Please try to stay awake

So, our cottage is one closet richer tonight. After getting caught at the computer when I was supposed to be creating organization and order, I managed to pull myself together enough to help The Viking sketch out our coat closet. Which basically amounted to me trying in vain to draw what I thought I wanted (I cannot draw), then petulantly flicking the paper at The Viking who then patiently (and most skillfully) drew out exactly what we need. It had hooks, shelves, bins, doors, even an optional mirror! By the time he trotted off to The Depot for all the supplies, I was happily debating the imagined effect of doors wallpapered and bead boarded just like the walls vs doors somehow festooned with red ticking fabric leftover from the sink skirt and valances as seen here...



The Viking thinks wallpaper/bead board on the doors is stupid, but we'll just have to see, won't we?

I was so excited about the new coat closet and was envisioning hats, scarves, mittens, boots and coats all living in perfect harmony, snuggled behind cleverly decorated doors! My days of having to wear a jacket I've retrieved from the floor were coming to an end! No more cries of, "Where's my brown purse", "Has anyone seen my other glove", or "What is all over this scarf" punctuating the morning rush out the door! The children would never be late to school again!

And then, The Viking came home with stacks and piles of stuff and proceeded to carry it all upstairs. Wait, upstairs? We're storing our coats upstairs?

Apparently, my husband acquired some much-needed clarity while walking around his most holy place. Soothed and quieted by the smell of lumber, the glint of hardware and the glow of all that orange everywhere, he looked deep within and found what we really need is for Man-Cub's closet to be finished first. So, crash, bang, boom, that's what he did!

What used to look like this (bad pic, I know):



Now looks like this (not much better, I'm afraid):



Man-Cub's closet is kind of L-shaped because of the linen closet it's built around. And the bedrooms are under the eaves so all the ceilings are sloped which makes for lots of odd angles in there. It really is a strangely-shaped space. But we're using the back of the long part for out-of-season or rarely used clothes and the front for Man-Cub's stuff.

Wow, closets make pretty poor blog fodder. How boring. I've just realized I spent the entire weekend boring the children senseless, making them run upstairs just to see the interior of a bedroom closet. No wonder they spent the whole weekend treating me like I'm one stern scolding away from erupting into tears. What a nut I've been! It's a sad, pathetic life that leads a once intelligent, clever, vibrant woman (okay, vibrant may be taking things a bit too far) to become unreasonably excited about closet shelves (which you couldn't see in the above photo because I'm a bad photographeress and even I know closet shelves push the boundaries of boredom for anyone). I think this excitement stems more from the prospect of becoming reacquainted with the lovely knick-knacks and photos which have been hidden underneath a vast pile of Man-Cub's hanging clothes on top of my dresser for months now. I'm going to see my dresser again! Yippee!

And now, just because I found myself up in Man-Cub's bedroom with the camera, here is a gratuitous shot of his ceiling. I took this in the dark in hopes of actually capturing the stars and planets glowing in it, but it just looks like the light is on. I had originally planned to put glow-in-the-dark stars in straight rows like the American flag (which was the inspiration for the room's decor) but when the time came to spend hours perched atop a ladder, meticulously measuring and placing dozens of stars, my courage failed me. Instead, The Viking bought a pack of glow-in-the-dark stars and haphazardly, I mean artistically, slapped them up there, bless him.



And for any of you Brian Regan fans out there, "the big yellow one is the SUN!"