"My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest." - Isaiah 32:18

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Nola's Art

 This is going to be a post fairly unlike my usual posts.

It's a decorating post but not like what you typically see from me in regards to decorating.

I'm about to take you into my laundry room.... (Which is no beauty of a room let me warn you!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My daughter Nola (age 5) was inspired by this picture that came through my newsfeed one day:



                   

Nola is always making beautiful pictures. She calls herself an artist and I've developed quite a collection of her work. So naturally, this appealed to her. She asked me if we could do this somewhere in our home. I was happy to see her eyes lit up by inspiration, but... I really didn't want to have a wall like this. I'm a leeetle bit selfish when it comes to decorating. (Hey! I never said I was a perfect mom!)

But! This is where my laundry room saves the day! 

My laundry room is upstairs, originally a bedroom, converted and decorated by the previous owner, Sally. It remains the same today. I'm not sure why we've never re-done it. (Sheesh! We've lived here for seven years!!!) I guess other rooms have been bigger priorities. 

I've never done a thing to this room. I've always just figured I'd get to it someday. Sally's curtains are still up for Pete's sake! 



                 
(I thought about moving the laundry baskets away for the picture, but then I remembered... This is a real-life blog!)

I told Nola that I have a stash of unused, old frames, and that maybe we could hang them for her pictures. I told her that I've never had artwork in this laundry room, and that hanging some of hers would brighten my days as I work on laundry chores! She was excited and on board with the idea. I was glad because I wasn't planning on buying anything new for the project. I also didn't want it to take a whole lot of time. (I get suddenly lazy and frugal when it comes to projects that aren't my idea, haha! Remember what I said about being a selfish decorator?) 

So, I went to my stash of old frames, and put a few up on the walls:

                 

(Yes, this is a bowl of mis-matched socks:( :( Please don't judge me!!!) 

                 

I was surprised... What began as something I was only doing to humor a child, became something I liked! It's quite nice to stand here at my dryer and have this to look at. It was made for me with love:


Nola told me that it's a drawing of me and her. We're wearing polka-dot skirts and holding hands. I especially like the detail of the colorful hearts!

The one next to the washing machine looks like this:

               

I had a birthday recently, and she made these hearts for me along with this little card:

              

The card is wishing me a "Fappy Brthday"! It's so precious! Can you see it? Here... Come closer:


(I really did have the fappiest birthday! Hahahaha!)

The other day I came across this old poem in one of my readings. It goes like this:

Give me patience when little hands,

Tug at me with small demands.

Give me gentle words and smiling eyes,

And keep my lips from sharp replies.

So in years to come when my house is still,

Beautiful memories its rooms may fill.

~ Author Unknown

It made me think about this quirky laundry room and Nola's colorful art. There will probably come a day when we tackle this room for renovation, and her artwork will come down. I'm glad I will have the memory of calling Nola into the room after I'd hung her work, and watching her eyes light up with pride and excitement upon seeing it!

I had a total of three old frames in storage, and an abundance of artwork. I hung the final frame here, above the drying rack, and next to the kids' kitchen:


Here's a close-up of it:


The frames are hung by nails but I used scotch tape for the artwork. They're just taped right onto the walls. The only reason why I'm ok with this is because I know we'll re-do these walls someday just like we've re-done the walls in all of the other rooms we've renovated. Otherwise, I am very much against putting tape onto walls! 

Isn't this a cute little play kitchen? I moved this into the laundry room several years ago so that my babies and toddlers would have something to play with while I worked on laundry. 

              

It sure was nice to be able to keep an eye on them while I folded and sorted. They don't need to be hovered over as much anymore. They're growing up... **sniff**... So now I look at this lovely view of my front yard...

              

And Nola's beautiful art.


A friend asked me just the other day if I hated doing laundry or if I enjoyed it. I was a little embarrassed to admit that I genuinely enjoy it. Why does our culture have us believing that housework should be viewed as drudgery? If you make it pleasant for yourself, it can actually be quite enjoyable! And I have my 5-year old daughter to thank for making my daily laundry chores even more pleasant! 

This is her, the artist herself... My Nola: 

                

She is a delight to me! And so are you, dear readers! Do you have a house chore that you view as drudgery? Is there a way you can make it a little more pleasant for yourself? Home life should be wonderful! Don't let anyone tell you that housework should bum you out! Nonsense! With sunshine coming through the windows, gratitude in our hearts and minds, and something as simple as a child's artwork to look at... even a chore such as laundry can be made pleasant! 

Love to you, my readers...

~Courtney 

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