Bedroom Makeover 2010

This week, I learned that my darling Ben has inherited his father's creative streak. My husband is a doodler, the type who will completely cover his church bulletin with drawings and doodles during the sermon, and it actually helps him pay attention. Apparently, Ben decided to try that skill during nap time in my room.

I didn't notice his creation right away, until I went to bed that night and found a beautifully decorated faux-headboard running the width of our king-sized bed, and about two and a half feet tall. The nice thing was he decided to tie the elements of the room together by creating a similar swirly pattern on our sheets as well.
Such a nice thing to do.

And I know you are all insanely jealous of out beautifully matched blue-sheets-with-green-wall-color-and-nicely-accessorized bedroom. I know, I worked hard on it.

Unfortunately the wall was impossible to photograph, as the glossy wall with the light ink wasn't something the camera could focus on. I was able to capture a bit of the creation, so you will have to imagine this on a much larger scale.
And yes, that pen did gouge into the wall. Texture is important in decorating, right?

Regardless of the thoughtfulness of the decor, the lesson had to be taught, so the next morning I put Ben to work removing his creation. Of course, pen does not come up easily, so it took a bit of scrubbing on his part.
And a bit of whining.
OK, a LOT of whining.
But still I persisted, knowing that this would be a good way for the lesson to sink in.
I helped him for a while, so that he would see that a lot of scrubbing in one spot would, in fact, remove the pen, and then left him to cry clean on his own.

After quite a bit of sobbing time, there was quiet coming from the room. I decided to go in and check on the progress of the pen-removal and found this.

Well played, Tom Sawyer, well played.

I have to say, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers work wonders at removing everything from walls, including ball point pen.

And, well, paint.

Of course, I didn't notice the paint-removal until I re-entered the room and saw that the glossy paint had lost all of it's glossiness during the pen-removal process.

And some of it's a tad lighter than the rest.

I never liked the color of our bedroom anyway. And I certainly needed something to do with my time. I've been getting bored with nothing to do lately, so a painting project is just the right thing.

I'm so lucky my kind, caring son was willing to show my what to do with all my loads of extra time.