This is what my daughter’s room looked like for a brief moment in time. This summer she was gone for 4 weeks to various camps and mission trips. After she left for her first trip, I came up to her room to put some clean clothes away, only to find that her room had been ransacked.
I thought of calling the police, but then realized that only HER room had been affected and the windows remained tightly locked. That meant that it was an inside job. Oh yes, her room was a victim of TEENAGER MESS SYNDROME.
I did some quick calculations. She was going to be gone for three weeks in a row. So if I spent the hours required to get it back together, I could enjoy the neatness for 21 uninterrupted days. I decided to accept the challenge. While I was there, I did some minor rearranging. I guess I should have taken a “before” photo, but instead I’ll just leave you with a picture word. Today’s word is TORNADO.
Here’s the picture of what her bedroom looks like in its typical pinkness.
It’s a bit much, right? I removed carefully stored many of the accessories she had in her room, only leaving the ones I knew were her favorites. Why is this a secret redo? Because I knew there was a possibility that she would “freak” (her words not mine) when she saw it. That’s why it was done while my daughter was gone under the proverbial cover of darkness.
I left out her cute pink L.L. Bean mocs. I have the same ones in green.
I sometimes wear them (mine not hers) when I am driving although technically speaking, they are house shoes. She used to shriek in disgust when she saw me wearing them outside of the house, reminding me that they were house shoes. “That’s gross!”, she would exclaim in disgust to any stranger standing nearby. (Now that she’s driving, I noticed that sometimes she wears her “house shoes” out, hmmmm.)
I did add her grandma’s hat to her room, since it happens to be pink.
The chest of drawers once belonged to her granddad, and I don’t think he would mind that we painted it white before we added it to her room.
And she also has this little armoire in here that houses her books and assorted things. I tried to replace it with a nicer piece, but she likes the pink fabric too much to part with it.
The little pillow says, “Put your big big panties on and deal with it.”
So when I daughter finally came home, she first noticed that I painted the breakfast room and the kitchen, and then came upstairs to her room. I knew better than to ask if she liked the new look. Soon enough she came calmly out of her room, to tell me that me preferred her old bed spread to this new one.
(Perhaps the mission trip did impact her. She wasn’t screaming that I had ruined her life.) That’s when I told her that this “new bedspread” wasn’t new and wasn’t a bedspread. I said, “It’s called a B-L-A-N-K-E-T.” I assured her that all of her old bedding was simply in the linen closet and that any time she wanted it back on her bed, she need only retrieve it from the closet. I also happened to mention that all I did was pick her bedding up off the floor and put it away so that it wouldn’t be in her way while it wasn’t on the bed. Now she would have room to dance. (Insert major eye roll here.) She shrugged her shoulders and asked what was for dinner. So that was that. I guess I need a t-shirt that says ‘I survived cleaning my daughter’s room.’
Teenagers! Gotta love ’em and of course we do even when it’s not easy. I would have been thinking the same thing about having 21 days to enjoy a clean room. I have a feeling she appreciated coming home to a clean room but just didn’t want to admit it. BTW, it looks very pretty ~ love the hat! (On the mornings that I have to drive my son to school at 6:30am, I am definitely still in my pjs!!)
those pink and orange boots are to die for! So cute.
Cute room and story. I so remember trying to clean my teens rooms. Hugs, Marty
so cute! i can say that now, but i was truly re-living my life with four teenage girls as i read this!!! they’ve all moved on to homes of their own & girls of their own – bawahahaha (that’s supposed to be an evil laugh)!!!!
Oh, my! I remember cleaning my Godchild’s room when he lived with us! Whew, what a job! This is such a cute story and I love your daughter’s sense of style!
Hahaha. I’m laughing right now because my 9 year old daughter’s room looks much like you describe your daughter’s. I get really tired of having to go in there every couple of months to get it back in some kind of order. It just gets too far gone for her to deal with it. It’s in desperate need right now of some TLC. Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for sharing!
Blessings,
Nici
Cute story and good job! Love her cowboy boots very cool! Have a great weekend!
Cynthia
Yes, this is a story that sounds familiar around here… My tween keeps her room in the worst state! I had to deal with her wrath one day when she came home from school and I’d cleaned it top to bottom (and put many things away) in order to list the house. I usually just shut the door and pop in there when I need to 🙂
Very cute post! Your daughter has a wonderful room and great furniture for a teenager! She’ll appreciate it when she is older! I only did a redo once on my daughters room and that was when she was around 6 so she was thrilled! I don’t go in my teenage son’s room unless I have to…my husband is in charge of the cleaning of it!
Oh my…I could have written this right down to the ‘eye-roll’ and my younger one is turning 21….on Friday, lol! I am so loving those boots and know my girl would think the same. (As the years go by I have thankfully discovered that we do start sharing the same opinions, lol!) This was a fabulous post…thanks for sharing!
This was a darling post!!!! I know what you mean…my son is home from college…I just have to close the door.
Sweet story, Anita. Teenagers and their rooms all seem to have the Teenager Mess Syndrome. I like the fresh white look on the bed. ‘-) And now, if I recall, she has that great container for her throw pillows. I should find one for our master. My husband stacks the pillows on a rocker.
I love the cleaned up/improved room!! But as a teen I probably would have loved her way better. And to have to agree with my moms taste would have been forbidden. ha
Yes to the t shirt. Many of us have lived to tell that tale!
Bliss
So funny! I have been known to do something similar 😉
Great minds think and act alike. I have done the same-thing.
I have a question (or 2) for you ladies; why didn’t you make your daughter (or son) clean it and keep it clean and do you have them do other chores around the house?
I only ask because I did neither as a kid and as an adult, I wish my mom would’ve stayed on me, I believe I’d have better habits as an adult..
W., Good point!
W., Good point!