First Born Curious. The End.

I excel in procrastinating.

I also excel in obsessively working on a task until complete.

Once I decide to get 'er done.

(Larry the Cable Guy is way overrated. As is his overdone phrase I used annoyingly above.)

Here is the final product of my almost-10-year-old-curious-boy's-bedroom:

Probably the only time it will be a nicely made bed.

Curious and I both stinkaroo at bed making. Workin on it.

Well, he is. Me? Not so much.

I've never really understood the art of daily bed making.

Someday I'd like to learn it. But I've got better things to do for now.

Painted a section of black wall behind the bed to ground it in the room.

Added an old barnwood frame with a display of curiosities.

Wrote some random words around the perimeter of the paint with white chalk.

Next to the bed he has lots of places to store his gatherings:

A view directly across from the bed. His coin collecting desk area.

His favorite coins went into plain frames that he can easily access.

Fake wood clipboards are the el-cheapo version to display stuff.

No need for an expensive built-in window seat.

A set of wood and metal schoolhouse chairs does the job. Scored the whole set for $10:

His collections and curiosities are displayed on the black shelves in front of the black window wall. I wanted it dark so the objects would pop.

The 6 foot antique snakeskin mount became an unusual window dressing.

Not my original plan, but not planning is typical for me.

So is spilling food on myself daily.

I adhered vintage game cards around the window trim and Mr. Puffer hangs from Mr. Snake.

Last, but not least...

This is for the peeps who thought there's no way an old elk leg could look cool:

I know you're out there. And you still may not think dat's cool.

It's okay because I like it. Plus Curious is the only one I need to please.

And Curious loves it.

His room.

All of it.

Never Too Old

Caved on new kicks the other day.

Same as the pair I wore in 7th grade.

Only those were high tops.

And I stitched some palm tree beach scene on the sides with colored embroidery floss.

Was told I was too old to wear these.

No way. Nada. Never. Nope. Not.

When I'm 92 I'll be hobbling around in my walker.

The spray painted baby blue walker with the ribbons on the handle-bars.

It'll be easy to pick out among the sea of walkers with the tennis ball bottoms at the nursing home.

Horn on the front.

Outta my way dirty old geezers, I'm late for Bingo.

Beep beep.

Or perhaps a blaring loud air horn so their big ol' ears can pick up on it.

Hobbling.

Faster than the average old lady.

Andele! Andele! Arriba! Arriba!

I will name my walker Speedy Gonzales.

Hobbling.

In my Converse-All-Star sneaks.

Intermission

Curious?

Been feverishly working on his bedroom.

Curious. That kid. His room.

Still have some details to add.

But here is a wee peek. Pillow's eye view:

And a teeny peek next to his bed:

I always wanted to do something with that vintage red television I lugged home eons ago.

Didn't let Curious see the room for a couple days. Wanted to surprise him.

He couldn't hold out any longer so I caved.

I couldn't take the whining anymore.

He said, "Oh my gosh! It's nothing like I imagined it would be!"

I said, "Is it better or worse than you thought?"

Internally freaking out. What if he hates this???

"Way better!"

Whew.

First Born Curious

I have another Sweet Love in my life.

(If you want to know who Sweet Love is, and the story behind my shop name, read this)

My other Sweet Love is my first-born son who I love just as sweetly.

He doesn't have a nick name so I'll call him Curious. Because he is. So is his mother.

Curious is 9 with a birthday coming the end of May. Double digits.

Woah! (said in the voice of Joey from the 90s sitcom, Blossom)

Where did the time go?

Curious has always been a collector. Always into gathering rocks, specimens, shells. Anything small and sortable. Even as a toddler, he would walk along the sidewalk and study any little speck. Pick up a leaf in wonderment. He was a happy but serious toddler. And curious.

My latest creative project is to finally decorate his bedroom. After 2 years of living here.

I excel at procrastinating. Obviously.

Here is the starting inspiration of some of the things that Curious loves:

• An old diamondback rattlesnake skin mount
• Antique elk leg (it's twin is in the shop!)
• Gigantic steer horn mount
• Wolf or coyote skull
• Preserved puffer fish I brought back from Mexico
• Gator head he picked out on a family vacay to Florida.

Curious also has jars full of rocks, shells, shark teeth and fossilized miscellany. Along with:

A kangaroo foot his auntie brought back from down under.

Blue Morpho butterfly mounts from Brazil. Done by my dad, who is also quite curious and always has a hobby/obsession of some sort. Grandpa has recently gotten his grandson into major coin collecting. Fits the bill. Small and sortable.

1938 schoolhouse map I found thrifting. Curious begged me not to sell.

A vintage preserved snake head I also bought to sell in the shop. Again, I got the, "Mom, please-please-please don't sell this!"

I must admit, I love this. I love that I'm not doing a stereo-typical boys sports room. Not that it wouldn't be fun, but this road is much closer to my house in Unusualville.

Next steps: Paint. Bedding. Incorporate textures. Assemble. Repurpose. Re-arrange. Think outside box. Research. Donate old stuff. Bring in old stuff.

And do it all in my creative, thrifty way.

It definitely won't look like a page out of the Pottery Barn Kids catalog. Thank God.

(No offense Pottery Barn. You are just too mainstream. I want it to look more unique than you and not scream POTTERY BARN!)

So stay tuned...

For his Museum of Natural History living space.

And quite a curious one it will be.