Making a wish come true and painting,recycling and more painting!

Some time ago Emily spent quite a lot of time cutting out images of furniture from a catalogue and sticking them into a scrapbook she was making.Later that day she asked if we could paint her room.My initial reaction was to say no.It seemed no time at all since we had papered and decorated her room and it was still in good shape. I have checked since I started writing this and it was 2003,how time flies! I  listened to her explaining about wanting a double bed and could tell  it was so important to her.The decorating we had done was quite girly and she was wanting a much more grown up room.
I didn't say no.
 I explained we didn't have the money right then, but we could set things in motion and work out ways to save.

We measured and drew up a plan of her room.We looked through a catalogue and she chose the things she would like in her room.We took the measurements and made cardboard cutouts to scale and stuck them on the "room" in the position she wanted them.Milly was with me throughout this process and helped with measuring and looking up the measurements for the furniture in the catalogue,and cutting out the shapes.She had got a little fed up and wandered off to play when it took me ages to work out how to do a scale drawing (never had to do one since school and have, of course, forgotten all that info) of the room dimensions! I wanted it to be big enough for her to get a sense of how it would look.I had trouble finding just the right scale to do that, without  it being too complicated . I faffed around and got there eventually!

 We added up how much it would be and wrote out the budget.
Then came the biggy,where would the money come from? We brainstormed and wrote all the likely money making and money saving ideas down.Items that could be sold were also recorded .We had a discrepancy between the two figures of about 50% .We hung it in a prominent position in the kitchen and set about saving the money. Milly was really keen to have it done for her birthday and chose not to have the usual party so the money could go to the bedroom fund.It was a tall order as the final cost figure was quite high. As we had worked it all out together she could see it in black and white on our plan .I always like to have a positive attitude about these things though and believe a way will be found,however as this was really important for her to have it done for her birthday I did talk to her about what we could do if we were not able to finish it all off as she wanted .
Now we had a plan and a date to work to.

We began saving and then after Christmas (with a decent amount saved but no where near enough to complete her room ) Milly was watching TV one day and fell in love with the style of the bedroom of one of the characters in the programme.She found the scene on BBCi showing the room and printed it out for me to see.The furniture was an eclectic mix(very Emily!) of very old fashioned painted pieces and I suggested that a good way to do that would be to go to Impact and buy used furniture to recycle and paint.

So that's what we have done and over the last few weeks we have visited Impact housing and sourced a dressing table for £20, a bedside table for £5, a cabinet for £15 and a bookcase for £25.

 The dining room table is a painting production line!!

The dark purple gloss Emily chose is looking much better than I anticipated :-)

I will post pictures of the finished articles.

We have found bedding and curtains,bedside lamp and a curtain pole in a style she likes but within the budget.Milly fell in love with a black chandelier in B&Q that cost £100.We scoured the Internet and found one in Wilkinsons for £35, a large chunk of our budget. After discussion Milly decided to forgo some of the other things she had on her list as she really wanted the chandelier.

 A major stumbling block is that we need to sell Emily's cabin bed so we can put up a double bed.The double bed is the most important thing for her! The sale of her bed was in the plan to partly fund the purchase of her new one.

On Friday we bought the bookcase from Impact and then went off to Bensons beds to get an idea of prices.There was a special offer on one and she loved the black metal frame,So perfect for her purple Gothic fairy palace.
We talked about the problem of her old bed and how it could be weeks before it sells and how we could put ads in the paper as well as all the other areas we had thought of (we have already discussed the possibility that she would have the room all furnished and decorated by her birthday sleepover with Emily,but might have to use her old bed ).I said we couldn't afford to buy the bed as we just didn't have that amount in savings,and I won't put anything on the credit card unless I have the funds to pay it off,I explained the reasons for this and had a chat about interest payments and debt.

After brainstorming other possibilities we asked  if the costs could be spread interest free over the year as we had done with our bed (she had said she would use her pocket money each month). We were told this couldn't be done for the amount we were spending. She then remembered her bank account.This is an account we set up for her to save birthday money or Xmas money (there is rarely much put in now as she tends to spend it :-0) and we put in £5 a month (outside the pocket money she receives) as savings.There was more than enough in to cover the cost of the bed and the plan  is to put all the money earned over the next few months from bed sale, toy sales and car boot sales back in to her account to cover the cost.

I ordered it today and it will be delivered Monday the first.It does come flat packed so it will store in the spare room until her bed goes.We can't dismantle her bed (which is the only way to move it from her room) so that anyone interested in buying it can see it up.

Alan and Emily have been painting the walls.

The initial thought Emily had was a red and black theme but out of the blue she changed it to Purple and black.I have suggested silver as an accent to brighten things up a little and she agreed. We have to spray some of her picture frames silver and do some art to go in them for her walls.There is a chrome bedside lamp and Cd player and I will get some cushions or make them if I can't find them cheap enough.
An Idea she had for a mural of the moon and a howling wolf on the wall next to her bed has since been
discarded,I am not too sure why she changed her mind on that one.

So this week will be more of the same as we continue painting walls and furniture.We hope to have it all finished and back together by next weekend.

 I like living with a "can do" mindset.In my experience ( over the last 2 or 3 years ) it is amazing how things slot into place when you have a positive attitude.I've found that being open to making a thing happen enables creative thinking for solutions and that compromise happens easily because of the genuine attempt to make something happen.

Emily would like a piano,we simply can't afford one but we are checking freecycle and putting the word out that we are keen to get one.I missed one on freecycle the other day but I have a great belief that there is one out there for us somewhere.It might require another brainstorming session to think up more ideas to make it happen :-)