Last fall my daughter decided that she couldn’t possibly navigate adolescence without a chalkboard wall in her room. I made a big fuss about how her room was already finished and she’d just have to live with boring walls. Then I secretly sent her dad to buy chalkboard paint as a Christmas gift. On Christmas morn, she was thrilled when she opened that can. We were the coolest parents ever, especially when we assured her we would get painting within the week.
As often happens when you are homeschooling, running a hobby farm, working, and keeping up with the everyday chaos that is having four kids … we never got around to the project. The can sat atop her dresser gathering dust for just a little longer than we expected.
Eight months to be exact.
Last week my daughter went away to visit her cousins. I decided to tackle the chalk wall project while she was gone and surprise her. I envisioned a reveal moment a la TLC’s “While You Were Out.” The scene of my elated pre-teen throwing her arms around me with sheer joy at her magnificent chalk wall played through my brain while I gathered my supplies and set to work.
I had barely started measuring when it quickly became clear why I put off decorating projects. I have kids. And two were still with me. My three year old took the concept of “while you were out” in an entirely different direction once he was allowed into the forbidden territory of big sister’s room. He proceeded to empty every single one of her drawers, wear all of her necklaces, pocket her spare change, and spritz perfume on my legs while I balanced precariously on a chair. All the while I was fielding snack requests, assisting with potty issues, and chasing the seven-year-old off screens.
I measured a big rectangle and roughly outlined it with tape. Then I marked the centers of each side and free-handed the design.
After several hours I did manage to get the basic outline done. It wasn’t perfect but my standards had dropped exponentially throughout the morning. I figured TLC wouldn’t be knocking anytime soon and besides, my mother-in-law always insists they do a slop job. Why should I be any different?
I carefully taped off the design. Its hard to make scrolls with tape. Maybe not for people who know what they are doing. I didn’t.
I was so proud to have the whole thing taped and ready for my hubby to finish. All there was left to do was patch two nail holes and roll out the paint. Simple. Easy. Fast. But he didn’t get around to it that night. Or any night that week.
My daughter did get an HGTV style reveal. But it wasn’t exactly what I had planned: a room with drawers dumped out, some broken jewelry, her favorite perfume bottle emptied, and all her cash stolen by her baby brother.
There were no accolades for mom.
She was excited to see the outline of the wall and proceeded to nag us to DEATH to finish. Turns out pre-teen daughter nags are more compelling than wife nags. Hubby patched and painted and voilà… she got her chalk wall!
Tonight my husband is picking up a used desk to re-paint and I have a bulletin board to cover with fabric. Hopefully those projects will be done before she finishes high school. But I make no promises.
