Lake's Room is DONE!

Lake's room has been in halfway done state for quite a while.  He had a bunkbed in here but we sold it and opted for a regular old twin bed.  The bunk bed was the kind that had one bed going one way and the other bed going the other way, and it literally took up his whole floor.  He had no room to play Wii or anything else.  He loves board games and really needed some floor space to play those.  So we ditched the bunk bed and got another (from his aunt - thanks Tis!).

He decided that he didn't like the khaki I had painted his room and wanted something bright and crazy - like orange.  For the whole room.  Ummm, no.  So we compromised.  He got a bright orange stripe (softened by a smaller navy blue stripe at mom's insistence).  We also got him a desk with storage above for his many collections - rocks, snow globes, seashells, etc. - at his insistence.  He felt these collections should be on display because they are so valuable.  If he only knew I got that seashell collection for $2.99 in a Florida airport giftstore...
His desk:

To me it looks like CLUTTER, to him it looks like GOLD.  I have realized that the older they get, the more opinionated they get about their space.  This is disappointing for me.  I am quietly dealing with my grief and despair over not getting to make all the decisions in his room anymore....ho hum. 

In case you were wondering, that IS Abe Lincoln made out of a 2 liter coke bottle on top of the desk, a project he had to do for school.  He loves it and so do I.  He put a lot of heart and soul into that project, so I don't mind it being displayed. 

Here is an idea for some cheap artwork in a kid's room - have them draw pictures of what they are interested in or things they think they draw well, add a little scrapbook paper as a mat, and frame them.  Here are Lake's personal contributions to his room, which are my favorite things in here.  They are so...him.  I am very proud of him for his artistic ability and he is very proud that he contributed to his room.   

Here are some more pics from around the room. 

Lake likes that it is not too babyish and I like that it is not too grown-up.  Kinda perfect for that in-between a child and a teenager stage...right at the point when they start telling you they want to decorate it by themself and you have to say NO.  Can you imagine if I had agreed to an all bright orange room?!?!?

Kelli