Wrapping it up...

I'm heading back to Boston today. I can't believe how fast this week went! My mom is doing great and we got a lot of projects accomplished. We switched up her room a bit and made some new pillows, nothing major. 

Check out the built-ins my father made. My mom will dream up a project and he'll build it for her. I have some other cool things he built at the end of this post.

I wish I came down earlier because she has been spending all her time in this room recovering.

She had been loving this fish print, but it was too dark of an orange (see it before here), so we took regular paint and painted over parts of it with more of a coral...

And it became the inspiration for her new summer scheme. We added the shams I found at Homegoods, and made the center pillow and a couple others for the chairs in the room.

The fish can be flipped over to the same fabric as the center pillow if she gets tired of it.

 OK, back to my dad and his carpentry skills.  My parents bought this house back in 1972. It was a tiny starter ranch that has since undergone 4 additions and complete renos of every room. I remember not wanting to go to 1st grade and crying at school to my teacher that I needed to stay home and help my parents dig a foundation. She must have thought my parents had a child labor camp, but I loved construction and our house was always a mess of spackle and studs.

This was my sister's bedroom. My kids sleep here when we stay over and love the built in bed...

My mom would find images, tear them out and then give them to my dad to build. I love how the bed has two closets on each side for extra storage and a built in hanging fixture. It is very cozy, and a great place to curl up with a book (or play cars).

 He also made these bookcases in my mom's office...

If you notice my mom has plants everywhere. She has a super green thumb (which I did not inherit) and her yard is amazing. My favorite planter is this bowl of succulents in the corner of her office...

I'm also jealous of her shell collections...

My mom and I definitely have different decorating styles, but we both love to create and have our spaces be works in progress.  We both love the thrill of the hunt, and can be dangerous together.  We also both get bored once a room is "done", its terrible.

 

My parents both encouraged me to do what makes me happy and make mistakes, one of the best things a parent can do.  I have learned so much from them and its been great to spend the week catching up and having lots of laughs.

Well I'm off to go pack the car up! Have a great weekend!