Here are some photos I snapped last year as I was getting ready to paint this room. It was an unbelievable mess. I had to fill a million holes in the trim with wood filler and sand, plus I discovered tape and nails sticking out all over the place. Someone had just painted over all the junk on the trim rather than taking it out and making it smooth. I was furious with the previous owners the entire time I worked on this room.

I'm still completely undecided on what I will do with this room. Either way, everything is coming out soon and that carpet is coming up. There's no telling what I'll find underneath, but I'm hoping to paint it all white like the bedroom. Then, I'll either move everything back in and keep it a dressing room (maybe with a few upgrades I have in mind) or I'll relocate my clothes and turn this room into a craft room.

I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on this project. I'll be back soon with some inspiration photos to help me make up my mind on this important life decision.

If I Ever Get a Tattoo...

...it will look like this:

By Nation of Amanda, available here

Even though I would like a tattoo, I will probably never get one, since I have a serious phobia about needles. But I stumbled across this print via Making It Lovely, and I had to share.

Happy Birthday, Max!

It's my cat's birthday!

Sort of. It was some time in February 2005 that Maxi-Cat joined our family. They told us he was two when we got him, but it was a shelter, so of course that's just a guess. We'll go with that, though, because he was a young adult cat at the time, so that means he's turning eleven! He's almost a teenager!

We are so in love with this boy. He is one of the sweetest, most loyal, most loving creatures I've ever met. I love almost all cats, but Maximus is very unique and charming. Instead of being timid and guarded like most cats, he is trusting and loving, even with strangers. He loves to be the center of attention, to be held, and to be talked to. We can hold him like a baby, or like a teddy bear at night, or even up in the air and he never even flinches. Sometimes I worry he's a little too trusting- he doesn't even move out of the way when something's coming at him. One of his favorite things is to be sung to. He'll just gaze into my eyes the whole time until he eventually falls asleep.

It was love at first sight nine years ago. Rand and I finally decided to get a cat, so we went to the Humane Society to look. From the moment we walked in, Maxy started showing off to get our attention. The other cats didn't seem too interested in us, but Maximillion circled in his cage and stared at us. He immediately caught my attention, so I held him and I instantly wanted him.  For some reason, I got this weird, don't-get-the-first-one-you-hold feeling, so I felt like I should hold another cat just to be sure. The whole time I held the other baby, Maxwell was staring at me. In fact, Rand recalls me saying, "Brandon, that cat is staring at me!" Instant connection.

Since then, we have become the best of friends. We sleep in each other's arms at night, and his endless griping for treats and attention is music to my ears. Here's to many more wonderful years together, Mr. Whiskerson!