Somewhere over the rainbow

Ever since I was a little girl I had a fascination with the Wizard of Oz. It's hard to say what exactly about it drew me in. Was it that she had a cute little dog, a beautiful singing voice, or the fact that she dreamed of being somewhere that everything was truly in color. The only thing I can say for sure is that I still feel the message in my soul.

There's no place like home.

It's a sentiment I want to share with my girls. When Emmeline watched the Wizard of Oz for the first time she was mystified, had a million questions and watched it four more times before bed each night that week. It was then I decided I wanted her to have a her own place she could call home. A room completely made for her. A safe space where she can dream in full color.

And that's what we did.

Like anything truly worth having, it starts with hard work.

I'd like to think I have many talents, but tedious, repetitive work is not one.

I'm so thankful my husband has the patience to scrape and peel 4-5 layers of wall paper because I never could.

No photo will ever really show how much work this is. It doesn't come off easy in long sheets like you might imagine but in tiny little pieces soaked and scraped for hours. Hours that turns into days, and days that turn into nights and nights that turn into weeks.

After the paper comes down, the job has just begun. In every room it's the same song and dance. Cracked falling down plaster, Water Damaged Ceiling, Old Radiator and Unfinished Floors.

We start with mudding the cracks, and replacing the ceiling with new drywall. This room had a particularly large area where the plaster had separated from the lathes. So the whole thing had to come down. The best part about this is it allows for us to expose the brick.

When it came to the design for her room, Emmeline only had one request.

"A Rainbow Wall"

I knew I had to make it happen.

I wanted it to have an ombre effect but include tones I would love.

After 3 Ace Hardware visits and several hours spent I picked 17 paint samples for the job.

While those dried. We started on the floor.

Sanding the floors with hand sanders is exhausting work.

I'm thankful Logan takes on the blunt of that job.

While it's my job to finish them.

I start with treating the wood with pre-stain

Then Stain, I use a mixture of three stains to get the closest match possible.

Then Poly.

It's time consuming due to the drying time.

But of all the jobs I think I enjoy the floors the most.

Once the floors and the rainbow wall were both dry it was time for the hubs to nail it up

I was so pumped to finally see it up. I might have annoyed him a bit.

I chose to paint the room white because I knew it would have lots of colorful details and I didn't want it to have to compete with the walls.

However someone should really warn you that white is the hardest color to paint.

First it's impossible to see if the primer is completely covered and two it just doesn't cover well at all. It took 3 coats and I still think it could have used a few more!

It's finally time for my favorite part.

Time to see if all my crazy decor ideas are going to fall into place.

I knew I wanted her room to have a loose Wizard of Oz theme. But nothing too obvious as kids interests change constantly.

Since we already had the rainbow wall and I decided to print photos of her in black and white to give that subtle Wizard of Oz vibe.

My girl loves unicorns, the color green, and kitties so we had to add a few hidden gems to make sure it felt like this room was made just for her. My parents added an antique gum ball machine with all her favorite colored gum balls, Green of course.

Emmeline had to wait such a looooong time for her room. She had been sleeping on either the couch or our bed for almost two years. All of her toys and clothes in totes.

She deserves this.

And finally all three girls have their own, finished, room

When she laid her head on her pillow she said

"Now, I can dream allll I waaaant"